Soft tissue injuries are very common in sport/physical activity and recovery timelines can take anywhere from 10 days – 16 weeks. These timelines are decided using physical assessment and understanding of muscle-tendon complex injury healing but, in the case of lower limb injuries, can be aided with an MRI of the area. The radiologists who interpret the scan results will often use the BAMIC system to identify the area and grade of the injury which can help in determining return to play timelines.
The area is typically divided into three parts of the muscle-tendon complex:
1. Myofascial: Involves the periphery of the muscle, including the surrounding connective tissue layers (epimysium, perimysium, aponeurosis). The myofascial allows force transmission and absorption through the muscle-tendon unit.
2. Myotendinous junction/muscular: A blend of muscle and tendon connection this is potentially the location of greatest force production within the muscle tendon unit.
3. Tendon: The most serious of the three when the central tendon is involved as there are high re-injury rates if the person returns to high level physical activity too early. Tendons take longer to heal than muscle or fascia due to the less vascularity. Also important to note that intra-muscular tendon parts has less sensory neural innervation which means reported pain levels is not a good indicator of severity of injury with those athletes.
Classification system
grade 0a: focal neuromuscular injury with normal MRI
grade 0b: generalised muscle soreness with normal MRI or MRI findings typical of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)
grade 1 (mild): high STIR signal that is <10% cross-section or longitudinal length <5 cm with <1 cm fibre disruption
grade 2 (moderate): high STIR signal that is 10-50% cross-section; longitudinal length 5-15 cm with <5 cm fibre disruption
grade 3 (extensive): high STIR signal that is >50% cross-section or longitudinal length >15 cm with >5 cm fibre disruption
grade 4: complete tear
Rehabilitation and return to play considerations
The health professional will typically take into account a myriad of factors to get someone back to exercise as quickly (and safely) as possible. These include (but are not limited to):
· Previous injury history
· Physical assessment findings
· Current activity level
· Goals of the patient
· Response to treatment and rehab
· Time of the season (eg finals etc)
Here at East Vic Park, we are experienced in treating soft tissue injuries. Book in to see one of your friendly physiotherapists today.