What Does trauma Mean
Trauma is a term that comes from the Greek and that means "action to hurt . " It is the injury to the organs or tissues that is produced by an external mechanical action .
Trauma involves physical damage that, in certain cases, can lead to secondary, life-threatening complications. For example: "The victim was hospitalized for multiple injuries" , "A head injury left the player in intensive care" , "Yesterday I had an accident with the car but I only had a minor trauma" .
The trauma to soft tissue occurs when a loss of continuity occurs skin , creating a communication between the interior of the body and the outside. These wounds can be puncture, blunt, incised, or otherwise.
When a force is applied to the skeleton, either directly or indirectly, an injury to the muscular system or the osteoarticular system is possible. Injuries to the extremities are not usually the cause of a risk of death, although if proper treatment is not followed, the sequelae are likely to include some type of disability of varying importance. Among the resources typically used for its diagnosis are nuclear magnetic resonance, arthrocentesis, X-rays and arthroscopies.
Traumatic-type injuries that occur to the extremities include the following types:
Sprain : it is the temporary separation of the surfaces of the joints that generates the stretching or the rupture of the ligaments. It usually occurs after a joint is twisted too hard in a certain direction. In some cases, the sprain can cause the detachment of a bone fragment within the body, which must be detected through an X-ray for its subsequent extraction;
luxation : it is the division of the articular surfaces that is maintained over time ; In other words, the joint is disassembled. Among the causes of this injury are falls or collisions (within the group of direct mechanisms) and stretching that forces the joint (indirect mechanisms). A dislocation leads to the permanent absence of the relationship that should exist between the surfaces of a joint, and is frequently accompanied by a rupture or disinsertion of the joint capsule and ligaments. It can also be understood as a dislocation that, in general, receives the name of the most distal bone of the affected joint (such as a knee or an elbow) or of the region that the displaced bone happens to occupy;
fracture : occurs when continuity in the tissue of a bone is lost . The consequences are very varied: they can be as mild as a small fissure or as serious as the destruction of the bone, and the displacement of its two ends.
The head injuries are much riskier than the previous ones : a skull fracture may involve the brain injury with impairment of consciousness, posttraumatic amnesia or vertiginous syndrome. Persistent headache, nausea, seizures, and vomiting are symptoms of a head injury after a blow to the head.
When it comes to trauma to the spine, the real risk does not lie in the fracture of any of its vertebrae, but in the damage that the spinal cord receives, since this always leads to a traumatic injury to the ligaments and bone structures and muscular. When the focus of the injury is the neck, regardless of the damage to the bones and spinal cord, the soft structures may be compromised.