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.