Muscle tear / Whiplash
What is a muscle tear?
When a muscle tear occurs, sudden (severe) pain is often felt. It can feel as if the muscle is being hit with a whip or kicked. The injury is popularly called 'whiplash'. Immediately after the injury occurs, walking is (often) difficult and painful. Sometimes, however, the pain (initially) is surprisingly not too bad. Over time, swelling or a bruise may become visible.
A whiplash is a large or small tear in a muscle. It can occur in any muscle, but most often in the calf. A rider can get a whiplash in a thigh muscle when his horse bucks, a car accident or a nasty fall can cause a tear in a wide variety of muscles. A muscle tear is a relatively common injury and often occurs during sports such as sprinting or during a push-off. In athletes, this injury often occurs in the calf muscles, in the muscles at the front of the thigh (the m.quadriceps) or in the muscles at the back of the thigh (hamstrings).
- There is a small or large tear in a part of the muscle. In addition to the muscle fibers, blood vessels and lymphatic vessels also tear. Then blood and fluid are released in the leg, which swells and can turn blue.
- There is a sudden sharp pain, right where the tear has occurred. This is a very different pain than a muscle cramp that is usually recognized. In addition, with a cramp the muscle is rock hard, while with a whiplash the muscle feels soft.
- Swelling may occur after some time, depending on the severity of the tear. A bruise may also occur. This again depends on the severity of the tear. The bruise is often not at the site of the tear: the blood that exits through the torn blood vessels sinks between the tissues due to gravity to a lower place.
- There is a limitation of movement. Raising the foot, walking, standing on tiptoes, hopping, running and jumping are usually completely impossible or only with a lot of pain.
- There is loss of strength in the affected muscle.
- A palpable or even visible cavity or groove may have developed at the site of the tear.New paragraph
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What are the causes?
A sudden heavy load on a muscle can lead to a muscle tear. Finally, if the load is greater than the load capacity, things break. This can happen, for example, when pushing off to hit a long ball back or for a high jump. But less extreme forces on a muscle that is not prepared for this can also cause a tear. A muscle that is too cold is not prepared for a major activity. Taking part in a competition without a good warm-up or putting heavy loads on muscles is therefore not advisable. The muscle can be shortened or stiff. For example; if sports shoes are worn after a week of heels, the muscle is too short. Age can also play a role: unfortunately, muscles become stiffer as we get older. A somewhat longer warm-up is not a waste of time. A training build-up that is too fast or too intensive. A one-sided training build-up. For example, too much strength training when training for the high jump. Fatigue. If someone is tired and starts exercising, the load capacity is lower than normal. Cold and damp conditions. Running when it is freezing and still wearing shorts. Of course you don't feel the cold because you are moving nicely, but the blood circulation of the muscles is not optimal, the muscle is less warm than is good. Protect the muscles and wear training pants. If there is no cooling down after exertion, this also gives extra risks.
