Strains vs. Sprains, & Other Terms to Know

You commonly hear terms like sprain, strain, broken bone, fracture, tendonitis, and bursitis, but do you know what they mean? We’re going to break down some common diagnoses so if your doctor tells you that you strained your hamstring, sprained your ankle, or your child broke their arm, you know a little more about what exactly that means.

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Strain vs. Sprain

STRAINS are the overstretching or tearing of muscles or tendons (tendons are the dense tissue that connects bones to muscle). For example, if you're carrying something very heavy with poor form and injure your back, it may be a muscle strain in muscles of your back.

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SPRAINS are the overstretching or tearing of ligaments (the bands of tissue that connect bones together in a joint). A common sprain you've probably heard of is an ACL tear or sprain (ligament in the knee joint), or an ankle sprain (most commonly in ankle sprains the  anterior talofibular ligament on the outside of the ankle is overstretched when the foot rotates inward).

Both strains and strains can be debilitating depending on the severity of the tear/stretch. Both can lead to swelling, pain, and limited flexibility.

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Fracture vs. Break

Fractures and broken bones are the same thing. There are many different types of fractures, but all involve trauma to a bone due to the stress on the bone being greater the the strength of the bone. 

This stress on the bone that causes is to "break" (fracture) can be caused by different circumstances:

• A strong, quick force on them (e.g. falling and sticking your hand out, and breaking a bone in your hand or forearm)
• A lesser force acting on the bone over a long time (think stress fractures in runners from the repetitive striking)
• Bone weakening - where there is not excessive stress or energy exerted on the bone, but the bones have weakened enough that they are prone to break (such as in people with osteoporosis)

Tendonitis vs Bursitis

Tendinitis is the inflammation of the tendon (like we talked about earlier, the tendon connects the muscle to bone and is tissue making up a chord-like structure). You've probably heard of rotator cuff tendinitis (inflammation of the tendons that make up the rotator cuff).

​Bursitis is inflammation of the bursae, which is a  fluid-filled sacs that cushions bones and tendons/muscles to reduce friction.

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Bursas and tendons are located near each other, and tendinitis and bursitis share some common symptoms. Often tendinitis and bursitis often occur concurrently at a given joint. These similarities cause the two terms to be assigned incorrectly when there's pain and swelling at a joint. 

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If you are suffering from a sprain, strain, fracture, or other musculoskeletal injury and live in the Hudsonville, Jenison, Grandville, or West Michigan area and need physical therapy, give us a call! These types of injuries are our specialty and it's our goal to get you better efficiently so you can get back to your favorite activities this Spring!

By: Lisa Pfotenhauer,
Cert. Exercise Physiologist

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