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First aid for sprains is an important set of rules that can preserve the health of the victim, protecting him in an emergency from serious complications.
Most of the inhabitants at least once faced with the destabilization of the joints or the entire ligamentous apparatus as a whole. Providing qualified assistance before the arrival of an ambulance or a trip to the inpatient department of a hospital is an important skill that even ordinary citizens should possess.
Ligament injury is a partial or complete rupture of bundles of connective tissue, which is designed to hold bones together. The same bundles are designed to fix the articular elements in the correct physiological position, allowing the connecting mechanism to work in a given direction. During sprains, as with dislocations, the usual scheme of operation of the entire ligamentous apparatus fails, provoking acute pain.
Medical classification
The classic cause of a sprain is jerky movements that exceed the standard amplitude, not matching the natural direction of the joint. The same thing happens if a person keeps the limbs in a state of overexertion for too long. This is characteristic of monotonous repetitive actions.
It is not in vain that the injury presented is most susceptible to people involved in sports activities on a professional basis, or those who engage in physical labor daily.
Despite the fact that tears are traditionally considered a side effect of exercising, they occur in those who do not exercise properly, even just while exercising. Even a daily routine like moving furniture can be the source of the problem.
It is believed that the legs are most often subjected to such injury. Even ordinary walking in uncomfortable shoes, or too high heels can lead to a sad outcome. Due to the fact that this kind of injury to the foot and other parts of the body is a common occurrence, doctors insist that every person must be able to recognize something is wrong and help themselves.
As with fractures, there are several options for classifying injuries. The first sorting is based on the degree of damage. In everyday life, the easiest scenarios for the development of events are most often recorded, and even a victim who is far from medicine will be able to cope with the neutralization.
Schematically, categories for injuries of this type can be divided into three degrees of severity:
- First. It is characterized by a small area of damage, as it affects the loss of integrity of the minimum number of fibers. Despite this, pain will still be present, as well as subsequent discomfort during the recovery phase. When providing assistance, it is worth remembering that the most important thing is the speed of action. Only in this way will it be possible to avoid a significant restriction of motor activity.
- Second. A feature is a partial rupture, which is accompanied by a significant pain syndrome, which simply cannot be “endured”. Additionally, the affected area begins to swell, covered with extensive bruises. The victim himself hardly moves the damaged part of the body.
- Third. The ligament has undergone a complete rupture, as evidenced by acute pain and pronounced edema. It becomes impossible to perform any movement with the damaged part, and the area affected by hematomas covers a huge area.
Regardless of the particular degree of severity of the patient, he should be helped to avoid serious complications in the future. Any presentation or medical manual will confirm this truth.
Separately, experts consider the types of lesions, based in their sorting on a specific area of the body. Despite the fact that first aid may be needed for ligaments in any place where they are present, the following areas are most often deformed: ankle, knee, elbow, carpal, shoulder, clavicle.
The principle of urgent action for the ankle and shoulder remains unchanged. The difference can only vary in the way the fixative bandage is applied.
But this is more typical of the provision of qualified medical support already in the hospital department after diagnosing the deviation with instrumental methods.
What you should pay attention to?
In order to provide medical care in time, you need to be able to recognize dangerous symptoms that indicate the severity of the pathology. The main signs are based on the destruction of the integrity of the connective fibers, which include a large number of nerve endings. This physiological pressure is expressed by severe pain, which literally pierces the body in the first seconds. The patient can no longer perform motor activity with a damaged limb, and when trying to do this, he is haunted by another pain attack.
Like classic bruises, sprains may not make themselves felt right away. With a mild degree, the victim’s pain can be replaced by tingling, burning sensation in the problem area. Further, the following alarming symptoms are traced in increasing order:
- swelling;
- numbness;
- redness of the surrounding skin;
- bruises.
If we are talking about the third degree, or additional muscle deformity, the victim may become a victim of the so-called “elephant look”. So in professional terminology they call a huge edema.
Often, patients complain of an increase in temperature in the problem area, which is called local temperature. But such an outcome is more characteristic of minor injuries to the arm or other parts of the body. With more significant violations, the general temperature rises, which sometimes leads to a full-fledged fever. In the most difficult development of events, a person will definitely encounter:
- chills;
- weakness;
- sweating.
At this stage, if medical assistance is not provided immediately, this may result in an aggravation of the clinical picture. One cannot particularly hope that, while maintaining the mobility of the joints, the injury turned out to be insignificant. Sometimes the excessive ability of the ligamentous apparatus to move only indicates that the musculo-ligamentous corset no longer holds the bone structure.
Despite the stereotype that most often orthopedists fix injuries of the knee joint, in the domestic environment, the ankle is the first to be targeted.
This is explained by the fact that it is he who makes more frequent movements in relation to others. If there has been damage to the specified part, then it is worth briefly diagnosing:
- try to lean on the injured leg;
- if it is impossible to do this, exclude further attempts of active movement;
- immobilize the limb so as not to aggravate the situation.
Not everyone understands that even an initially minor injury with excessive load quickly turns into the category of moderate severity.
Separately, it is necessary to check whether there is a bone fracture, which is a “side effect” of overstressing the diseased part. In such a scenario, a strict sequence must be observed. First, the patient is seated, and then the leg or arm is raised to fix it in a fixed position.
