Acute injury
Assess life & limb threatening injury and manage according to ATLS principles.
Local Musculoskeletal Injury: assess muscle, tendon, ligament, bone and neurovascular assessments.
Assessment protocol:
- Look
- Feel
- Assess
- Ice
- Immobilize
- Definitive management
Managing acute bone injury
Treatment principles of acute muscle injury
- Avoid NSAIDs or any medication that may cause muscle bleeding in the first 24 hrs.
- Rest the injured area.
- Intermittent ice to reduce swelling.
- Compression bandage to reduce swelling.
- Elevation to reduce swelling.
- Splint is a consideration in select circumstances.
- Assess the severity of injury: it is unusual for isolated muscle injury to present with compartmental syndrome. If this occurs, then the acute muscle injury compartment syndrome requires surgery.
- Rehabilitation principles: a range of motion & regain muscle strength while maintaining neurological proprioception function & fitness levels.
- Resume functional activity after satisfactory rehabilitation.
Hamstring strengthening modalities
Hamstring strengthening progression during rehabilitation starting from ROM (range of motion) to resistance training using body mass to the final stage using higher resistance modalities like theraband & weights.
Acute Achilles tendon rupture
Acute Achilles tendon rupture is a common tendon injury, that especially occurs in unconditioned athletes. The diagnosis can be delayed as the intact associated muscles around the ankle that also provide foot plantarflexion masks the severity of the acute Achilles tendon rupture.