11/30/2021
Something to keep you occupied for a rainy week... One of Dr. Moreton's recent articles for the "I Love Creston" magazine:
Language is a funny thing. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the medical sciences. Sometimes terms make sense. Sometimes they’re awkward. Sometimes they are just downright confusing. Much of physiology and anatomy vernacular was forged in Latin, making it foreign to the average person. Every profession and hobby seems to have it’s own jargon understood only by those involved, but the problem with medical jargon is that it involves not only health care professionals but literally everyone else. It is inevitable that some things will be lost in translation because although everyone has a body, most never learn about what makes up that body, what goes wrong with that body and what any of those things are called or mean.
Today I’ll discuss some terms and conditions that come up often but are generally not well understood. For example, who hasn’t had a sprain or strain? Do you know the difference? A sprain is a stretch, damage or tear to a ligament. Meanwhile, a strain is the same thing but in reference to a muscle or tendon. I remember this by noting strain is spelt with a “t” which can stand for “tendon”. This brings up another question; what is the difference between ligament, tendon and muscle? Without getting into too much detail, a ligament attaches a bone to another bone, such as the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL), a long name but the most commonly sprained ligament in the body. It’s the one you typically injure when you roll your ankle. Ligaments are designed to limit motion and keep joints stable. They aren’t meant to stretch or contract. Tendon has a little more give but still not much stretch. A tendon’s role is to connect muscle to bone. Muscle is very elastic and stretchy in comparison. It can shorten and lengthen and provides us with strength and movement. Together, we refer to these tissues as soft tissues. You may have heard of someone who has sustained soft tissue injuries. I think soft tissue is an awkward term because in essence it means everything but bone. Soft tissue also encompasses fat, blood vessels, nerves and skin. It’s a bit vague and too general a term for my liking. By contrast, hard tissue is bone. That’s it. Maybe cartilage, but technically cartilage is classified as connective tissue which also falls under soft tissue. Again, seems a bit awkward.
How about degenerative disc or joint disease? Sounds awfully scary. Probably contagious as well. This is simply medical jargon for arthritis. Don’t let your x-ray report scare you. Everyone will have some arthritis 40 years and up. What may differ, however, is whether it’s described as mild, moderate, advanced or severe. But chances are you’ll know how bad you feel before you get the report anyway.
Ever heard of sciatica? Probably, but not as common as you may think. Most cases of low back pain with leg referral are more likely sacroiliac (SI) joint syndrome. SI joint syndrome involves hip and/or leg pain that is dull and achy which can be sharp with certain movements. Sciatica is pressure on the sciatic nerve which can be caused by different conditions. Sciatica always involves nerve pain; numbness, tingling, electric, pins and needles or burning.
Another challenging term is the rotator cuff. N.B. It is not the rotar cuff, roder cuff or rotary cuff. The rotator cuff is not a single entity but a group of four small muscles that hold the shoulder ball in its socket. Hence, most rotator cuff strains (remember what strain means?) will involve only one or two of those muscles. By far, the most commonly affected is the supraspinatus.
We’re just starting to scratch the surface here, but that will have to do for now. I have used too many words writing about words. In the meantime, if I didn’t get to a term you’re wondering about, just look it up. You’ll understand a little more about yourself and gain another drop of knowledge in the process.
