- Rest. Avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort. ...
- Ice. Even if you're seeking medical help, ice the area immediately. ...
- Compression. To help stop swelling, compress the area with an elastic bandage until the swelling stops. ...
- Elevation.
Medication
Muscle strains are caused by the stretching and tearing of muscle fibers due to sudden movements or overuse. When muscle fibers are torn, it causes inflammation and swelling of the surrounding tissues. Application of cold not only helps to numb the pain slightly; it also reduces the inflammation and swelling which further helps with pain relief.
Therapy
3 Quick & Easy Steps to Recover from a Strained, Pulled, or Torn Back Stretching Your Lumbar Muscles to help with Strains or Tears. Strengthen Your Back Muscles to Prevent Future Injuries. Rest, and Ice or Heat Therapy.
Self-care
Types of Skeletal Muscle Relaxers for Back Spasms
- Soma, Rela, or Vanadom (Carisoprodol) Carisoprodol is available generically and as a brand; brand names are Soma and Vanadom. ...
- Flexeril (Cyclobenzaprine) Cyclobenzaprine is available as Flexeril, Amrix, and in generic form. ...
- Skelaxin (Metaxalone) Skelaxin is the brand name for metaxalone. ...
Nutrition
The 7 Best Workout Recovery Supplements
- Botanic Choice Creatine. Creatine is the most proven, most inexpensive, and most beneficial increaser of performance we know of.
- Whey Protein. ...
- Twinlab L-Glutamine. ...
- Citrulline. ...
- L-Carnosine. ...
See more
Should you use heat or cold on a muscle strain?
How to treat and recover from a strained or pulled muscle?
What is the best muscle relaxer for muscle spasms?
What are the best muscle recovery supplements?
How long does it take for a severe muscle strain to heal?
Recovery time depends on the severity of the injury. For a mild strain, you may be able to return to normal activities within three to six weeks with basic home care. For more severe strains, recovery can take several months. In severe cases, surgical repair and physical therapy may be necessary.
How do you know if you have a severe muscle strain?
The key symptoms of a muscle strain are: sudden pain that worsens while contracting the muscle, swelling and bruising, loss of strength and range of motion. People often report the sensation of pain as the feeling of being "stabbed." When muscle is initially injured, significant inflammation and swelling occurs.
How do you help pulled muscles heal faster?
Your doctor may recommend the following at-home treatments:Rest. Rest the muscle for a few days or until your doctor gives you the okay. ... Ice. Apply ice to the injury for 20 minutes each hour you're awake. ... Compression. Wrapping the muscle with an elastic bandage can help bring down swelling. ... Elevation. ... Medication. ... Heat.
What is the most effective treatment given for a muscle injury?
It consists of rest, ice, compression, and elevation [3]. During the first 7 days after a muscle injury, rest should be taken, so that the scar tissue can gain strength. Afterwards, physiotherapy can be started [3]. Whether or not NSAIDs should be used in the treatment of muscle injuries is still controversial.
How long does a grade 3 muscle strain take to heal?
It involves more muscle fibers, but the muscle hasn't ruptured. This type of strain takes around two months to heal. Grade III: The muscle or tendon ruptures, causing swelling and severe pain. This level of injury may require surgery to reattach the damaged muscle or tendon.
What is a chronic muscle strain?
Chronic muscle strains are very similar to tendonitis, except that the damage is in the muscle fibres instead of tendon. It is damage to, and inflammation of, the muscle tissue as a result of overuse or improper use.
How do you treat an inflamed muscle?
approach — rest, ice, compression, elevation:Rest. Avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort. ... Ice. Even if you're seeking medical help, ice the area immediately. ... Compression. To help stop swelling, compress the area with an elastic bandage until the swelling stops. ... Elevation.
What is the difference between a strain and a tear?
Sometimes the injury is more severe, and one, a few, or all of the muscle fibers get torn. In this case, you have a muscle tear. A muscle strain is an injury that occurs when a muscle or a tendon is overstretched. A muscle tear is when a muscle or a tendon is overstretched and it tears.
