How Long Does A Pulled Pec Muscle Take To Heal
Most people are able to return to normal activities after about six weeks.
However, if the strain is severe or you experience pain when moving the shoulder, seek medical attention immediately. A strained pec muscle may be an indication of another problem such as arthritis or a bone fracture. Pulled muscles can also be a sign of more serious injuries such as a stroke or heart attack.
With proper care and treatment, most pull injuries will heal within four to six weeks. However, if you continue to feel pain beyond this time, see your doctor so that you can be diagnosed and treated for any underlying issues.
How Long Does It Take For A Pulled Abdominal Muscle To Heal
A moderately strained muscle can mend in a few weeks, however a more severely strained muscle can take 4 to 6 weeks to heal. During this time you should avoid any activity that could cause further injury to your muscle. After healing, be sure to include resistance training in your routine to help prevent another strain occurring.
Living With Lumbar Strain
Cold reduces swelling. Both cold and heat can reduce pain. Protect your skin by placing a towel between your body and the ice or heat source.
- For the first few days, apply an ice pack for 15 to 20 minutes .
- After the first few days, try heat for 15 minutes at a time to ease pain. Never sleep on a heating pad.
- Over-the-counter medicines can help control pain and swelling. Try aspirin or ibuprofen.
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Pharmacy First Scotland: Back Pain Treatment From Your Pharmacy
If you have back pain you can get advice and treatment directly from a pharmacy. Find your local pharmacy on Scotland’s Service Directory.
Although most back problems start for no obvious reason, back pain can be influenced by:
- staying in one position too long
- lifting something awkwardly
- a flare-up of an existing problem
- doing more activity than you normally would
Exercise #: Glute Bridge
This exercise helps to strengthen both your core, gluteal and back muscles.
How to do it:Begin lying on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet positioned flat on the floor with your arms positioned beside your torso.â Brace your core and squeeze your butt before any movement.â While bracing, lift your butt off the floor, and continue squeezing your butt.â Hold this position for 5 seconds and return slowly to the starting position.â Aim for 10 repetitions.
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Causes Of Pulled Torn Or Strained Muscle In Back
Unfortunately, all of us at some point in our lives will suffer from some degree of upper back pain, middle back pain, or lower back pain. In fact, according to a report published in 2014, lower back pain is the number one cause of lost days at work. The report described back pain as a major health condition that affects about 10% of people and is a leading cause of disability worldwide.4
Use Hot Or Cold Therapy
To reduce both inflammation and discomfort, try heat or ice therapy. These two treatments can also provide you with relief when you begin to exercise again. The key is to use each of them at the right time. Ice should be applied right after suffering your injury. Wrap an ice pack, bag full of ice cubes, or a frozen bag of vegetables in a cloth or towel. Apply it to your lower back for 10-20 minutes at a time. Use this therapy up to several times per day for the first few days.
Once you are past the initial recovery period, it is time to use heat. Try a heating pad on a low or moderate temperature for approximately 20 minutes per session. While this treatment is also safe to do multiple times per day, be sure to turn the pad off before you go to bed. Falling asleep while engaging in heat therapy can cause burns to the skin. It can even pose a fire hazard.
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Best Otc Medicine For Lower Back Pain Due To A Pulled Muscle
Your lower back is called the lumbar region of the back. It has a great deal of considerable hauling to do. The back spine lugs the pressure of your entire top body, plus biomechanical anxiousness that come with the motions. Best Otc Medicine For Lower Back Pain Due To A Pulled Muscle
The back spine has 5 vertebrae foundations. Each vertebra has a large disc cushioned gel wrapped in a tough membrane on its front side that serves as a shock absorber.
Each vertebra also has 2 cartilage-lined aspect joints on its behind. Communicating, discs and likewise aspect joints allow the back to securely flex as well as turn.
Your lower back furthermore consists of tendons, ligaments, and likewise muscle mass. Tendons are strong bands that hold the vertebrae as well as discs with each other. Ligaments attach muscles to the vertebrae. These structures help hamper excessive mobility that can damage the back.
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Diagnosis And Treatment Of Lumbar Strains
In order to determine if your back pain is indeed caused by a lumbar strain, you should seek medical advice. Your doctor might first perform a physical examination exam. If he/she finds anything that represents a cause for concern he/she may refer you to have an MRI scan.
