When you’ve suffered from a soft tissue injury, you’re likely in a lot of pain and unsure how long it will take until you feel better. The first step in the healing process is getting evaluated and treated by a medical professional so that you know the extent of your injuries and what caused them. If the injury was from the negligence of someone else, then you could use these medical records to help you get justice for the damages they caused you.
After an accident of any kind that resulted in a soft tissue injury for you, you shouldn’t have to deal with the consequences and costs on your own. With the help of a personal injury lawyer from Madia Law LLC, you can hold the liable party responsible for their actions and get the compensation you deserve for your injuries and other damages.
Different Soft Tissue Injuries
The healing time of your soft tissue injury will mostly depend on the type of injury that it is and the severity of the damage that was caused. Let’s take a look at the different types of soft tissue injuries that can occur so that you can better gauge the healing time that you can expect. According to John Hopkins Medicine, these are the most common types of soft tissue injuries:
- Contusions. Otherwise known as bruises, contusions happen when your body is struck by a blunt force and breaks the blood vessels within your tissues. This causes blood to pool beneath the skin and show up as a bruise. There will likely be pain and swelling in the affected area. Depending on the severity of the bruising, the discoloration could be minor and barely noticeable or deep and changes colors as it heals.
- Sprains. Ligaments connect bone to bone, and when they get torn, it’s called a sprain. These are typically small tears that occur from the twisting or rolling of a joint, like a wrist or an ankle. If the injury is minor, some pain and swelling may occur. If the ligament is completely torn, surgery could be needed to repair it.
- Strains. These are similar to sprains but instead affect tendons and muscles. Similarly, they are small tears in the tissues, and when there is a complete tear, surgery is likely required. Strains happen from overuse and force but can also be caused by overstretching.
- Tendonitis. Muscles and tendons can also become inflamed from overuse, which is called tendonitis. This typically happens from repeated specific motions, like swinging a tennis racket or a golf club.
All of these above can be caused by an accident, like a car crash, slip and fall accident, or any other kind of impact. In accidents like car collisions, a common soft tissue injury is whiplash. This is when the head is whipped from one side to another, and the tissues in the neck become strained and result in an injury. When you don’t allow an injury like whiplash to heal properly, it can cause pain and complications for the rest of your life.
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How Long Do They Take to Heal?
Allowing yourself to fully heal is the most essential part of treating any soft tissue injury. When you don’t let it heal, you risk reinjuring yourself, making it worse, and extending your recovery time. That’s why it’s important to allow yourself to heal the first time around so that you don’t have to dedicate even more time to the process.
No two injuries or people are the same, which means that there’s no way to determine exactly how long it will take until you’re fully healed. Previous health conditions, medications, and other factors can keep you from healing quickly. In general, it will take anywhere from a month to a year for your soft tissue injury to fully heal but could even take longer than that.
Ensuring you’re following your doctor’s orders will help you heal as quickly as possible. Most soft tissue injuries can be healed using the RICE method. This means:
- Rest. Keep weight off of the injured body part and don’t move it.
- Ice. Never put heat on the injury—always use ice for 20 minutes on multiple times a day.
- Compression. An elastic compression bandage wrapped around the injury will help keep the swelling down and keep more blood from going to the injury.
- Elevate. If possible, you should elevate the injured body part above the heart so that the swelling can go down.
However, if there is a complete tear, then surgery will likely be necessary. This could extend your recovery time.
Madia Law LLC Can Represent You
A soft tissue injury can make you immobile for months and could even cause effects that last for years or the rest of your life. When someone else was the cause of your injuries, you shouldn’t have to worry about the bills and lost wages that come with taking the time to heal. That’s where one of our personal injury lawyers can help you.
At Madia Law LLC, we understand that you need to focus on what really matters—physically and emotionally recovering. That’s why we are prepared to handle the legal side of things for you and help you financially recover from the accident. Contact us today so we can get started.
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