Medication
Natural Treatments for Pulled, Torn, or Strained Back Muscle
- R.I.C.E.
- Heat
- Epsom salt bath to relieve strained muscle in the back
- Essential oil soothing muscle rub
- Exercises for pulled back muscles
- Other Exercises for strengthening your back
- Reduce stress
Therapy
Method 1 Method 1 of 3: Treating a Minor Muscle Strain at Home
- Rest the injured muscle to prevent further damage. The most important thing you can do for a muscle strain is to give it time to heal.
- Start moving again after 24-48 hours to speed up recovery. Once you can use the injured muscle without the pain stopping you, try to resume your daily activities.
- Elevate a strained leg muscle on a pillow. ...
Self-care
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. Elevate the injured muscle to reduce swelling.
- Medication. ...
- Heat. ...
Nutrition
- Protect the strained muscle from further injury.
- Rest the strained muscle. ...
- Ice the muscle area (20 minutes every hour while awake). ...
- Compression can be gently applied with an Ace or other elastic bandage, which can both provide support and decrease swelling. ...
- Elevate the injured area to decrease swelling. ...
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What is the best treatment for a torn muscle?
How to heal muscle damage?
What is the best treatment for muscle strain?
What is treatment for injured muscle?
Which method is used to treat a muscle injury?
approach — rest, ice, compression, elevation: Rest. Avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort.
What are the 4 treatments best used for muscle injuries?
The best known treatment immediately after a muscle injury is the “RICE approach”. This acronym stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation.
What is the most common first aid treatment for muscular injuries?
Rest: Rest the injured part until it's less painful. Ice: Wrap an icepack or cold compress in a towel and place over the injured part immediately. Continue for no more than 20 minutes at a time, four to eight times a day. Compression: Support the injured part with an elastic compression bandage for at least 2 days.
What treatment is best for injuries?
PRICE stands for protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation.Protection – protect the affected area from further injury – for example, by using a support.Rest – avoid exercise and reduce your daily physical activity. ... Ice – apply an ice pack to the affected area for 15-20 minutes every two to three hours.More items...
Why does icing an injury help?
Most injuries cause your body to react with inflammation and swelling. Ice is used to cool down the injured joint or tissue and reduce swelling. By contrast, heat would cause an opposite and undesired reaction. Heat treatment is more appropriate to use during recovery as you rehab back to full health.
I have a gluteal tear and have been going to PT for two months, twice weekly. I'm not much better. W...
Physical therapy generally takes a long time. Perhaps you are making improvements that you do not notice. Talk with your primary care doctor.
I was pushing real hard and felt something in my calf pop. Could it be an inner muscle puncture?
Muscles generally do not puncture unless being stabbed by a sharp object. The muscle likely just moved. Talk with your primary care doctor.
I have pain radiating from around my left shoulder blade to my left arm, what could it be?
The pain radiating from your shoulder down to your left arm might actually be the result of a pinched nerve in your neck. Pinched nerves occur when...
What is the best treatment for a torn muscle?
Anti-inflammatory pain relievers such as ibuprofen (Advil) or aspirin can help reduce swelling and pain. Physical therapy may also be needed. Surgery is the typical treatment for torn or ruptured muscles. You and your doctor will discuss all surgical or nonsurgical options available to repair your muscle.
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:
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.
How to treat muscle pain from a muscle injury?
Non-steroidal anti-infammatory drugs, also known as NSAIDs, are helpful for relieving pain and inflammation from a muscle injury. Try taking a dose of an NSAID, such as ibuprofen or naproxen. Take only the recommended doses of Ibuprofen or aspirin for 3 to 7 days after the injury.
What to do if you have a muscle tear?
2. Ask about physical therapy. Physical therapy may also be necessary if you have sustained a severe muscle tear. Doing physical therapy can help to ensure that the muscle will heal correctly and that you will regain full use of it.
How to heal a torn muscle in the back?
During this time, you should apply an ice pack wrapped in a thin towel to the torn muscle for 15-20 minutes every 2 hours. You should also wrap the injured area in an ace bandage to reduce swelling.
How to get a swollen limb up?
You can also elevate the injured limb above your heart to help reduce the swelling. Place the limb up on some pillows and lay down. Make sure that you are in a comfortable position. If you can't get the injury above your heart, try to at least keep it parallel to the ground.
How to treat a second degree muscle injury?
For either a first or second degree injury, medical care is not typically needed. You can treat these injuries with RICE, a mnemonic for the treatment. "R" stands for "rest" the injured area. Take a break from exercising until you can move the muscle without pain.
What to do if you have a severe injury?
3. Request a prescription pain-reliever for severe pain. If your injury is severe, then you may experience severe pain as well. In this case, your doctor may prescribe a pain reliever, such as codeine.
What to eat to heal a torn muscle?