Is heat good for muscle strain?
Heat is often best for tight muscles, sore muscles, as well as the stiffness and pain associated with arthritis. Heat can also be used following an acute injury to increase blood flow once the swelling has subsided. Remember, though, that applying heat too soon following an acute injury can increase swelling.
How does a torn muscle feel?
Symptoms of Torn Muscles Expect pain and soreness, as well as spasms and swelling in the affected area. Depending on the severity of the strain, you may find it difficult to move the area, if at all. You may note swelling as well as bruising and discoloration accompanied by a “knotted up” feeling or stiffness.
How do you repair damaged muscle tissue?
0:141:14Muscle and stem cells: Repair after major trauma - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSmall groups of healthy cells can be found following necrosis of the muscle tissue the remainingMoreSmall groups of healthy cells can be found following necrosis of the muscle tissue the remaining viable cells including muscle stem cells engage in the regeneration.
What is the best tablet for muscle pain?
If you get sore muscles once in a while, you can take acetaminophen or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen to help ease the discomfort.
What is the most common treatment for muscle strains?
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the most common and effective treatment for muscle strains is the RICE method . The individual letters of RICE stand for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. In particular, RICE involves the following:
What is the best way to treat muscle strain?
Properly treating muscle strain requires the right supplies and a comfortable place to rest. You may need the following supplies: Depending on the muscle affected, you may need assistive devices to help stabilize the muscle, especially if it affects one of the limbs. These can include:
How to prevent muscle strains from recurring?
There are several ways you can prevent a muscle strain from recurring, including: allowing for proper time to heal from an injury. stretching your muscles daily. cross-training for sports by weightlifting or choosing another activity to strengthen your muscles. warming up before exercise or intense activity.
Why does my muscle feel like it's stretched?
Poor conditioning, fatigue, and an improper warmup can lead to a muscle strain. When muscle strain occurs, people often report a popping or snapping sensation. This is the feeling of the muscle tissue being stretched until it snaps. This is often a very painful experience.
What is a muscle strain?
A muscle strain, or pulled muscle, occurs when your muscle is overstretched or torn. This can be minor and like soreness after an intense workout, or it can be so severe that it needs surgical repair. Muscle strains are a very common injury. Most people who participate in sports have experienced it at some point in their lives.
How to reduce swelling in a muscle?
Compress your muscle by applying a steady, gentle pressure on it. This prevents swelling and inflammation, which delay healing. Wrapping an elastic bandage around the affected muscle is best. Elevate the injury above your heart to reduce swelling. Use pillows or other devices to raise an affected limb while you rest.
How to heal a strained muscle?
This can help strained muscles and other injuries. Ice your muscle by using cold packs with a barrier between them and your skin four to eight times per day for 20 minutes at a time.
Overview
A muscle strain is an injury to one of your muscles that causes it to tear. They’re one of the most common injuries, especially among athletes.
Diagnosis and Tests
Your healthcare provider will diagnose a muscle strain with a physical exam. Make sure to tell them what you were doing when you first noticed your symptoms. Because muscle strains come from physical activities, it’s important they know what led to yours.
Management and Treatment
You can treat most muscle strains with at-home methods of first aid, including:
Prevention
The best way to prevent muscle strains is to stretch and warm up before exercising. Increasing your overall flexibility will also protect your muscles from future injuries. The more flexible you are, the more room your muscle fibers have to stretch before they begin to tear.
Living With
Talk to your healthcare provider right away if you’re experiencing severe symptoms like intense pain. If you’re still feeling pain after a few weeks of at-home treatments, talk to your provider.
What is the best way to prevent muscle strain?
Gentle Stretching. Stretching and strengthening are useful in the treatment and prevention of muscle strain injuries. Muscles that are stronger and more flexible are less likely to be injured.
How to heal muscle strain?
Most muscle strain injuries will heal with simple treatment steps, but performing the right steps, at the right time, can be critical to ensuring the fastest possible recovery. As with many injuries, there is a balance between doing too much, or too little, early after the injury.
