Health & Fitness

Sprain vs. Break: How To Tell and What To Do Next

Did you know that more than six million bone fractures occur every year in the US?

If you’ve injured yourself, you’re probably wondering whether you’ve broken a bone, or whether it’s just a sprain.

How do you tell the difference between a sprain vs break? What even is the difference? How should you treat a sprain or a break?

Read on to learn more.

What Is a Sprain?

A sprain is damage to your ligaments, rather than to your bones.

Ligaments are the fibrous tissues that connect your bones together. When you sing that ‘the leg bone’s connected to the hip bone’ it’s ligaments that you’re singing about.

In a sprain, these ligaments can be stretched or even torn. You can get a sprain in almost any joint in your body.

What Is a Break?

A break is when it is the bone itself that is damaged.

This could be a partial fracture when the break doesn’t go all the way through the bone. It might be a complete fracture when the bone is completely broken in two.

Signs That It’s a Sprain

The location of the pain is a good indicator. If it’s mostly in the soft tissue around your bone rather in the bone itself, then this is a good sign that it’s a sprain.

If you heard a popping sound when the injury happened that is also a sign that there is ligament damage. You should also be able to put weight on a sprained joint.

Signs That It’s a Break

If the pain is directly on top of the bone, where there’s no soft tissue, then this is a sign that it’s a break.

If the affected areas is misshapen, or you’re unable to put any weight on it, then it’s likely to be a break. You may also hear a cracking, rather than popping sound when a break occurs.

What to Do About It

Whether it’s a break or a sprain, you need to get it looked at by a medical professional.

You could call into the emergency room, but it’s likely that more serious injuries will be prioritized. Your best bet, then, is to try an urgent care center, such as qcurgentcare.com. Urgent care centers can offer treatment for a sprain as well as many breaks. If the fracture is a complex one, then they may refer you to a hospital.

Sprain vs Break: Both Need Medical Attention

You’ve learned the differences between a sprain vs break, and you’ve also learned that they have the most important thing in common: both need to be examined by a medical specialist. If you leave them untreated the damage could get even worse.

Drop in to an urgent care center and get your injury looked at. The last thing you want to do is end up with an injury that’s far worse than it would have been had you got the right treatment soon enough.

If you’re looking for more useful content, be sure to check out the rest of the site.

Alina Quinn

I am Alina Quinn, a freelancer blogger who loves to write about health and Fitness and about latest fashion, currently I am working with FliptheLife, one of the fastest growing community created by fitness freaks, who love to write about health, fitness, beauty and the latest fashion news, etc...

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