So what is an injury?
Injury often happens when there’s too much force applied to a body part, like a bone or muscle, which exceeds its strength or capacity. This force can come from accidents, falls, or occasionally repetitive actions. When the force is strong enough, it can lead to damage, like broken bones or torn tissues.
So, injury occurs when the force on the body is greater than what the body can handle. The basic idea of injury can be simplified using an equation like this:
Injury = Force > Strength/Capacity
Where:
– Force is the amount of pressure applied to a body part.
– Strength/Capacity represents the ability of that body part to withstand force without getting damaged.
If the force exerted on the body is greater than the body part’s strength or capacity, there’s a higher likelihood of injury occurring.
Keep in mind that this is a very simplified representation, and real-life situations can be more complex due to factors like angles, speed, direction of force, the dynamic nature of tissues and the unique history of the individual and their born and lived physical experiences. Of course the pain experience is another huge topic but it is sometimes useful to look at the injury equation in isolation particularly as we so often confuse pain with damage.