A contusion is the medical term used for a ‘bruise.’ Contusions can be minor, like the one you get after clumsily hitting your thigh on the edge of the coffee table, to major ones like the contusion you may get across your chest or down your leg after a significant motor vehicle accident. Whatever the size, that red, blue, purple, green or brown rainbow that appears is a sure sign of injury to the tissues below or near the area.

That sudden pull in your lower leg from walking, running or jumping is quite a common problem. Depending on how badly you have injured your calf, a calf strain can either be a little nagging pain while you walk, or can take you fully out of your regular activity and require you to walk with crutches!

You have over 600 muscles in your body. These muscles control everything you do, from breathing to putting food in your mouth to swallowing.

Muscles make up over half of the weight of a human body and they are required to make even the smallest of movements such as nodding your head or tapping your toe. If too much stretch is put through one of your muscles you may end up with a painful muscle strain. If the similar type of injury occurred to one of the ligaments in your body, it is termed a sprain.