Crush injury
Crush crush!! This 45-year-old male sustained a severe crush injury during work!!! A crush injury occurs when mechanical force or pressure is put on a body part, causing compression of soft tissues and resultant muscle swelling or rhabdomyolysis, numerous bone fractures and severed vessels. When the muscles and tissues are deprived of blood for too long after a crush injury accident occurs, there is a strong chance that the nerves will become severely damaged (leading to numbness and paralysis) and the victim will experience muscle breakdown and death (rhabdomyolysis). Hence, one of the most feared complications after a crush injury is compartment syndrome, which occurs when muscles become swollen and fill the compartment to capacity, causing excessive pressure builds up inside an enclosed muscle space (typically where the injury took place), and resulting in insufficient blood supply to surrounding tissues.
