How To Speed Up Your Muscle Injury Recovery

10 November 2023

A muscle injury of any type can be extremely painful, weaken the body, and make it difficult to proceed with your daily activities. Muscle injuries include a pulled muscle or muscle strain and can occur for various reasons. Speeding muscle recovery time is crucial to carrying on with your life without pain.

Muscle injuries can limit the muscle’s movement, not only in that muscle but in surrounding ones attached via tendons and aponeurosis. Arteries, veins, and nerves penetrate the epimysium (connective tissue sheath surrounding the muscle). When a muscle is damaged, nerve impulses are sent to the brain, signaling pain. Blood flow can be compromised in severe muscle damage, and blood loss into the surrounding tissue can cause a bruise or hematoma.

Skeletal muscles also need signals (impulses) from the nerve cell to contract the muscle fiber. When an injured muscle cuts off these nerve impulses, the muscle cannot perform. In bodybuilding, muscle injury is what builds stronger, larger muscles as new cells fill in the tears. However, extreme damage can lead to serious issues.

How Does A Muscle Injury Happen?

A muscle strain can occur in various ways, each causing a different set of problems. Fatigue will not result in the same pain and damage that extreme exercise can cause.

Any strain on a muscle can reduce motion and cause pain. Minor and moderate injuries are easily treated at home. However, more severe damage (diagnosed as grade 3), such as rotator cuff tears, Achilles ruptures, or hamstring ruptures, might require surgery.

Muscle injury can occur in three different areas: within the muscle, at the connection between the muscle and tendon (most frequent), or in the tendon that attaches the muscle to the bone.

Muscle strains and injuries can happen to anyone. While athletes are more likely to experience these injuries, the general population is also at risk. Acute strains can occur while walking if you lose your footing or slip, throw an item, lift something heavy, jump, run, or lift something improperly.

Muscle injuries include:

Strains: these contraction-induced injuries occur most often when muscles work across multiple joints during rapid acceleration and deceleration more than the tensile forces the muscle fibers can withstand
Contusions: caused by compressive force to the muscle, such as in contact sports collisions that lead to muscle damage with bleeding resulting in a bruise
Lacerations: most often occur due to injuries, such as industrial or traumatic accidents that cut the muscle

Here are some of the most common causes of muscle injury:

Poor Conditioning

Engaging in physical activity when the muscles have not been adequately conditioned can increase the risk of injury.

Improper Exercises

Doing extreme, high-intensity exercises or those your body is not used to can cause exercise-induced muscle damage. The ensuing trauma can lead to inflammation, swelling, increased passive tension, decreased muscle strength, soreness, reduced range of motion, and problems with insulin sensitivity as the muscles are involved in glucose uptake.

Fatigue

Overexertion of the muscle can lead to muscle fatigue, weakening it and making it more susceptible to injury.

Improper Warmup

Working the muscles without preparing them through proper warmup exercises and stretches can cause muscle injury. Lack of flexibility can increase the risk of injury as the muscle fibers are tighter than they should be.

Overuse

Repetitive tasks can cause micro-trauma to the muscles. For example, someone on the computer all day doing repetitive movements with the keys or the mouse may experience muscle pain in the inner elbow or wrist.

Injury

Whether caused by sports or trauma, an injury can result in mild to severe damage to the muscle. Bruising is a sign of bleeding, and while minor bruises are not dangerous, some forms of hematomas can be life-threatening in the case of serious injuries, including when fractures or internal organ damage is present.

Poor Posture

Sitting or standing in the wrong position for a long time can strain the muscles. Muscle strains are more common in the neck, back, shoulders, and hamstrings.

What Can You Do For Muscle Injury?

The treatment you need depends on the severity of the muscle strain. Muscle injury is categorized into three grades as follows:

Grade 1: mild damage to less than 5% of individual muscle fibers, causing minimal loss of motion and strength.
Grade 2: more muscle fibers are affected with increased damage, yet no complete ruptures. The injury can cause significant loss of motion and strength and may take two to three months to heal.
Grade 3: complete muscle or tendon rupture that may require surgery to reattach the damaged tissue.

The tips below can help you speed up recovery from a muscle injury:

Rest

Injured muscles need time to heal, and that means letting them rest. An injured muscle is more vulnerable to further damage, so avoid activities that can further increase the strain.

Sleep

Getting adequate sleep is crucial to muscle recovery, as that is the time when growth hormone and insulin growth factor 1 promote cellular regeneration and tissue repair. Anything less than 7 hours reduces recovery efforts inside the body.

Hydrate

Hydrated muscles heal better than dehydrated ones. Along with water, increasing intake of fruit and vegetables provides additional fluids along with crucial vitamins and minerals the body needs for muscle repair.

Compression

Compression wrapping of the affected area supports and reduces swelling in the injured area. Do not make the compress too tight, which can cut off circulation.

Elevate

Raising the injured muscle above heart level decreases blood flow to the area, helping to reduce swelling. The sooner you can do that, the better it is to speed healing.

Ice

Applying ice packs to an injured muscle immediately can help reduce swelling and pain. Focus on doing it for 15 minutes every hour for the first two to three days (longer if necessary).

HGH Therapy

It has been clinically proven that HGH not only boosts muscle development but also enhances muscle repair and recovery. Find out what is the HGH cost in the US and whether HGH therapy is right for you.

Manual Therapy

Physical therapy targets the damaged muscle to improve circulation, increase mobility, decrease swelling, reduce pain, and promote healing.

Heat

After icing for three days, apply heat a few times daily to restore blood circulation to the area for healing.

Pain Management

There are many ways to manage pain, including over-the-counter medications, prescription painkillers (which can lead to addiction if used long-term), supportive braces, and getting help from a pain management specialist, if needed.

