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Severe contusion
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
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[ What causes a severe bruise?
A severe contusion is caused by a domestic injury – a fall, a blow, sports and industrial injuries, accidents. Like a simple contusion, a severe contusion is limited to a locally defined part of the body. As a rule, these are open and most vulnerable parts – the head, knees, elbows, back. A severe contusion is characterized by a high degree of damage to soft tissues, they are injured extensively, often with hemorrhages and damage to the skin. Depending on which part of the body was injured, how much the damaged part was protected and the force of the blow, a severe contusion can be:
- Severe bruise of moderate severity;
- Severe contusion requiring hospitalization;
- Severe contusion with a threat to life.
The tissues of the body have different structures and different degrees of resistance to injury. Subcutaneous tissue and muscles take a blow and a strong bruise just like other parts of the body, but are damaged much more seriously than the sheaths of muscles, tendons or dense collagen plates - aponeuroses.
Severe leg bruise
With such damage, the vessels located in the subcutaneous fat layer are injured, resulting in extensive hemorrhages (hematomas), including in the joint cavities (hemarthrosis). A severe bruise of the leg suggests damage to the bones - these are cracks, fractures. Hematomas often do not resolve as with a moderate injury, but penetrate deep, saturating the structures diffusely. Such hemorrhages that accompany a severe bruise accumulate and begin to develop into connective tissue, sometimes to ossification. Hemarthrosis resolves faster due to more active joint mobility, but is also fraught with fibrous ankylosis.
Severe head injury
As a rule, unlike a simple injury, a severe head injury is accompanied by damage to the skull bones and is considered extremely dangerous, requiring immediate hospitalization. Actually, the danger lies not so much in the bone fracture, but in the fact that they damage the brain. The fracture can be closed or open with multiple wounds to the skin. The most serious, life-threatening, is considered to be a fracture of the bones of the base of the skull. The brain is an extremely fragile and vulnerable tissue, any injury and severe injury is accompanied by swelling. The brain, unlike other soft tissues that can swell to the limits of skin elasticity, is limited by the size of the cranium. The rush of blood, unable to find an outlet, causes internal bleeding with all the corresponding consequences. A severe head injury can lead to hematomas, concussion, contusion.
Concussions are a temporary phenomenon in which brain activity is partially disrupted.
An internal hematoma is dangerous in its development and can lead to, at a minimum, an increase in intracranial pressure, and at a maximum, to a stroke and death.
Contusion is actually damage to the brain, which leads to loss of consciousness, partial memory loss, disruption of neural conductivity, and cerebral edema.
Severe abdominal contusion
A severe abdominal contusion is accompanied by severe characteristic pain in the area of injury. As a rule, soft tissues are affected, less often the skin is damaged. Nausea and vomiting may also occur, and the person often loses consciousness. The pulse slows down, the heartbeat becomes weak, general pallor is observed, and often there is a blue tint (cyanosis) of the face. All this may indicate internal bleeding, which occurs with a ruptured intestine, damage to the kidneys or spleen. If the victim is not given timely assistance, internal bleeding will lead to peritonitis, inflammation of the peritoneum, and possibly death.
A severe contusion is a condition that requires immediate medical attention. If you suspect a severe contusion, at the first signs that cause alarm, even if the skin is not broken and there are no external wounds, you should immediately consult a doctor or call an ambulance. Often, every minute counts, so delay literally threatens not so much the health of the victim as his life.