Muscle Strain

 What is a “pulled” muscle? 

We’ve all been there, we lift something in a weird way and we “pull” a muscle, this might be the first time it happens or it might be the tenth time it happens. 

When we feel that muscle pain, what’s happening to the muscle on the inside? 

Our muscles are made up of muscle fibers that will contract and shorten when activated. Shortening of the muscle alone will not cause injury, combined with excessive stretching, it can lead to the tearing of these fibers, causing an injury1.

Muscle fiber injuries are generally classified under five (5) grades of severity2:

• Grade 0: indicating muscle soreness without physical changes to the muscle finers. 

• Grade 1: less than 10% cross-sectional area involvement (tearing or separation). 

• Grade 2: 10-50% cross-sectional area involvement (tearing or separation).

• Grade 3: greater than 50% (but less than 100%) cross-sectional area involvement (tearing or separation).

• Grade 4: 100% cross-sectional area involvement (tearing or separation).

The degree of tearing or separation can be seen with an ultrasound or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). 

So what should we do when we “pull” a muscle?

The soft tissue of our bodies, meaning the tendons, muscles, and ligaments, take approximately six to eight (6-8) weeks to heal, which means that your body is working to either regenerate the tissue or lay down scar tissue3. During the initial 6-8 weeks after injury, you generally want to continue to move in a gentle appropriate manner so as to not interfere with healing, but you do want to get blood pumping into the area because your blood contains nutrients that help repair injured tissue and it helps flush out by-products such as inflammation3.

Finding a physical therapist that understands your injury is crucial to fully recovering and preventing future episodes from happening. Click this LINK to schedule an appointment and receive the treatment you deserve!

References

1. Garrett, W. E. (1996). Muscle Strain Injuries. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL   OFSPORTS MEDICINE, 24(6), S2-S8. https://doi.org/10.1177/036354659602406S02

2. Grass, A., Quaglia, A., Canata, G. L., & Zaffagnini, S. (2016). An update on the grading of muscle injuries: A narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems. Joints, 4(1), 39–46. https://doi.org/10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039

3. Tidbal, J. G. (2014). Inflammatory processes in muscle injury and repair. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 288(2), R345-R353. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00454.2004