Video and Transcript: The Difference Between Sprains and Strains

Do you know the difference between a strain and a sprain? Unfortunately, in the clinical world, we tend to use these words interchangeably, but they are not interchangeable. And, it can sound really scary if you go to the doctor and you say, “I have injured my ankle,” and they tell you, “You have a grade 500 ankle sprain.” So, let's talk a little bit about sprains versus strains.

First of all, if we talk about a sprain, a sprain is an injury to a ligament, and ligaments connect the bones to each other. 

A strain is an injury to muscle. 

Whether we're talking about a strain or a sprain, usually what we're talking about is at a very microscopic level, you have torn either muscle fibers or ligaments fibers. These heal. Often, the more severe the injury, the tissue will heal and take a little bit longer to heal. But, it still will heal typically within three to six months if you've had a pretty significant strain or sprain. 

So, I have here an ankle model just to use as an example for when we talk about ankle sprains. So, when you sprain a ligament, remember ligaments connect bone to each other. This model is just a model with bones, no ligaments, so you have to use your imagination. But, there's a ligament that crosses the ankle joint here. There's another ligament that crosses the ankle joint right about here. And then, there's one that goes just behind the ankle joint. 

So, if you sprained your ankle — most of us say that we've rolled the ankle — when you sprain the ankle, you twist it and then injure one, two, or all three of those ligaments. So, that is the definition of a sprain. 

With a strain, the most common type of strain that we see patients for is either a hamstring or a calf strain, and those are the muscles that sit behind your leg. So, your hamstrings are the big thigh muscles. Calf muscles are the big lower leg muscles. And, a muscle strain is when you’ve quickly overstretched that muscle. Most common injury happens when you're running. 

So anyway, that is the difference between a strain and a sprain. We're talking about two different types of tissue, so a strain is to muscle tissues and a sprain is to ligament. 

Hope this helps. Let me know if you like this video. I would really appreciate a thumbs-up and any comments below. Thanks!