A muscle strain is commonly known as a pulled muscle. This condition occurs when you overstretch or tear a muscle or tendon, resulting in difficulty moving or using the affected muscle. A muscle strain can happen in any part of the body but occurs most often in the thighs, neck, shoulders, and back muscles.
While a pulled muscle can be painful and disruptive to your usual routine, most of the time, treatment for a muscle strain can be undertaken at home. You should see your doctor if your symptoms worsen or you experience tingling or numbness. Most people, especially physically active ones, will eventually pull a muscle. You can reduce your chances of experiencing muscle strain by stretching daily and warming up properly before exercise.
Keep reading to learn more about strained muscles and what you can do if it happens.
Symptoms of a Strained Muscle
Most people, especially those participating in sports, have experienced strained muscles. Pulling a muscle can be pretty painful; the area can be hurt even at rest. The most common symptoms of a strain are pain or tenderness, bruising, muscle weakness and reduced range of motion.
If you hear a popping or snapping sound when the injury occurs, if there is excessive swelling, or if you can’t walk, you should head to your local emergency department. However, the following protocol can treat most mild strains at home.
See a Physiotherapist
If you are not experiencing an improvement in symptoms three days post-injury, a visit to a physiotherapist is warranted. A physiotherapist will assess your injured muscle and develop a treatment and recovery plan. They can create an appropriate rehabilitation and exercise plan to help you restore strength and range of motion.
Physiotherapy can also help with pain relief and treatments to accelerate your recuperation process. If appropriate, they may offer manual therapy like massage and stretching techniques to relieve tension and pain in the muscles surrounding the injury.
Rest
Rest is of utmost importance when recovering from an injury. It’s crucial to avoid using your strained muscle as much as possible. You don’t want to avoid physical activity altogether, but certainly stay away from activity that causes discomfort, pain, or further swelling.
Elevate the injury above your heart whenever possible, especially at night while you sleep. And speaking of sleep, ensure you get your eight hours in since our bodies use this time to repair and recover. You should rest the injured area for 2-3 days for mild to moderate muscle strains. A severe strain, on the other hand, may require up to 2 weeks of recovery.
Ice and Heat
After sustaining a strain, icing the affected area is the first thing you want to do. Ice will constrict the surrounding blood vessels, inhibiting inflammation in the area. Cooling the area for 20 minutes is most effective, with at least 30 minutes between icing sessions. Heat can also play a role in helping the body heal from a muscle strain, especially after the first three days post-injury. Heat should be used similarly to ice, for 15-20 minutes at a time with a rest of half an hour.
Sometimes it is recommended to use ice and heat together, especially if you are still experiencing inflammation several days out from the injury. For the best results, you must ice for 20 minutes and follow with 15 minutes of heat. Alternating like this creates a pumping mechanism in the blood vessels that pushes the inflammation away from the affected muscle.
Compression
Wrapping the injured area with a tensor bandage will help bring the swelling down. While treating a strained muscle, we want to get as much blood flowing to the injury as possible. By utilizing compression, we can increase the blood flow to the area, bringing in oxygen, nutrients, and white blood cells. These all work together to encourage the muscle to heal.
Compression can also help to squeeze out inflammation and reduce swelling. Be cautious not to wrap the bandage too tightly; if the area becomes numb or the pain increases, you should immediately loosen the bandage and rewrap it.
Over-the-Counter Medication
An anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen can help reduce pain and swelling. If you cannot take this medication, acetaminophen can be an alternative. It will help with pain relief but not with inflammation.
Consume Adequate Protein
While recovering from a muscle strain, eating protein-rich foods is essential. Consuming protein will minimize potential muscle loss you might otherwise experience while not as active as usual. Focus on your protein intake once you start moving again to rebuild the injured muscle. Lean meat, fish, eggs, legumes, nuts, and seeds are all great protein sources.
