The morning had just a touch of chill in the air—perfect weather for flag-football. We were on defense and close to our end zone. It was one of the few times that I have been in exactly the right spot at the right time. The ball sailed out from the quarterback, spiraling toward the receiver. A quick lunge forward put me into position for an interception. A scant few seconds of running and I was in the end zone celebrating a touchdown. (We won’t mention the fact that I was playing with a group of older, out-of-shape guys who were less than inclined to chase me the length of our 50 yard field and were more than willing to end the game after the play.)

It wasn’t until after the game ended that I noticed my hamstring tightening up. The tightness gradually turned into sharp pain. Ah, yes, the infamous pulled hamstring—bane of sprinting athletes the world over. That sprain kept me out of action for quite awhile and still haunts me today.

For those of us who have explored the exquisite world of muscle injuries, we can attest to how much we don’t want to make a return voyage. Muscle strains of any type can be easily avoided, and, in cases where strains happen despite preventative efforts, they can also be self-treated for speedy recoveries.

Muscle Strains

Any muscle on your body can be strained. Some muscles—the hamstring, for instance—seem more susceptible to strains due largely to the injury mechanism. Essentially, muscle strains are tears in muscle fibers, ranging from micro tears to complete ruptures. Generally, muscle strains are caused by overstretching or overloading a muscle.

Imagine your muscle as a piece of paper. Gentle, consistent pulls on the sheet of paper won’t necessarily rip it. However, continue adding pressure as you pull and eventually the paper will give. Let’s extend that analogy a step further. Rather than slowly adding pressure to your pulls on the paper, snap it in a quick jerk. The chances of ripping that paper increase dramatically. Your muscle reacts in much the same way. Gentle, consistent forces may not cause tears in your muscle—in fact, your muscles are designed to deal with just such forces. But keep adding more and more weight or force to those actions and your muscle fibers will eventually tear. The second example—snapping the paper—closely simulates the explosive movements common to athletic events. Athletes often go from static to active in one quick motion, in effect “snapping” the muscle. Just like the piece of paper, your muscle’s response to such a dramatic and quick application of force is often to tear.

While athletic events are most often the culprit when it comes to muscle strains, there are any number of ways to strain a muscle. Heavy lifting; sudden, jerky movements; insufficient warm-up; activity in weak or under-conditioned muscle; fatigue; previous injury; and even direct impact can all contribute to causing a muscle strain.

Now that we know how muscle strains can happen, how do you know if you have one?

Believe me, you’ll know if have a strained muscle. But here’s some of the more common symptoms, just in case. You may experience any of the following separately, in any combination, or, in a worst-case scenario, all of them.

• A “popping” sensation or even an audible pop at the moment of injury.
• Redness, swelling, or bruising.
• Pain when the injured muscle or associated joint is used or even at rest.
• Weakness in the affected muscle or associated joint (in severe injuries, you may not be able to use the muscle or joint at all).

Before we get into how to deal with muscle strains, there’s one more thing you need to know about these pesky injuries. Muscle strains are actually graded (no, not “A”, “B”, or “C”, but grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3) according to their severity.

A grade 1 muscle strain involves tears to around 10% of the muscle fibers. This is only a mild strain, but you will still experience pain and some loss of function.

Grade 2 muscle strains happen when between 10 to 50% of the muscle fibers are torn. While the muscle is not completely ruptured, grade 2 muscle strains are still serious and will take time to heal.

If you ever have a grade 3 muscle strain, you can count on extensive rehabilitation. A grade 3 muscle strain means that more than 50%—or even the entire muscle—has been damaged. Grade 3 muscle strains often require corrective surgery and long hours in physical therapy.

Treating Muscle Strains

Your first step in treating a muscle strain is to determine how serious it is. Grades 1 and 2 can usually be self-treated; grade 3 strains should have immediate medical attention. If you hear a pop, cannot use the muscle or joint, experience significant pain or swelling, run a fever, or have visible tears (they’ll look like open cuts) caused by the injury, find your way to the emergency room. Your doctor will ask for a history of the injury and may run diagnostic tests such as x-rays or ultrasound.

After you’ve determined how serious the injury is, your next step is to stop—stop doing whatever activity caused the injury. The game may still be on, but unless you want to injure yourself even more seriously, the only part you should be playing is bench warmer. Let’s return to the paper analogy. Imagine pulling gently on a sheet of paper that already has a tear in it. Most likely that tear will get bigger. The very same thing will happen with your injury. Continuing to aggravate the tear, even if its only limited play, will only increase the damage that your body will need to repair later—and that means more pain and a longer rehabilitation period.

O.K., so you’ve stopped what you’re doing. Now it’s on to the famous RICE treatment: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

Your body will need time to heal. While you won’t have to turn into a couch potato, you do need to allow your muscle time to rebuild itself. Take some time off from activities that will stress the injured muscles and then, once you’re feeling better, ease back into activity.

