As manual healthcare professionals, we tend to view large areas of a patient’s skin. Often, the visualized skin is in areas that patients may not be able to regularly assess such as their upper and lower backs. As such, we often are able to view skin anomalies that the patient may not only not be experiencing symptoms from but even know exist. Occasionally, these conditions can mimic (in appearance and symptomatology) regular run of the mill injuries. This is where our education, training and extensive testing methods become crucial in determining how to treat a patient and determining the requirement of a specialist referral and/or testing. One of the conditions we often suspect is “Cellulitis”.
Cellulitis is a relatively common infection of the skin caused by bacteria accessing a break in the skin and spreading from that point. Breaks in the skin can occur during sporting events/activities, surgery or even a bone infection. The signs of Cellulitis include: warm skin, pain, swelling, redness, leaking of yellow fluid/pus from the painful area and red streaking in the area of infection. Progression of Cellulitis can lead to a more serious cluster of symptoms including numbness in the area of infection, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, enlargement and/or hardening of the area of infection.
Our treatment staff are trained to assess areas of injury and determine if there is a musculoskeletal issue present and rule out skin conditions such as Cellulitis. If Cellulitis is suspected, our staff would immediately refer you to the nearest ER for assessment and intervention.
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Author: Dr. Paolo De Ciantis, B.Sc.(Hons.), M.Sc., D.C.