Eat foods that contain a lot of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, antioxidants, and protein to speed up the healing process. Some foods that would help include: citrus fruits, sweet potatoes, blueberries, chicken, walnuts, and many more.
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 .
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.
What is a grade 1 injury?
Grade I: Mild discomfort, often no disability, usually does not limit activity . Grade II: Moderate discomfort, can limit the ability to perform high-level activities. May have moderate swelling and bruising associated. Grade III: Severe injury that can cause significant pain. Often patients complain of muscle spasm, swelling, ...
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 recover from a sprain?
Your pain is gone and your swelling is down — but your treatment is not yet over. Instead, plan your rehabilitation and return to exercise with the same care that you used to treat your injury. As a rule of thumb, give yourself two days of rehab for each day of inactivity due to injury. Start with gentle range-of-motion exercises, and then gradually increase your weight-bearing activities. When you are comfortable, consider building up your tissues with graded resistance training using calisthenics, light weights, or resistance equipment such as Cybex or Nautilus. If all goes well, you can be stronger than before your injury, thus reducing your risk of reinjury.
How to reduce swelling and pain from a sprain?
Ice is an excellent anti-inflammatory, reducing swelling and pain. For best results, apply an ice pack for 10 to 15 minutes as soon as possible after an injury.
What causes a tendon to be stretched?
Like sprains, strains are usually caused by a misstep or fall that places excessive force on a tendon or muscle, so that fibers are stretched or torn. Tendinitis. Inflammation of a tendon, often caused by overuse or poor body mechanics. Pain is the major symptom, but warmth, swelling, and redness may occur.
What is the most common symptom of a swollen muscle?
Pain is the major symptom, but warmth, swelling, and redness may occur. The pain is typically most severe at the start of exercise; it eases up during exercise, only to return with a vengeance afterward. Fasciitis. Inflammation of the layer of fibrous tissue that covers many muscles and tendons.
What are the problems with ligaments?
Here is a glossary of some common problems: Sprains. Injuries to ligaments, the fibrous connective tissues that connect one bone to another. In first-degree sprains, the ligament is stretched; in second-degree sprains, some fibers are torn; in third-degree sprains, most or all of the fibers are torn.
How to protect your toe from injury?
Injured tissues must be protected against further injury. Protect your small injuries by applying bandages, elastic wraps, or simple splints. Something as easy as taping an injured toe to its healthy neighbor can do the job. See your doctor for problems that require precision splints or casts.
Which joint is the most frequently injured?
Two-thirds involved the legs; the knee was the most frequently injured joint. It sounds grim, but it’s not. For one thing, injuries are much more common with intense exercise and competitive sports than with moderate exercise done for health.
What is the best way to diagnose muscle pain?
In the end, diagnosing the reason for your muscle pain requires a medical history, physical examination, and sometimes, blood and/or imaging tests. Rarely, a muscle biopsy is required.
What is the name of the disease that affects the joints and muscles?
Rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, autoimmune disease that primarily affects the joints, but may also cause muscle pain. The muscle pain of RA, if it exists, is often prominent and felt all over the body.
What is myofascial pain syndrome?
Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a pain disorder caused by trigger points within a muscle or group of muscles. 4 These trigger points, which feel like tiny knots underneath the skin, are essentially tights bands of muscle and/or fascia (the tissue that surrounds muscles).
How long does it take for muscle pain to go away after stopping statins?
If muscle aches do occur with a statin, they generally begin within six months of starting the drug and resolve within approximately two months (on average) of stopping the drug. 8
What does it mean when your legs hurt after running?
The classic case is a young runner who notes an aching, squeezing, tight, or cramping pain in the lower leg after running for a specific amount of time.
Can you have surgery for muscle pain?
Surgery is not commonly needed to treat muscle pain, except for certain serious diagnoses. For instance, pyomyositis requires surgical drainage of the abscess, and acute compartment syndrome requires a fasciotomy—a procedure in which the skin and fascia covering the compartment is cut open in order to alleviate pressure.
Can muscle pain be cured?
Muscle pain is a complex symptom and, depending on your diagnosis, may require a multi-faceted treatment plan. In any event, the good news is that most types of muscle pain can either be cured or managed well. With that, be sure to see your doctor if you are experiencing muscle pain, especially if it is severe, persistent, or worsening.
Compression for Excess Swelling
Those who practice medicine have used compression for ages to help in the treatment of soft tissue injuries to further speed the healing process along.
Massage Therapy To Help With Pain and Inflammation
Whenever you have a sport-related injury that involves the soft tissue such as a sprain, you might want to resort to massage therapy as a possible treatment.
Physical Therapy To Prevent Further Injuries
The aid of physical therapy is a great resource whenever suffering from soft tissue injuries like strains and sprains because therapy will allow you to pick up new skills.
Conclusion
There are multiple ways to get treated for soft tissue injuries, but ultimately, your body will tell you which works best for you.
