Download What is a Muscle Strain?

 What is a Muscle Strain?
Before jumping in to what a muscle strain is, it’s important to cover a few basics on muscles. The human body contains three kinds of muscle fibers – cardiac (heart muscle), smooth (involuntary muscles such as the ones in the stomach lining), and voluntary skeletal muscles. The last category – skeletal muscles – makes up the majority of the muscles in your body. It is these muscles that cause motion, and it is these muscles that athletes and others strain or pull. Skeletal muscles are connected to bones via tendons. These muscles are made of bundles of fibers that are designed to contract. When the fibers contract, the muscle shortens, pulling on the attached bone and rotating the bone about the joint. Often times, during this contraction, the muscle fibers encounter resistance. This can be because the muscle is being used to lift something (like a weight in the case of a bicep curl). Resistance can also come from the ground, which is what creates the ability to run, jump, cut to switch directions, etc. The problem arises when the resistance is strong or sudden enough to be too much for the muscle fibers to handle. In such a case, in the attempt to contract against this resistance, the muscle fibers tear. If enough of the fibers tear, you end up with a muscle strain or pulled muscle and its associated muscle pain. Medical aid is usually necessary when healing torn muscle injuries. How to Heal a Torn Muscle There are various ways that a strained muscle injury can occur and you should be careful when playing sports or participating in high intensity activities to avoid these strains. To safeguard yourself from a possible muscle strain, you should be sure to be property trained and conditioned for the activity you are participating in. By doing this you will not only be more strong, but also more flexible and resilient to a muscle strain. Your ability to adapt to the exercise will increase. Remember to always stretch your muscles, especially in the knee, before and after any activity to reduce the stress placed on your muscles. Muscle pull symptoms Muscles contain a lot of blood vessels, which are responsible for bringing the oxygen needed by muscles for action. As you exercise, blood flow to the muscles increases significantly to provide needed oxygen and remove waste, such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide. Often when you pull a muscle, you feel it right away. You may feel the muscle suddenly give, which is usually then accompanied by a strong dose of pain. In severe cases, you may actually hear it. At other times, you don’t feel the pull at the time of injury, but you notice it later on. When you pull a muscle, blood vessels within the muscle tissue are torn, which damages the circulation to and from the area. Without a proper pathway, fluids “spill” into the muscle tissue, causing swelling and on occasion bruising. Sometimes these fluids may cause the area to visibly swell, but more commonly the result is internal inflammation. This inflammation is the root of pain. In addition to pain and possible swelling, a muscle pull is usually accompanied by a lack of function. Muscle pulls are usually classified as Grade 1, 2, 3 or chronic, based on the following signs. Grade 1 You have overstretched the muscle fibers, resulting in some minor tears. This can result in: tightness in the area of the strained muscle mild to moderate discomfort when performing movements that stretch the strained muscle fibers minor swelling or inflammation Grade 2 You have partially torn some muscle fibers, resulting in the following symptoms. twinges of pain during activity, especially against resistance visible swelling and pressure, with the possibility of bruising weakness in the affected muscle Grade 3 You have fully torn or ruptured some muscle fibers. You may experience: significantly diminished motor function, making motions that use the affected muscles difficult or not possible severe pain when contracting the muscles, and a high level of background pain visible and immediate swelling, with the possibility of bruising Chronic Injury In addition to the three grades of injury, there is also the category of chronic. A chronic injury is one that is persistent and recurring and is identified by the following symptoms: You experience stiffness and soreness for over one month Your bruising and swelling is gone, but your flexibility is limited and it’s hard to work your muscles at 100 percent. If you have previously had a strain and did not allow the muscles to heal completely before returning to your normal activities and exercise, your chance of developing a chronic strain are greatly increased. Often, in these instances, because of improper recovery the muscle develops scar tissue that inhibits normal muscle function. Pulled Muscle Treatment If you have sustained a muscle strain, here are some muscle treatment options: Rest. If you can, resting is very good for muscle recovery with one caveat. Rest is only good if the muscle pull recovery process is already underway. In this case, and in many cases, an injured body part is getting rest, but not recovering. Why? The injured body part is essentially shut down. Circulation is impaired, and pain or a muscle spasm persists for a long period of time. The healing process is stuck. When this is the case, it’s like a car accident – nothing can move. If you don’t have a tow truck to clear some wreckage, you can wait as long as you want, but the traffic remains jammed. Rest is good once the body’s healing ability is enabled. Then the body can leverage the time, using it to assist recovery. Ice. Perhaps the most commonly suggested method for pulled muscle recovery is icing. It is often prescribed with compression and elevation as R.I.C.E, which stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. The most beneficial time to ice is in the first 36-­‐48 hours after the muscle pull. Initially, ice can help lessen swelling by cooling the injured tissue, which slows local circulation and fluid build-­‐up. You want to try to keep swelling down, because a swollen muscle (or joint) does not heal well. If you use ice, don’t do so for more than 15 minutes at a time, and keep moving the ice around a bit. If you ice for longer periods of time, you can chill your skin enough to get frostbite, which of course you don’t want! Like many things, ice’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Remember, ice slows circulation to your injury, which limits swelling. That’s good. However, circulation is what removes waste materials from damaged body tissue, and brings in oxygen and nutrients needed for repair – all of which are essential for healing. Ice slows this process, which is not good. So ice is a double-­‐edged sword. As long as you use it appropriately, in the initial stages of an injury or to calm inflammation or