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Welcome to our Daily English Listening Practice with this week’s series:

Health Vocabulary

Well, you’ve done it now, you’ve hurt yourself or you’ve gotten hurt. This week’s series is aimed at Health Vocabulary, and today we’re talking about getting hurt. Feel better soon!

Please listen to the audio files for explanations.
Transcripts unavailable.

Notes from the Audio Files

Cut Up / Bruised Up

• Brushing up against: touching lightly in passing
• A bunch of cuts: a lot of cuts
• I’ve cut up my legs: I have cuts on my legs
• Pebbly: An area with lots of small stones
• In your bare feet / going barefoot : no shoes
• Paintballing: A sport where players shoot each other with paintball guns
• Adrenaline’s pumping: your body is pushing chemicals through your body when excited or scared
• Black and blue: you have a lot of bruises

How to use it:
“We played soccer last night and my legs are all cut up from sliding on the grass. I’ve gotta get shin guards.”
“We went hiking yesterday and decided to go slightly off the trail, now my legs are all cut up.”

A Twinge / A Niggle

• I slept wrong: I slept in an uncomfortable position
• Sore: tiredness or pain in your muscles  
• ‘Twinge of pain’
• Stretches: slowly extending muscles in order to relieve pain or discomfort
• Little niggles: UK version of twinge
  

How to use it:
“I mean the pain was really bad when I got in the accident, but now it’s just a twinge every now and then.”
“I’ve been getting a really bad twinge in my neck when I lie down, I think it’s how I sit in my chair at work.”

Shooting pain/ Severe Pain

• On a Scale of 1 to 10: 1 being no pain, 10 being extreme pain
• Dull, minor pain: not very urgent or serious
• Debilitating: stops you moving
• Shooting pain: sharp, instant, strong pain
• Severe end of the scale: the extreme point of the scale
  

How to use it:
“Every time I put weight on it, I get a shooting pain through my ankle.”
“He fell to the ground holding his knee, it must have been really severe pain.”

Muscle Pull / Pull a Muscle

• Football: UK term. USA: Soccer
• Cramped: Suffered from a cramp, tightened suddenly
• Ran onto the pitch: Ran onto the field
• Playing cold: playing without warming up first
• Charley horse: a muscle spasm
• Spazzes out : muscle spasm, muscle isn’t functioning correctly
• Searing pain: extreme pain
• Breathe through it: breathing deeply to relieve pain

How to use it:
“I feel so sorry he pulled his calf muscle, he’ll be out all week!”
“You need to stretch before you go running, otherwise you’re going to pull a muscle.”

Sprain / Rolled My Ankle

• Couldn’t put much weight on it: You can’t lean on or use it normally
• Re-sprained: Sprained again
• In a cast: In a plaster casing used to help bones heal

How to use it:
“I can’t put any weight on it, yet, but I think once the swelling goes down, it’s just a really bad sprain.”
“Luckily it was just a sprained ankle. If was going any faster it would have been broken for sure.”

How bad’s the pain? Have you ever sprained  or rolled an ankle? Let us know!

Thanks,

Kat and Mark

Special thanks to Aidan Jones for a fantastic picture of a twinge in your neck.