What are the symptoms of muscle strain?
The usual symptoms of this type of injury include pain, spasm of the muscle, swelling, bruising, and limited mobility. Often an athlete will feel a sudden grabbing or tearing sensation in the muscle, and then be unable to continue their activities. Muscle strain injuries are graded by severity: 1 .
How does temperature affect muscle stiffness?
Laboratory studies have shown that temperature can influence the stiffness of a muscle. 4 By keeping the body and muscles warm, the muscle is less likely to sustain a strain type of injury.
Why is it important to use caution when a muscle is fatigued?
6 . Athletes should use caution, especially as they become fatigued, as the muscle becomes more susceptible to strain injuries.
How long should you ice a muscle pull?
Ice applications can be done frequently, but should not be done for more than 15 minutes at a time. 3 . How to Ice an Injury the Right Way.
What is pulled muscle?
Jason DelCollo, DO, is board-certified in family medicine and on the faculty of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. A muscle strain, also called a pulled muscle, occurs when a muscle is stretched too far, and microscopic tears occur within the muscle fibers.
How to heal muscle strains?
In many cases, home care and exercises can heal a muscle strain, but severe strains may need medical treatment. People can get muscle strains from playing sports, doing physical work, or just taking part in everyday activities. Early identification and treatment of the injury will speed up recovery.
What is a strained muscle?
A strained muscle occurs when a person stretches a muscle excessively, overuses a muscle, or experiences an accident , such as a fall. People with tight, inflexible muscles and those who do not warm up properly before exercise may have a higher risk of muscle strain.
What are the symptoms of muscle strain?
Muscle strains can cause a variety of uncomfortable symptoms, including: 1 bruising 2 muscle cramps 3 difficulty moving the muscle 4 muscle spasms 5 muscle weakness 6 pain, which usually worsens with movement 7 swelling
What does muscle strain mean?
If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here’s our process. Muscle strain occurs when a muscle becomes overstretched or works too hard. People can often treat muscle strains at home and use specific exercises to speed up their recovery.
How long does it take for a muscle strain to heal?
The duration of recovery after a muscle strain will depend on the severity of the injury. Most soft tissue injuries take a few weeks to heal, but severe strains may take much longer. Trying to return to normal activities too soon can cause further injury, so always follow a doctor’s instructions and start gently.
What can I do to help my pain?
If OTC medications are insufficient to relieve pain, a doctor may prescribe stronger anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxants, or pain-relieving medicines. Massage therapy may also help relax injured muscles and enhance a person’s range of motion.
How to treat a swollen muscle?
Ice: Applying a cloth-covered ice pack to the damaged muscle for 10 to 15 minutes at a time can help reduce swelling and inflammation. Compression: If possible, apply a compression bandage to reduce swelling.
How to recover from a muscle strain?
Physical therapy. During recovery from a muscle strain, it’s a good idea to try and stay active to prevent surrounding muscles from weakening. Physical therapy can help promote muscle strength and healing, reducing the risk of reinjury. 9 A physical therapist can show you stretching exercises that may help you maintain flexibility and range ...
What are the best ways to treat muscle pain?
Compression. Massage. Heat therapy. Physical therapy. Pain medication. 1. Cold therapy. When you strain a muscle, the fibers in the tissue are damaged. This may cause immediate pain, inflammation in the muscle tissue, and swelling in the affected area.
What is muscle strain?
A muscle strain is when muscles or tendons tear or stretch. Many injuries—falls, sudden blows, overuse, and more—may strain muscles. 1 No matter what causes a strain, it’s painful and inconvenient. Whether you strained your neck while parallel parking or pulled a groin muscle playing hockey, knowing how to treat the pain ...
How to treat a strained neck while parallel parking?
Here are six options to help you treat your muscle strain: Cold therapy. Compression.
Can NSAIDs help with muscle strains?
