Strain (injury)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the injury. For other meanings, see strain.
A strain is an injury to a muscle in which the muscle fibers tear as a result of overstretching. Strains are also colloquially known as pulled muscles. The equivalent injury to a ligament is a sprain.
Typical symptoms of a strain include localized pain, stiffness, swelling, inflammation, and bruising around the strained muscle.
Strains can happen to anyone and are certainly not restricted to athletes; people have strained muscles pulling on trousers. Nevertheless, people who play sports are more at risk of developing a strain.
Whiplash is a specific type of strain AND sprain injury to the neck and upper back. One can suffer with whiplash symptoms for many years after a serious car accident. [1]. The seriousness of a whiplash injury can never be underestimated; no matter how insignificant the collision seems to be.
[edit] Treatment
The first modality for a strain is R.I.C.E.[1]
- Rest: Stop all activities which cause pain, but never for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Protect the skin.
- Ice: Helps reduce swelling.
- Compression: Wrap the strained area to reduce swelling.
- Elevation: Keep the strained area as close to the level of the heart as is conveniently possible to keep blood from pooling in the injured area.
The Ice and Compression (Cold compression therapy) will stop the pain and swelling while the injury starts to heal itself. Controlling the swelling and inflammation is critical to the healing process and the icing further restricts fluid leaking into the injured area as well as controlling pain.
Cold compression therapy wraps are a useful way to combine Icing and Compression to stop swelling and pain.
