When we talk about injuries and illnesses, we often refer to cells, tissues and organs. Cells are the smallest complete units of life, and the human body has trillions of cells -- way too many for me to count.
We rarely talk about cells individually in first aid, unless we're talking about a particular type of infection called cellulitis.
Most of the time, we think not of cells but of tissues, which are sheets of similar cells strung together. In other words, a bunch of muscle cells clumped together makes muscle tissue. Likewise, a bunch of fat cells make fatty tissue.
Tissues can be hard or soft. Soft tissues are things like skin and muscle. Hard tissue is bone. Cuts and bruises are known as soft tissue injuries, while bone injuries are generally fractures or dislocations.
Lastly, tissues work together to do more complicated functions (muscle tissues only contract, but if you build a chamber with special muscle tissues and nerves to handle the rhythm, you get a heart). Those organized combinations of tissues are known as organs.
When you hear the doctor talking about organs, bruised tissue or cellulitis, now you'll know what she means.
First Aid Phraseology is a weekly look at the common words and phrases used in first aid and emergency medical services. Have a term you'd like to know more about? Email me and I'll touch on it in a future post.
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