You can relieve pain with over-the-counter medications like aspirin or NSAIDs, which may also help reduce swelling. For more extreme muscle strains, your doctor might recommend a short course of a stronger pain medication. 10 As always, discuss any treatments with your doctor prior to beginning.
Does heat help with muscle pain?
Heat also increases blood flow, which may promote healing. 8 You can alternate hot and cold therapy to help reduce the pain and swelling caused by a muscle strain.
What is the best way to relieve muscle pain?
C ompress the muscle with an elastic bandage. E levate the injured area. To help relieve muscle pain and swelling, your doctor may suggest that you take acetaminophen ( Tylenol and others) or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), such as ibuprofen ( Advil, Motrin and others).
What is muscle strain?
A muscle strain is the stretching or tearing of muscle fibers. Most muscle strains happen for one of two reasons: either the muscle has been stretched beyond its limits or it has been forced to contract too strongly. In mild cases, only a few muscle fibers are stretched or torn, and the muscle remains intact and strong.
What is a grade 3 strain?
Grade III strain. This strain tears the muscle all the way through , sometimes causing a "pop" sensation as the muscle rips into two separate pieces or shears away from its tendon. Grade III strains are serious injuries that cause complete loss of muscle function, as well as considerable pain, swelling, tenderness and discoloration.
How do you know if you have muscle strain?
Symptoms of muscle strain include: Muscle pain and tenderness, especially after an activity that stretches or violently contracts the muscle -- Pain usually increases when you move the muscle but is relieved by rest. Muscle swelling, discoloration or both . Muscle cramp or spasm.
How long does it take for a torn muscle in the leg to heal?
In the legs, mild or moderate strains may take up to 8 to 10 weeks or more to heal. Symptoms of a severe (Grade III) strain may persist until the torn muscle is repaired surgically.
What does a doctor want to know about muscle pain?
Your doctor will want to know what type of activity triggered your muscle pain and whether there was a pop in the muscle at the time of injury . The doctor will ask about your symptoms, especially any decrease in muscle strength or any difficulty moving.
What does it mean when you feel a pop in your muscle?
You hear or feel a pop in your muscle at the time of injury. You have severe pain, swelling or discoloration in the injured muscle. Your injured muscle is obviously weak or has difficulty moving compared to the same muscle on the opposite side of your body.
What is the best pain reliever for arthritis?
Over-the-counter pain relievers. Try over-the-counter pain relievers, such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others), naproxen sodium (Aleve) and acetaminophen (Tylenol, others). Alternate heat and cold. Reduce inflammation by applying cold, such as an ice pack or ice wrapped in a towel, for up to 20 minutes several times a day.
What is the best treatment for neck pain?
Chiropractic treatments to the neck can provide short-term pain relief, and, for many people, carry minimal risks. Massage. During a massage, a trained practitioner manipulates the muscles in your neck with his or her hands.
How does traction help with neck pain?
Traction uses weights, pulleys or an air bladder to gently stretch your neck. This therapy, under supervision of a medical professional and physical therapist, may provide relief of some neck pain, especially pain related to nerve root irritation. Short-term immobilization.
How to help neck pain?
Your doctor might inject corticosteroid medications near the nerve roots, into the small facet joints in the bones of the cervical spine or into the muscles in your neck to help with pain. Numbing medications, such as lidocaine, also can be injected to relieve your neck pain.
What can a physical therapist do to help with neck pain?
Physical therapy. A physical therapist can teach you correct posture, alignment and neck-strengthening exercises, and can use heat, ice, electrical stimulation and other measures to help ease your pain and prevent a recurrence.
How to reduce inflammation in the body?
Reduce inflammation by applying cold, such as an ice pack or ice wrapped in a towel, for up to 20 minutes several times a day . Or alternate the cold treatment with heat. Try taking a warm shower or using a heating pad on the low setting. Home exercises.
What can I do to help my neck?
Numbing medications, such as lidocaine, also can be injected to relieve your neck pain. Surgery. Rarely needed for neck pain, surgery might be an option for relieving nerve root or spinal cord compression.
