Muscle Strain

Muscle Tear – Pulled Muscle

What is Muscle Strain?

Your muscle strain commonly occurs at high speed when your muscles are overloaded. The most common high-speed muscle injuries occur in your hamstrings (hamstring strain), quadriceps (thigh strain), calf (calf muscle tear), back (back muscle pain), and groin strain. But any muscle in your body is susceptible to a muscle strain or tear.

Fatigue Strains

You can also suffer fatigue-related muscle strain from sustained postures. Back muscle strain and shoulder and neck muscle strains are often postural fatigue-related. Text neck has become standard due to postural fatigue while overusing your phone.

Overuse Injuries

Another common source of muscle pain can be related to excessive muscle microtrauma from an overdose of exercise. This condition is known as DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness. Other overuse injuries, such as RSI (repetitive strain injury), result from a combination of postural fatigue and overuse of the smaller upper limb muscles. Early assessment and prevention strategies have virtually eliminated RSI from offices worldwide.

What Does A Muscle Strain Feel Like?

Muscle strains have the following symptoms:

• Muscle tightness
• Bruising
• Weakness
• Inability to fully stretch your injured muscle

Muscle Strain Grades

The most severe muscle strain has more significant symptoms.

Muscle strains range from mild muscle strain (grade one) and moderate muscle strain (grade two) to severe muscle strain or complete muscle rupture (grade three).

How Do You Treat A Muscle Strain?

Muscle strain treatment will vary depending on your health professional’s accurate diagnosis. The severity of your muscle strain and what function or loads your injured muscle will need to cope with will impact the length of your healing and rehabilitation process.

Until your professional assessment, use the following guidelines:

• Apply ice and a compression bandage.
• Elevate the injured region if swollen.
• If it’s painful to walk, you should be using crutches.
• Cease or reduce your exercise or activity level to where you feel no pain.

Muscle strain can take a few days to several weeks to rehabilitate successfully. Please seek the advice of your physiotherapist, doctor or your health care practitioner who specialises in muscle injuries, e.g. massage therapist, to guide your treatment.

How to Return to Sport/Work after a Muscle Strain

Returning to a sport or work can be easy or complicated depending on the muscle affected and your sport or work demands. Muscle tears such as hamstring, thigh, groin and calf are notorious for re-tearing once you resume competition. Please seek the professional advice of your sports physiotherapist.

If your work involves lifting or fatigue postures, your healthcare professional will be able to assess you. Then, they will advise you when you are at a lower risk of returning to work or provide you with the appropriate exercise program to build your strength and ability to cope with your work duties.

Optimal Muscle Strain Treatment

Ideally, it would be best if you undertook the following:

• Physiotherapy assessment of your muscle injury to minimise your injury recurrence risk.
• A remedial massage or sports-style massage to mould your scar tissue formation.
• A muscle rehabilitation program incorporates strength, endurance, flexibility, and speed specific to your chosen sport.
• A neural tissue dynamics assessment ensures no nerve tissue has become entrapped in the scar tissue.
• Application of a heat retainer to the area when you return to sport.
• Application of ice therapy after any training sessions.

If you suffer a muscle strain that fails to respond after a few days or continues to niggle, don’t hesitate to get in touch with your physiotherapist.

Related Articles

1. Muscle Pain – Offers detailed insights into causes, symptoms, and treatment options for muscle pain​​.
2. DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – Explains the condition known as DOMS, its symptoms, and how to manage it​​.
3. Hamstring Injuries – Discusses causes, prevention, and treatment options for hamstring injuries.
4. Calf Muscle Tears – Provides information on how calf muscle tears occur, symptoms to watch for, and treatment strategies​​.
5. Groin Strain – Offers insights into the causes, symptoms, and treatment methods for groin strains​​.
6. RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) – Details on how RSI occurs, prevention tips, and treatment options, relevant to overuse injuries mentioned in the article​​.
7. Acute Soft Tissue Injury – Covers general information on managing acute soft tissue injuries, relevant to muscle strains and tears​​.

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