Muscle Strains

What are muscle strains?

Muscle strains are pulled muscles. They occur when you accidentally tear or overstretch a muscle. Usually, this happens when you use the muscle the wrong way, when your muscles are tired, or when you’ve simply overused them.

You can also develop muscle strains from:

• Running
• Heavy lifting or improper heavy lifting
• Jumping
• Slipping or falling
• Throwing
• Chronic poor posture

You can develop muscle strains anywhere, but most often, you develop them in the hamstrings, neck, lower back, shoulder, or neck.

What are the symptoms of muscle strains?

Symptoms of muscle strains include:

• Sudden pain development
• Soreness
• Discoloration or bruising at strain site
• Swelling
• Limited range of motion
• Feeling a knot in your muscle
• Muscle spasms
• Muscle weakness 
• Muscle stiffness

These symptoms range in severity based on the nature of your strain. Very mild muscle strains, for example, may not impede your range of movement, though they’re still painful.

How can you treat muscle strains?

If your muscle strain isn’t too serious, you can often care for it at home with rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE). If at-home remedies haven’t worked, or if you have a more severe strain, however, you may need medical attention.

The team at Jersey Integrative Health and Wellness offers various solutions for muscle strains, including:

OMT

Osteopathic manipulative treatment, also known as OMT, is a type of treatment that uses hands-on, physical manipulations of muscles and joints to relieve pain and provide relief from symptoms. 

Using stretches, resistance exercises, and pressure application, OMT is particularly effective at treating the muscle spasms that come along with muscle strains.

Physical therapy

The goal of physical therapy is to reduce pain and promote function. Physical therapy for muscle strains includes exercises such as joint mobilization therapy to stretch and strengthen the muscles, heating and icing to reduce pain and swelling, and soft tissue mobilization to prevent the development of scar tissue. 

Acupuncture

Acupuncture, a therapy based on traditional Chinese medicine, can treat muscle strains by reducing local inflammation and stimulating neural pathways that reduce pain. During an acupuncture session, the team inserts tiny, thin needles into corresponding pressure points around your body.

Muscle strains are irksome at best, and debilitating at worst. Don’t let muscle strains put a strain on your life. To learn about your treatment options with Jersey Integrative Health and Wellness, call the practice or use the online booking tool today.