How to heal pulled muscles?

4 responses so far ↓

• 1 confused // Sep 28, 2008

  first ice it in the begining
  and next few days use a heating pad routinely
  soft massages
  and no pressure or work on it at all

• 2 sisterwoman // Sep 28, 2008

  In high school, the sports medicine people made sure we got ice on our injuries immediately. It was that quick response that kept the swelling and inflammation under control. If you could have done that within the first hour after your injury, you wouldn’t have as much discomfort. Your rehabilitation would have been faster. Now it seems worse because of the stiffness and swelling.
  We were given a paper cup with water frozen into a big chunk of ice. Then we were told to rub it into the sore spot. We were encouraged to do that for at least 20 minutes. With a paper cup, you can keep peeling back the paper as it wears down. Actually, a ziploc bag filled with ice would work just as well and you could sit down and watch TV while you do it. Get the one that’s smaller than the quart/liter size bag. It’s just about 6 x 5 inches with some little fractions in it. It will fill up with a tray of ice and fill completely so it doesn’t slide around in there.
  Do this as often as you can. Do it before you exercise and do it after you exercise. After about 5 to 10 minutes it will go numb, but more importantly, it will keep that inflammation and soreness under control. If you can’t exercise without too much discomfort, you won’t pursue it. If that is the case, don’t exercise it and let it rest, but keep the ice on it.
  You want to be able to stretch it out and build up the flexibility once again. It might help to use one of those icy/hot products with menthol or eucalyptus. Don’t use heat in any way, it feels soothing, but after the swelling and inflammation can feel worse. Whether or not you use this, be sure and apply ice as often as you can. Nothing works better.
  I hope this helps you.

• 3 Richard C // Sep 28, 2008

  The answer that you were given for ice is excellent. The thing is that it didn’t go far enough. The ice will control the inflammatory response that is there and reduce or deaden the pain but you are going to have to start to work the muscle as soon as you are able. You didn’t state what muscle or muscles were pulled so that will have some affect on how soon the exercise program will start. You want to keep the range of motion of the joint full as that will also help to speed up the rehab process. The use of light weights will also help the process as soon as the muscle can move through the entire range of motion without pain. Adding further resistance to the program will depend on how well the muscle is responding. Not doing any resistive exercises will leave the muscle weak and therefore open to further injury.

• 4 Robert B // Sep 28, 2008

  Read and apply http://www.helium.com/tm/148271

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