Applying ice is pretty much a universal treatment for injuries—and for good cause. Cold causes blood vessels to constrict, which lowers inflammation and swelling. At the same time, the cold will also cause an increased blood flow to the injury, bringing with it the building supplies your body needs to repair the damage as well as removing any wastes or toxins in the injury. Place an icepack on the injury and leave it there for 15 to 20 minutes, reapplying every 2 hours. Do not apply the ice directly to the skin; use a towel or cloth to provide a barrier between the cold and you. Over the next 24 hours, reduce the frequency of application. You can also use anti-inflammatories to further prevent inflammation.

While applying heat to the injury may be beneficial later, do not use heat within the first 24 hours. Heat actually causes more swelling and pain with the initial injury. Wait a few days before applying heat.

Compression helps relieve and prevent swelling. Swelling is your body’s natural reaction to injury—it’s a protective measure to help prevent further damage. But once the threat is over, swelling just impedes the healing process. Compression will help overcome swelling.

Elevating an injury helps fluids to flow out of the injury, thus further preventing swelling. At the same time, elevation promotes the rest your injured part needs—it’s hard to be active with your hamstring elevated above your head.

Professional Treatment

If the injury is serious enough, or if you want to involve a professional in your rehabilitation, there are a number of options available. While any of the following are great, you should never self-treat using them. Always involved a trained professional.

Therapeutic Massage

Massaging the injured area will increase blood flow and will also help to break up scar tissue, which will ultimately help prevent re-injury. A massage therapist can also provide specialized massage treatment to help promote healing in the injury without causing additional damage that untrained hands may unwittingly cause.

Ultrasound has long been used to treat soft-tissue injuries. From tendonitis to bursitis to frozen joints and pulled muscles, ultrasound has been touted as the “miracle-machine” of physiotherapy. However, according to a study conducted at Ohio State University and reported in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, ultrasound may not do anything for musculoskeletal injuries.

TENS uses a mild electrical shock (hence the acronym: Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) to stimulate injured and painful areas. Theories suggest that TENS works by scrambling messages that nerves send to the brain or by eliciting a response from your body, causing it to release more endorphins. Whatever the mechanism, some people report that TENS helps reduce pain. One pluse to TENS is that after a brief instruction you can apply it to yourself in the comfort of your home—if you can afford the machine.

Your first thought might be science-fiction, but infrared lasers are gaining advocates when it comes to sports injuries. Many clinics and offices (doctor, chiropractor, and massage therapy) are now providing this up-and-coming option.

Basically, infrared laser therapy uses a low-level laser to stimulate cells in the injured areas. Reports indicate that the treated areas show increased cell activity, collagen production and synthesis, and nerve regeneration while reducing pain and inflammation. This therapy shows promise with soft-tissue injuries and wound-healing as well as some chronic problems like arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Preventing Muscle Strains

You’ve heard the old saying about an ounce of prevention. Well, it definitely applies to muscle strains. Taking just a few moments can make all the difference when it comes to preventing muscle strains.

Warming up properly is your first line of defense against muscle strains. Before doing any strenuous activity or participating in any athletic event, you should warm your body up for a period of at least 10 minutes of light exercise. The idea is to awaken the muscles of your body, causing them to become more limber and elastic. Exercising cold means that your muscles are already tight—the perfect set up for injury. So take a few moments to warm up.

Heating an area can also help to prevent injury. Using moist heat will help to loosen up the muscle. Moist heat is best; you’ll be less likely to dehydrate the muscle, which can cause its own set of problems.

Always stretch properly. Make sure to perform your stretches slowly and gradually, allowing time for the muscles to react. Never bounce or force a stretch—these are the very mechanisms that cause muscle strains. Hold your stretches and perform two to three repetitions of each stretch. Also make sure to stretch the entire muscle. In the case of your hamstring, you’ll need to stretch both the lower and upper hamstring.

Believe it or not, weak or imbalanced muscles are most often the ones that get injured. Muscles always come in pairs that work together to move a joint. Your leg, for instance, relies on the quadriceps and hamstring. When one contracts the other is stretched out, allowing the joint to move and preparing the muscle to contract in order to continue the motion. When one muscle develops more strongly than its pair, injury can happen. The leg muscles are prime examples of this. Quadriceps are powerful, explosive muscles. The hamstrings—unless they’ve been conditioned and trained—are not. When the quadriceps pull against the weaker hamstring muscle, the hamstring can be strained and injured. Ensuring that you regularly exercise and condition all muscles—especially opposing muscles—can help prevent injury, especially in the hamstring, lower back, hips, and abdomen.

Regularly conditioning your muscles also helps to keep them loose and strong, as well as more resistant to fatigue. Tired muscles are often injured, so staying in good shape will help keep you out on the field injury-free.

If you have been injured, make sure you come back slowly. Previously injured muscles are much more susceptible to re-injury than they were before. Take it slow and build up to your previous activity levels. Strained muscles can easily become chronic, keeping you out of the game. Allow 10 days to three weeks for mild strains, and six to eight weeks for more severe strains. If you are working with a physician or therapist on the injury, follow their advice and keep them informed on your activities.

No Strain, No Pain

Muscle strains are fairly common injuries—unfortunately. But that doesn’t mean you have to fall prey to them. With a little prevention you can avoid them entirely. If you still strain a muscle, never fear, treating them isn’t as complicated as you may think. Just remember, as with any injury, the best way to treat strained muscles is to never have strained them in the first place.