Treatment of the lumbar spine can be done with some simple steps. But thats not as easy as it seems. The actual treatment is time-consuming as it becomes difficult to find relief and symptoms usually last for weeks and even months. But some aspects of the treatment can ensure fewer episodes of the injury in the future.
This isnt to say that you cant do anything to reduce pain in the short term.
For the time being, to temporarily relieve pain you may want to try:
· A sensible amount of bed rest
· Applying an ice pack on the affected area
There are also things you can do to relieve pain in the long term, such as:
· Staying active
· Performing muscle stretching exercises to release any tension inside the affected muscles
· Performing muscle strengthening exercises that will help prevent future injury
· Engaging in physical therapy for which it is recommended that you use a medical device to go with it
Taking any kind of muscle relaxants or anti inflammatory over-the counter medication is not recommended, however, as they can be highly addictive and can cause a series of side effects.
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Pulled Back Muscle Treatment
Learn about muscle anatomy and the symptoms of lower back strain. WatchLower Back Strain Video
Aggressive chiropractic manipulation should be avoided at the onset of treatment. It is best to restore health in a very gradual and dedicated process, watching for worsening symptoms versus improvement.
Ultimately, the severity of a muscle injury will determine what kind of treatment is necessary.
Lower Back Muscle Strain
If you suffer from lower back pain, there is a high likelihood that a muscle strain caused it. This happens when the muscles and ligaments that hold your spinal column in place are stretched too far, resulting in a rip or tear in the muscle. The spine will then become less stable and will put pressure on the nerves in your back.
While the lower back is where most of the pain resides, nerves run throughout your entire back, so other pain is possible if the issue is left untreated.
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S To Quickly Recover From A Pulled Back Muscle
Medically reviewed by Dr. Brian Paris, D.C on Nov. 6, 2018.
If you havent already, you probably will at some point experience a pulled back muscle. Theyre the most common cause of low back pain.
It could happen during a game of golf, while cleaning the garage, or even on the dance floor.
While we often tend to refer to any soft tissue pain in the back as a pulled back muscle, were really talking about two separate kinds of back injuries strains and sprains.
In this article, Ill show you the difference between those injuries and how to quickly recover from pulled back muscles without taking drugs like NSAIDs.
Rest And Ice Or Heat Therapy
The final step in this treatment process involves resting, using ice and heat therapy, and prevention methods to reduce the chance of straining your back again. Read more about the R.I.C.E. method here.) Its no surprise that the benefit of resting during the recovery process is to help give your muscles a break from the work they typically endure every day. But this part can be a tricky as most doctors suggest you do not completely do bed rest but that you lower the number of activities instead.
Ice and heat therapy is a crucial part of treatment for your back muscle relief. Using heat can help open up your blood vessels, which promotes healing in your tissues, tendons, and muscles. Ice, on the other hand, narrows your blood vessels, which helps to reduce any swelling that you might be suffering from. Using a heat and ice therapy wrap can help you easily switch from applying hot and cold to your lower back.
And finally, another aspect of this step involves prevention methods to help you avoid straining, pulling, or tearing your back in the future. There are many different ways to help prevent a pulled back muscle including:
- Sleep on your back or side
- Correct your posture. Try using a posture brace like this one to train your muscles to remain in the right position
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Ways To Treat Lower Back Strain
1. If you think the object is just too heavy, dont lift it alone. Instead, postpone the transfer of the object until you can get someone to help you carry it. If two or three people cant lift it, its probably too heavy for people to carry safely. Use the appropriate carry equipment to transfer the object from point A to B.
2. Just before lifting a heavy load, spread your feet so that the load will be distributed more evenly throughout your legs and feet. This immediately reduces the strain on your back because the legs are forced to carry most of the load. Feet that are spread wide also provide a wide base to your entire body, which provides better stability.
3. Dont lift objects from a distance. Lift an object only when you are really close to it, so your back wont have to bend or twist too much.
4. If you have to lift something heavy off the ground, avoid bending at your waist. Instead, transfer your weight to your knees and let your sturdy legs do the lifting for you. Bend your knees, grab the object and slowly straighten your knees. That way, your back has been spared the ordeal of having to strain against gravity while lifting a heavy object.
5. The further away an object is from your body, the heavier it will feel. If you are carrying a child, for example, try embracing the child while carrying it, instead of holding the child a few inches from your chest. Youll notice a significant difference immediately.
