Hi Kym,
Good discussion point,
I use neither term,
I prefer muscular contusion.
The way I think of it is that the muscle was not stretched beyond its elastic capacity, nor did it bleed internally in a localised area, what actually happened was a disruption of many tiny capillary beds as part of the forceful impact. This led to interstitial blood sitting in the tissues, exactly like a bruise. Hence I like to use the term contusion “bruise”.
There is a nice example of it in the MSK pathology principles webinar.
Happy scanning Kym,
Steve.