swelling, you should be OK. Heat. As you might expect, if ice slows circulation, heat increases it. Heat is not a good idea in the initial period after a muscle pull. Heat will tend to increase swelling, which will slow down the healing process. So when should I apply heat? Once your muscle pull is feeling better, you can consider using heat to help warm up the muscle prior to exercise. The most common way is a hot water pack or a moist, wet towel. NSAIDS. Non-­‐steroidal anti-­‐inflammatories are another common method of recovery. If you don’t recognize the term, you’re no doubt familiar with their common names: aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, etc. You take them in pill form, and they initially help to reduce inflammation. After this initial effect, the main action is to inhibit pain signals in the brain. In other words, your injury is still sending signals, but your brain is not listening. The initial anti-­‐inflammatory action can be good. The pain relief is usually beneficial as well, because no one likes pain. But realize that in essence you are killing the messenger; not addressing the root of the problem. Generally speaking, inhibiting brain/body communication isn’t the best approach to health. NSAIDS can also have some side effects if you use them consistently. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and headaches are some of the most common. On the more serious side, they may elevate chances of kidney failure, liver failure and ulcers. Ultrasound. Some professionals will employ ultrasound, and you can purchase a machine to do it on your own. Ultrasound is a form of heat therapy that uses high-­‐frequency sound waves (that are too high to hear) to vibrate soft tissue. This heats the tissue. The intent is to promote circulation, which is essential for healing. While ultrasound has been shown to help warm up and increase range of motion prior to physical activity in a non-­‐injured joint, studies have yet to suggest results for most sports injury recovery. Despite this, it has recently become a fairly popular thing to do. You can get a home ultrasound machine, but more typically it is administered by a trained professional. This is especially true for children under the age of 16, who should only receive ultrasound by a professional. There are a few cautions, in that you don’t want to use ultrasound over internal organs or areas that may be infected. Sports injury ultrasound should not be used by pregnant women. How do muscles heal? When you tear a muscle fiber, the body immediately attempts to go into a recovery mode, sending in materials to clean up the mess and reconstitute the damaged muscle. In order for this to happen, good circulation to the damaged area is essential. If the blood vessels into and out of the muscle have been compromised, the body’s first task is to repair them. If circulation is present, the body goes into its natural reparation mode. One initial part of this process is often the creation of scar tissue. Scar tissue is quickly produced by the body, and is able to patch a torn muscle back together quickly. However, if significant scar tissue forms and remains over time at the site of the injury, its a recipe for future problems. Scar tissue is weaker then muscle fiber, and less flexible. If another significant strain occurs at this compromised location, the scar tissue often tears, leading to another muscle pull. In order to help the body break down this scar tissue and re-­‐develop healthy muscle fibers, mild motion is necessary. During the recovery process, as the body is healing, it is important to lightly exercise the muscle in recovery. With light exercise, the body can break down scar tissue and rebuild more properly. Taking the time and effort to help your body recover from a pulled or strained muscle is quite important. If you try to ignore or rush through things, you may develop scar tissue that can be the basis for repeated injuries for years to come. You don’t have to talk to too many athletes to hear about a nagging injury that just wont seem to go away. That said, recovery and prevention is not too difficult. It is mainly a matter of taking things seriously, and giving your healing process some time and attention. Muscle pull prevention Like any system, your body is only as strong as its weakest link. If your activities or lifestyle strain particular muscles, the weakest link can reveal itself in the form of muscle strain or a muscle pull. If you are an athlete, chances are that you have experienced this in one way or another. Once one area of the body is in pain or is injured, trying to compensate only strains other areas and leads to further problems. The good news is your body, if functioning properly, is constantly trying to heal or harmonize itself when given a chance. The bad news is, if you are experiencing pain or an injury, your healing or harmonizing ability is not keeping up with the stresses you’re applying to your system. So what are the keys to prevention? Here are few: Make sure you have strength AND flexibility. Sometimes as athletes we build strength, but neglect flexibility. Or, we develop flexibility by don’t put as much emphasis on strength. When you favor one over the other, you create imbalance that can lead to injury. A strong muscle that is tight lacks the suppleness to handle a sudden muscle strain, and muscle fibers tear. A flexible muscle is suddenly put to the test, and lacks the strength to hold its own, also resulting in a muscle pull. Train to develop strength and ability in many directions. Too often athletes practice only what they need to for a particular sport. When you do this, you develop certain abilities (for example sprinting acceleration), but leave behind other skills (for example the ability to move laterally). When you favor one set of muscle fibers over another, one part is developed and the other part is under-­‐developed by comparison. A sudden motion that exposes the under-­‐developed muscles results in a muscle strain or pull. Warm up. Everyone has heard of this one, but too often it is not done the right way. A cold rubber band is less elastic than a warm one, and your muscles are no different. Do not start by stretching them – this is not a good approach. Start by moving around – break a light sweat. At this point you can go through some stretching. In general it is better to stretch after your training than before. The body is warm, your muscles are more elastic, and stretching at this time helps to develop flexibility, which most athletes need. Recover on daily basis. The key to preventing the onset of a fatigue injury or a chronic muscle injury is to allow your muscles to recover after daily practice. If you don’t, sooner or later your body will lose the battle and you will find yourself with an injury. Rest is key. Proper warm-­‐downs are a good way to reduce shock to the body.