Sports medicine has a separate term for injuries to professional runners called a split shin. Regardless of the degree of damage with such an injury, it responds with severe pain at the beginning of the run and at the end. Victims have to put up with edema, local hemorrhage and limited mobility. Depending on what status was assigned to a particular deviation, the recovery rate will fluctuate:
- with mild – up to two weeks;
- with an average – up to one and a half months;
- with severe – up to six months.
Particular care should be taken when it comes to ankle destabilization. Here you will have to walk for a long time exclusively in orthopedic shoes, since all other options only provoke unwanted complications. You will have to avoid heels for about a year.
How to distinguish a sprain from a fracture?
Tendon injuries are no less serious than displacement of the integrity of the bone structure. But the stereotype that everything will go away by itself with such an injury should have become obsolete long ago. As well as the fact that the standard sprain of the ligaments is identical to the stretch of muscle fibers or tendons. The problem is that the external symptoms of all these injuries are extremely similar to each other.
Without an x-ray, an inexperienced layman is unlikely to be able to figure out on the spot what exactly he is dealing with. To help make early diagnosis a little easier, experts ask you to remember a few typical rules that distinguish a fracture from a sprain:
- pronounced crunch;
- decrease or complete absence of sensitivity below the problem area;
- constant pain;
- inability to move the fingers of the limb that was affected.
Even worse, if there was a fracture of the hand or other part of the body along with displacement. Then it becomes simply impossible not to notice the deformation. It is these options that are often accompanied by additional sprains, dislocations and other difficulties associated with the ligamentous apparatus.
First aid
After a successful diagnosis, it is time to provide first aid measures. The most important point of the program should be to ensure complete rest while maintaining immobility.
For this, a person is seated or laid in a comfortable position, excluding the movement of the damaged part of the body. Next, you need to apply cold. This will be needed to relieve acute pain and reduce increasing swelling. The sooner something icy is applied, the higher the productivity of the procedure will be.
The best way to do this is with ice cubes poured into a plastic bag. For identical purposes, ice water poured into a rubber heating pad, which is pre-wrapped with a towel, is suitable. The object is applied to the joint for approximately 20 minutes.
If during this time the ambulance has not yet reached the scene, it would be more logical to take a half-hour break, and then apply the cold again for the same time. But in the pursuit of neutralizing the pain, you can’t just apply ice to bare skin without a towel. This negatively affects blood circulation.
You need to take care of the load protection. For this, an elastic bandage is suitable, which is tied around the affected fold. If there is no bandage at hand, then a tubular compression bandage made of elastic or neoprene will do.
At this stage, the doctor usually already joins. After the examination, he will prescribe special ointments with an analgesic effect and medicines to the victim. The prescribed medications should be taken strictly according to the prescription, without changing the dosage or schedule of administration.
In the next couple of days, you will need to adhere to a specific regimen, which provides for the complete exclusion of movement in the affected joint. The reason for this is the ability of even small physical activity to provoke more damage. You will also have to reschedule previously scheduled massage sessions and the use of thermal procedures. In the latter case, we are talking about a trip to the bath, sauna and even a hot bath with compresses. With excessive pressure on the unrecovered skin, there is a huge likelihood of re-hemorrhage. In order to complete rehabilitation faster, it is imperative to abandon the use of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol-containing liquids provoke tissue swelling, inhibiting the regeneration process.
All of the above is quite enough if the victim was found to have a slight degree of injury. After a few days, after the disappearance of alarming signs, it is allowed to perform exercises with an increase in load. This will strengthen the muscles to prevent joint stiffness in the future.
When is a doctor indispensable?
If, with mild sprains, an experienced victim can cope on their own, having received advice from an expert, then it will not be possible to simply deal with a severe course of the pathology. Here you will have to detain in the office of an orthopedist in order to undergo a full diagnosis. It includes an x-ray, as well as the imposition of a fixing bandage and drawing up a subsequent detailed rehabilitation scheme. In the most dangerous turn of events, doctors even prescribe surgery. In order not to fall short of drastic measures, it is extremely important to understand when it will be possible to cope with an injury without qualified help, and when it will not be possible to do without it.
An urgent consultation is necessary in the absence of articular mobility, or a clear deformity of the joint, when the limb remains in an unnatural position. It is necessary to call an ambulance if the pain is really very strong, and the swelling and hematoma grow literally before our eyes. At an elevated body temperature with a mark of more than 37,5 degrees, it is also worth calling the doctors. Indirect evidence of the seriousness of the situation is called hot and red skin near the inflamed part.
If you don’t catch it right away, then even the simplest sprain can end in a significant fracture or bone crack. No less often among the complications are the subsequent muscle stretching and destruction of the integrity of the tendon.
If the injury managed to “get old” without appropriate therapy, then the limited articular movement, or the formation of peculiar nodules on the fibers, is a common occurrence.
The nodules, during friction against the surrounding tissues, generate inflammation, which often becomes chronic, which is classified as aching constant pain.
A significant danger is repeated identical or similar injuries in the same place, which guarantees weakening of the joint, rupture of nerve fibers, chronic pain and tingling with occasional numbness. Undertreatment ends with tissue dystrophy, which is characteristic of circulatory disorders. To save yourself from such serious complications, you should know the rules for providing first aid, as well as contact a traumatologist in time for further diagnosis.