In this blog, we examine the difference between minor and non-minor injuries, as well as explaining the types of injuries within these categories.
What is a Minor Injury?
What is a Minor Injury?
One type of minor injury is a soft tissue or muscle injury. This means that there’s damage to some of the structures that support your bones and joints, such as a sprained muscle or tendon. In addition, a minor injury of this type doesn’t affect the nerves or ruptures the soft tissue.
For example, you might hurt your ankle playing a sport. Upon diagnosis, you find it to be a sprained ankle and there are no torn ligaments or tendons. This is then considered a minor injury.
The other type of minor injury you might experience is a minor psychological or psychiatric injury. This type of minor injury encompasses feeling a range of feelings that are not severe enough to be considered a psychiatric illness, such as depression or anxiety.
For instance, you might experience sadness from time to time. But upon diagnosis, you don’t have the symptoms of depression, which includes your levels of sadness.
There are, however, two types of psychiatric illnesses that most medical professionals consider a minor injury – adjustment disorder and acute stress disorder.
What is a Non-Minor Injury?
What is a Non-Minor Injury?
A non-minor injury is considered an injury that falls outside of the minor injury categories. Like the minor injuries, there are two types of non-minor injuries that an injury or illness can fall under.
Physical non-minor injuries can include broken bones or fractures, as well as injuries to your nerves or tendons. These types of injuries take more time to heal, and require more support than a minor injury, such as a hospital or physical therapy.
Other physical non-minor injuries include damage to your spine, hearing and sight loss, as well as brain and organ injuries.
Psychological or psychiatric non-minor injuries are the other type of injury within this category. These non-minor injuries are professionally diagnosed injuries to your mental health or brain injuries, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety.
What Support is There For Non-Minor Injuries?
What Support is There For Non-Minor Injuries?
If you’ve sustained a physical or psychological non-minor injury, there are different types of support you can engage with for recovery.
People with physical non-minor injuries might need support from hospitals or other medical professionals to determine the extent of the injury. Depending on the type of the injury, you might require additional support well after the injury occurs.
For example, if you have broken your leg and tore a ligament, you might need support from a physio to help you walk properly again.
If you have sustained a non-minor psychological injury, however, then you will most likely need ongoing support from medical professionals who specialise in mental health. You may also need to speak to your local doctor before for a referral.
For example, you can go to your local doctor to undergo a mental health assessment. From there, you can go to a mental health specialist, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist for support.
The Health Collab
The Health Collab
