Muscle Pain & Injury


Muscle Pain
No matter how you describe it –  “pulled muscle”, “muscle strain”, “muscle injury” or “muscle tear” the end result is an injury to your muscle resulting in muscle pain, muscle weakness and reduced muscle performance. These common muscle strains and their general treatment will be discussed shortly.
Other common causes of sports-related muscle pain include muscle contusions such as a corked thigh or an overtraining condition such as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) or muscle cramps.
You should also be aware that not all muscle pain is injury-related and can be due to systemic conditions such as fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis. Please consult with your trusted healthcare practitioner for a thorough assessment and diagnosis of your muscle pain.
How to Care for Your Muscle Pain?
Muscle pain can be caused by any strain, injury or tear. The most common is the high speed and load muscles such as your hamstrings, thigh (quadriceps), calf, back and biceps.
More info:
Muscle tears can range from a mild strain (Grade 1), moderate strain (Grade 2) to a complete rupture (Grade 3). Treatment options vary depending on the severity of your muscle strain, tear or rupture.
Grade 1Â muscle strains will usually respond well to conservative treatment including protection and active rest with a gradual introduction to flexibility, strength, power and speed exercise depending upon the functional needs of the injured muscle. Massage therapy and dry needling are other treatment options available.
Grade 2 muscle tears may require some professional assistance from a sports physiotherapist or other healthcare practitioner with a special interest in muscle injuries. Grade two injuries are more likely to have scarring, inflexibility and reduce strength and performance. They are generally a higher risk of re-injury on your return to sport or work, so professionally guided rehabilitation is advised.
Grade 3Â muscle rupture often require surgery. Please consult with a healthcare practitioner for more advice. Most muscle rupture repairs will require a very gradual and progressed rehabilitation program under the guidance of your surgeon and your physiotherapist.
Symptoms of a Muscle Strain
- Muscle tightness
- Bruising
- Weakness
- Inability to fully stretch your injured muscle
- Loss of function
What’s the Best Treatment for a Muscle Strain or Tear?
Until you’ve been accurately diagnosed, use the following guidelines:
- Ice and a compression bandage.
- Elevate the region if it is swollen.
- If it’s painful to walk you should be using crutches.
- Reduce your training to a level where you feel no pain. That may include stopping all exercise.
- Seek the advice of your physiotherapist, massage therapist or your trusted healthcare practitioner.
Return to Sports Post-Muscle Strain
Returning to a sport can be easy or complicated depending on the muscle affected. Some muscle tears such as hamstrings are notoriously difficult to get right.
Ideally, you should undertake:
- an assessment of your muscle function, core stability and biomechanics to avoid injury recurrence.
- a remedial or sports style massage to ensure that any scar tissue doesn’t clump.
- a muscle rehabilitation program that incorporates components of strength, endurance, flexibility and speed that is specific to your chosen sport.
- a neural tissue dynamics assessment to ensure that no nerve tissue has become entrapped in the scar tissue.
- application of a heat retainer to the area when you return to sport.
- application ice therapy after any training sessions.
Muscle Pain Injuries
Myalgia, or muscle pain, can have many sources. Here are some of the more common sources of your muscle pain. Please click the links for more information.Muscle Strains By Region
Neck & Back:
Leg:
Arm:
Haematoma-related Myalgia
Fatigue-related Myalgia
Systemic Causes of Myalgia
More Information: Myalgia
Muscle Strain Treatment
Muscle strain treatment will vary depending upon an accurate diagnosis from your health professional. 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 you’ve been accurately diagnosed with a muscle strain, use the following guidelines:- Ice and a compression bandage.
- Elevate the injured region if it is 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.

Common Treatments for Muscle Strain
The following options are available to your physiotherapist to assist the rehabilitation of your muscle strain. Please seek their professional advice prior to self-managing your injury to avoid aggravating your muscle strain. These are general guidelines only and should not be treated as individual treatment advice.Acute Muscle Strain Treatment
Subacute Muscle Strain Treatment
- Sub-Acute Soft Tissue Injury Treatment
- Acupuncture and Dry Needling
- Soft Tissue Massage
- Kinesiology Tape
- Supportive Taping & Strapping
- Electrotherapy & Local Modalities
- Heat Packs
- Medications?
Later Stage Muscle Strain Treatment Options
- Foam Roller
- Stretching Exercises
- Strength Exercises
- Closed Kinetic Chain Exercises
- Eccentric Exercises
- Neurodynamics
- Proprioception & Balance Exercises
- Agility & Sport-Specific Exercises
Other Factors to Consider
- Biomechanical Analysis
- Joint Mobilisation Techniques
- Gait Analysis
- Running Analysis
- Video Analysis
- Prehabilitation
- Yoga
General Information

Massage Techniques
- Active Release Technique - ART
- Deep Tissue Massage
- Lymphatic Drainage
- Myofascial Release
- Pregnancy Massage
- Relaxation Massage
- Remedial Massage
- Sports Massage
- Sports Recovery Massage
- Swedish Massage
- Therapeutic Massage
- Trigger Point Therapy