Taking Care of Muscle Injuries

For the most part when your in the gym, as long as you are careful and lift with proper form you should not get hurt. However; there is always that chance that it will happen. Fitness related muscle injuries happen all the time as we see in sports or even our own gym. So what do you do if you injure yourself? Well the answer is pretty simple.

If you pull or strain a muscle there will most likely be some swelling, apply ice to the injured area as soon as you possibly can, while keeping the injured muscle in the stretched position. This will help to bring the swelling down, which will also lessen the amount of pain you will feel.

Keep the injured area propped up if at all possible, this will also help to reduce the amount of swelling within the muscles. Avoid any kind of activities that are going to irritate or make the injury worse.

If you notice after a day or so that your injured area is worsening or showing no signs of getting better than you have probably sustained a more severe injury that will in fact need medical attention. However; if your injury shows improvement, or looks to be healing then you will just need to wait it out while your injured muscles heal themselves.

Once the swelling has gone down your muscles will more than likely begin to stiffen up and become very in-flexible. Apply heat to the area to help loosen the muscle up. As well as performing gentle stretches as well so as to improve the flexibility of your muscles.

I have found that if you pull or strain a muscle that there are a few things that may help with the recovery time. Below I have put down a couple of suggestions that have helped to speed up my muscle injury recovery time.

1. I would suggest going to see a chiropractor. Now I know what your thinking because I thought the exact same thing the first time I was referred to a chiropractor, however if your muscles are strained or pulled, they tend to tighten up and cause a lot of pain throughout the healing process. This is where the benefits of a chiropractor come in, they can work with the muscles to get them loosened up and moving freely again.

2. Going to see a message therapist has also helped to greatly reduce my recovery time.

I remember back about 2 months ago I was in a car accident and I injured my neck and upper back. I was told not to go to a chiropractor from the doctor at the hospital, but I decided to go anyways just to check it out. She checked me out and told me I had whiplash and strained trap muscles. She referred me to message therapy. I went to message 2 times a week and the chiropractor 3 times a week. After about 2 months I was able to get back to working out, which in my opinion is pretty good, considering the doctor had originally told me it would be about 12-15 weeks.

As mentioned above this is not going to be some magical cure, it is simply something that I have tried and found reduces the recovery time of pulled or strained muscles.

If you would like some more information on taking care of your muscle injuries you can visit:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/muscle_strain/article_em.htm

http://www.healthsquare.com/mc/fgmc0731.htm