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Whats The Difference Between A Strain And A Sprain
A strain happens when you injure either a muscle or a tendon. Your tendons are tough, fibrous tissues that connect your muscle to your bone.
When you are experiencing back strain, it means that you have twisted, pulled or torn the muscles or tendons that support your spine. If you stretch a muscle too much, you actually cause small tears in the muscle fibers.
A sprain, on the other hand, occurs when you stretch a ligament too far or tear it. Ligaments are the fibrous tissues that connect your bones at your joints.
Sprains and strains may not sound like serious injuries, but the back pain they cause can really hurt!
In fact, the pain can be so excruciating that some people are convinced theyve done something terrible to their back and that theyll need surgery.
The good news is you definitely wont need surgery. Pulled muscles in the back usually heal within days or weeks on their own.
Please note, if you have severe, constant pain that keeps you from sleeping, experience a loss of bladder or bowel control or have progressive lower extremity weakness, you may have a more serious injury to your lumbar spine and should be evaluated by a professional.
Although its possible to have a pulled muscle anywhere in your back, these strains and sprains most often occur in the lumbar region, or your lower back. One of the most common symptoms of a pulled back muscle islower left side back pain.
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When Should I Call My Healthcare Provider
- Youre unable to stand or walk.
- You have a temperature over 101.0°F
- You have frequent, painful, or bloody urination.
- You have severe abdominal pain.
- You have a sharp, stabbing pain.
- Your pain is constant.
- You have pain or numbness in your leg.
- You feel pain in a new area of your back.
- You notice that the pain isnt decreasing after more than a week.
Contact your healthcare provider immediately for the following:
- Pain radiating down the leg
- Pain that is accompanied by fever, weakness in the leg, or loss of control of the bladder or bowels
Other Exercises For Strengthening Your Back
You can also check my other exercises to improve your posture.
Low back pain can also be caused by your sciatic nerve. If you have pain in your lower back and pain down your left leg or right leg, then why not try some great yoga stretches to relieve sciatic pain, tennis ball massage therapy, and foam roller exercises for sciatic and back pain. All these exercises include video or detailed illustrations for easy implementation at home.
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Treatment For A Pulled Back Muscle
Except in the cases of severe injuries, most of the time, a pulled back muscle may be treated at home with RICE .7 Working with a physical therapist may help move along your recovery because you may have access to more advanced treatments such as cryotherapy, active compression, and contrast therapy.
How Do You Avoid A Pulled Lower Back Muscle
The best way to decrease the risk of any injury in the lower back is to use proper lifting techniques. It is also important to keep your body weight at a healthy level and exercise regularly. A good overall stretching program and warm-up before activities can also decrease the chances of a pulled muscle.
Anatomical image of the human back musculature
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Apply Ice For The First Few Days After A Strain
How To Treat A Pulled Muscle
Prevention should always be the primary goal:
- Maintain strong abdominal and back core muscles to help stabilize your spine and prevent strain on back muscles.
- Live a healthy lifestyle, including weight management and low-impact aerobic exercises, to build muscle strength and prevent strain.
- Maintain a neutral posture when sitting or standing.
- Utilize leg muscles instead of back muscles when lifting objects to prevent back muscle fatigue and injury.
Muscular back pain usually goes away after several weeks of home care, says Dr. Van Dien. Despite the popular belief that you must rest, early mobilization and walking following an acute back strain will help keep muscles loose and prevent further lower back tightness. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication and alternating ice and heat can be helpful with the initial onset of pain. Your doctor may also recommend a course of physical therapy.
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Find A Natural Way To Treat Lower Back Muscle Strain Backrack Spinal Decompression Treatment
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Soif youre ready to take your recovery from back pain to the next level, jointhousands of people who have already achieved that thanks to the Backrack.
How Is Low Back Strain Treated
- Acetaminophen decreases pain and fever. It is available without a doctors order. Ask how much to take and how often to take it. Follow directions. Acetaminophen can cause liver damage if not taken correctly.
- NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen, help decrease swelling, pain, and fever. This medicine is available with or without a doctors order. NSAIDs can cause stomach bleeding or kidney problems in certain people. If you take blood thinner medicine, always ask your healthcare provider if NSAIDs are safe for you. Always read the medicine label and follow directions.
- Muscle relaxers help decrease pain and muscle spasms.
- Prescription pain medicine may be given. Ask how to take this medicine safely.
- Surgery may be needed if your strain is severe.
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