"Tight Joints and Muscles"

Question

I am a physical therapist. It seems like my patients and the translators have difficulty expressing the concepts of inflexibility and tightness of the joints, muscles and tendons in Spanish. The patients seem a little confused when the translators use estire for stretch or apretado for tight and even when they use inflexible. When asked the patients say they understand but have confused looks. The patients sometimes use the word "duro" which leaves the translators with confused looks. Does anyone have suggestions?

Answer 1

I think you can keep it simple and ask your patients if they sometimes have lack of movement in any part of their body (no pueden mover alguna parte de el cuerpo) instead of using inflexible because that is a word that many people do not know at all. Instead of apretado for tight use contraido. Sometimes when people are talking about tight muscles in spanish they use the word calambre which I think is the same as cramp. hope this can help!

Thank you. I did have a patient that used the word "calambre" or a similiar word for cramp. - razz, Apr 10, 2010

Answer 2

I just went to the local pharmacy in Buenos Aires to get muscle relaxers. The pharmacist asked me what was wrong and with hand motions, incomplete vocabulary, and pointing to one side of my neck, I tried to explain that my neck muscle was stiff. He suggested that I was "contracturado." So to say "I'm stiff" I believe it is correct to say " Estoy contracturado."

This is the word for contraction. In Mexico we use calambre for this. - gringojrf, Jun 6, 2014

Answer 3

This is a tough one as is expressing sore muscles from exercise or work.

I think the best way to approach this, at least that I have found, is to talk flexibility and movement.

¿Tienes problemas con flexibilidad en tus articulaciones o los músculos? ¿Tienes dolor cuando mover tus brazos/piernas/etc? ¿Tus articulaciones se ponen duro/congelado?