How to Treat and Prevent Muscle Strain

QI Spine Clinic, 1 year ago

Injuries when lifting heavy objects, improper posture for prolonged periods, or stressing the joints too much are common. Muscle strain or muscle pull is a type of injury caused when the muscles are overworked or overused leading to torn tendons and muscles that connect to the bone that otherwise enables desired movements.

Muscle strains aren’t rare and something home remedies can help treat unless you are looking at severe muscle strain that requires medical assistance and even surgery in extreme cases. Let’s read more about the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, muscle strain treatment, and how to prevent it from happening.

What is a Muscle Strain?

Bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles, fibers, etc, work in tandem to execute desired movements. Both ligaments and tendons are connective tissues between muscles and bones observing many functionalities. In the event of a muscle strain or muscle pull, tendons in the affected joint are overstretched or overworked causing the tendons to rupture.

Muscle strain is bifurcated into three grades of severity. Grade 1 shows mild strain causing little impact on the motion or strength (of the affected joint). Grade 2 shows more severe damage than Grade I with partially torn-out tendons affecting the strength and motion. Grade 3 shows more severe damage than Grade I wherein the tendons or muscles are entirely torn making the patient immobilised. It often requires surgery to treat Grade 3 muscle strain.

Causes

The common causes of strained muscles are when it is stressed excessively or when you overuse it. Additionally, accidents can cause the tendons (and ligaments) to rupture causing muscle strain. Oftentimes, those with tight muscles due to lack of activities, can experience muscle strain as well. Strenuous activities such as sports and heavy lifting among others trigger chronic injuries too.

Symptoms

If you ask how to tell if you or someone is experiencing muscle strain, here are some symptoms to look after.

• Pain at rest

• Bruising or swelling or redness

• Pain in the affected joint or region when used

• Muscle cramps and spasms

• Muscle weakness

Diagnosis

The doctor will conduct a physical exam to check for points of tenderness and swelling. Doctors will ascertain the severity of the damage based on the intensity of pain. They might ask the patient to undergo imaging tests ranging from X-Rays to MRIs to locate any wear and tear and create a tailored treatment plan based on the inputs.

Muscle Strain Treatment

Fortunately, even if you have strained muscles, these injuries can be treated with home remedies as well as non-invasive methods available today unless we are talking about a Grade 3 strain.

RICE Technique

Follow the RICE technique as one of the most recommended muscle strain recovery tips that can work wonders.

The ‘R’ in RICE stands for resting which is self-explanatory. You should give rest to the injured joint/section that allows your body time to repair the damage caused.

Next up, take an ice pack and wrap it in a cloth or ice cubes in a cloth and apply over the affected area for 10-15 minutes. This should help subside inflammation and swelling. Take it off for a couple of minutes before repeating. Make sure that you don’t apply the ice directly to the skin.

If you have a compression bandage at home or you can buy one, use it to apply on the affected region to reduce swelling. Most commonly, compression bandages are used to treat muscle strain in the arm, wrist, ankle, leg, or foot and work like a charm.

Finally, you need to raise the injured arm or leg, or joint above the level of your heart or at least parallel to the ground. It helps reduce swelling even further thereby subsiding the pain as well.

OTC Medications

Depending upon the pain perception, you might feel a lot or a lot less pain. There are over-the-counter (OTC) medicines available that help you alleviate the pain. Additionally, there are muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory medicines, and massage therapies you can take to alleviate the pain as well as discover an enhanced range of motion. We advise consulting a doctor before taking any medications unless you are familiar with what you are consuming.

The PEACE Technique

Adding onto the RICE technique, there’s something called the ‘PEACE approach’ that has a positive impact on strained muscles as well.

If you have a strained arm or leg or wrist, preventing its use can help lower the pain in the strained area.

Keep the affected muscles above the level of your heart using supports such as pillows.

Albeit counterintuitive to RICE, the term ‘Avoid’ here is about using ice or anti-inflammatory treatments that stop inflammation thereby slowing healing of the strain.

Consult a healthcare professional before following this.

Use a compression bandage or tape to compress affected muscles.

The best way to treat any condition is to know it better. You can read books or take help from the internet (refer to trusted sources only) to educate yourself on muscle strain, the recovery procedure, time, do’s and don’ts, etc.

Tips for Preventing Muscle Strain

Whether you are looking for tips on preventing muscle strain from happening for the first time or recurring, you need to take care of certain things listed below.

• If you are injured, give it some time to heal without stressing the affected muscles.

• Stretching on a daily basis is crucial as it makes the muscles ready to take on strenuous activities with greater strength and flexibility under its banner.

• It’s important to perform some warming up exercises before going for any intense activity.

• Nutrition takes the centre stage as you need to have adequate nutrients in your food to support bone health and combat muscle fatigue.

• Keep your body hydrated by drinking ample water.

Wrapping Up

Muscle strain or sprain is common especially if you are doing something you wouldn’t usually do such as sports, running, lifting objects, etc. It can affect those who do these activities regularly as well since injuries can happen to anyone at any time. However, there’s no need to feel stressed out or depressed because it is completely treatable. You won’t need a doctor in mild and moderate cases and may need help only when your movement and mobility are compromised.

The aforementioned blog is to educate our readers on ‘Muscle Strain’ and how you can treat it and prevent it from occurring again. If you experience pain in your neck and spine region, you can give us a call at 086558 85566 for an appointment.