What is the Difference Between a Sprain and a Strain?

Sprain refers to the damage to the soft tissues (such as muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc.) of the joints or body parts of the extremities without fractures, dislocations, and skin and flesh damage. The main clinical manifestations are pain, swelling, and limited joint movement at the injury site, which occur in the waist, ankle, knee, shoulder, wrist, elbow, and hip. More common in sports. It is best to deal with sports injuries immediately. There are five processing principles: Protection, Rest, Icing, Compression, and Elevation. Severe muscle strains (fractures), ligament sprains (fractures), and fractures require surgical treatment by a specialist.

Basic Information

English name: sprain
Visiting department: orthopedics
Common locations: Waist, ankle, knee, shoulder, wrist, elbow, hip, etc.

Common causes: Strenuous exercise, improper posture when carrying heavy load, accidentally falling, pulling and excessive twisting, etc.
Common symptoms: Pain, swelling, and limited joint movement at the injury site

Cause of sprain

Most of them are caused by improper posture when strenuous exercise or weight-bearing, or accidentally falling down, pulling, and excessive twisting.

Sprain check

Swelling, bruising, abrasions of the skin, pain in sprained muscles and inability to move, joint movements are unfavorable or impossible CT scans of bones, joints, and soft tissues were performed as appropriate.

Differential diagnosis of sprain

Sports injury

Various injuries that occur during exercise. The damage site is related to sports and special technical characteristics. For example, most of the injured parts of the gymnast are the wrist, shoulder and waist. Tennis elbows mostly occur in tennis players and javelin throwers.

2. Joint capsule injury

Joint capsule injuries are symptoms such as local swelling, pain, ecchymosis, and limited limb movement caused by external forces such as blows, crushes, bumps or bumps, weight bearing, and twisting.

3. Pelvic injury

Pelvic injury can be caused by a variety of factors, and the mechanisms are diverse. A common phenomenon is fracture, accompanied by severe pain. Its diagnostic scope mainly includes a series of contents including injury mechanism, fracture type, degree of stability, image evaluation, and combined injury.