Increase Protein Consumption

Muscles need protein, and eating more protein, along with taking collagen or whey powder supplements, provides the muscles with nutrients to speed the healing process.

Consume Tart Cherry Juice

Studies have shown some benefits of tart cherry juice for reducing inflammation, soreness, and damage to the muscles.

Switch To Low-Impact Exercise During Injury Recovery

Strength and flexibility exercises can help improve strength and range of motion while speeding muscle recovery. A physical therapist can help determine the appropriate exercises for your condition.

Surgery

Serious injuries may require surgical intervention to improve healing. Seek medical help for severe muscle injuries.

Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections

PRP injections may accelerate muscle tissue regeneration in the damaged area.

Conclusion

Muscle injuries can cause significant pain, bruising, swelling, decreased range of motion, and loss of strength. The pain can be sudden, sporadic, stabbing, achy, ongoing, or combined.

As the muscle heals, stem cells around the injured area regenerate new muscle fibers, and scar tissue forms around the area. Torn muscle tissue may never fully regenerate, making it susceptible to future muscle strains.

Trying the RICE method of rest, ice, compression, and elevation is always the best step to take immediately. A newer recommendation is the PEACE approach, which has you protect the area from further injury by reducing use, elevating to decrease swelling, avoiding anti-inflammatory treatments (ice and NSAIDs) to allow inflammation for healing, compressing the area with a bandage, and educating yourself about the recovery period.

Protecting the muscles from injury is crucial, and giving strained muscles time to heal can reduce the risk of further damage. Seek medical attention if the pain and weakness are ongoing or severe.

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Ankita Tripathy

Ankita Tripathy loves to write about food and the Hallyu Wave in particular. During her free time, she enjoys looking at the sky or reading books while sipping a cup of hot coffee. Her favourite niches are food, music, lifestyle, travel, and Korean Pop music and drama.

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How To Live Healthily Even If You Have A Full-Time Job

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The Effect of Climate Change on Human Health

Climate change has always been a prime topic of discussion all over the world. The world we are living in impacts our life in many ways. Yet, we never give much thought to the changing patterns of its climate and natural habitat. Most people think climate change is all about earth suffering from the advancement of technology and people. But in reality, climate change is real, impacting our lives that vary by age, gender, nation, and socioeconomic status. The extreme rains are causing an increase in sea levels and warming temperatures. The greenhouse effect has an everlasting impact on human health. Not just that, but climate change is sweeping rapidly across the globe. This change is significantly impacting the earth's ecosystem and disturbing human health. It is no wonder why United Nations continuously stressing over climate change endangering the food we consume, the air we breathe, and the interactions with nature. Moreover, the severity of these impacts depends on a variety of factors. Apart from the gender and socioeconomics determinants, access to public health and addressing the safety systems are top factors. For that, there is a dire need for both climate change solutions and reframing it as public health issues for the most vulnerable ones. Professionals are already encouraging the aspirants to advance and pursue public health programs to tackle climate change. However, many individuals never consider advancing their skills by earning a professional degree program because of priorities for full-time work. Fortunately, the dawn of online education is solving this concern and enabling the aspirants to grow in their careers by earning professional and accredited online programs. Aspirants can opt for MPH programs online by setting their schedules within the comfort of home. This way, public health professionals can respond to climate change by reducing the uncertainty, risk of disaster, and economic outcomes. With that said, let's discuss different ways climate change affects human health. 1. Increase in Temperatures One of the effects of climate change that is dominant around the globe is an increase in temperature. Over the last few years, the world is experiencing a significant temperature rise, causing greenhouse effects and scorching summer. Moreover, the rising temperature is also leading to heat strokes and deaths. This year, Canada's temperatures rose to 45C, setting a new record high. But it is worth noting that these temperatures fuel climate change, which directly impacts human health. Some of the notable factors are burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests and livestock. The reduction in the forests alone bumps the temperatures and traps greenhouse heat. On the other side, certain populations are more vulnerable to the global rise in temperatures. These include the societies that lack socioeconomic status, outdoor workers, athletes, and the homeless. For that instance, there is a dire need for policies to address the healthcare needs of these populations and ensure wellbeing for these groups. Research also reports that these extreme heatwaves are set to increase in the future. It raises the alarm to ensure better healthcare access to deprived societies and reduce exposure to abrupt climate change. 2. Air Quality Impact The air we breathe is no longer fresh. The changing climate is now proving the consequences of higher levels of pollutants leading to unhealthy air quality. That is also why there are higher rates of deaths related to air pollution than from car accidents. It might come as shocking that both indoor and outdoor air is harmful to human health. The prominent drivers of these diminishing air quality are burning fossil fuels, construction, and industrial waste. The increase in carbon dioxide emissions from the industries also increases the growth of plants that produce airborne allergens. Moreover, these emissions are also destroying the ground-level ozone layers, which allows the ultraviolet rays to reach the surface that infiltrates human health. Scientists project that carbon emissions are more likely to put vulnerable people into hospitals. Since carbon emissions impact the ozone layer, children and outdoor workers can suffer from chronic lung disease. There is still research required to identify the measures to curb the worsening air quality and reduce its impact on human health with these complex factors. You may go through: Is The World Shifting Fast Enough To Renewable Sources Of Energy? 3. Extreme Weather Apart from worse air quality globally, climate change also yields extreme weather patterns. 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These diseases are spread by disease-carrying vectors like mosquitoes, fleas, and other hosts like birds. These vectors carry infectious pathogens of viruses, bacteria, and fungi that are transmissible to humans. The main factor that worries the organizations is the ideal weather conditions that lead to the transmission of this disease. For instance, the monsoon spells across Asia result in higher precipitation and humidity levels that promote the growth of dengue mosquitoes. These vectors spread severe dengue infections causing frequent epidemics burden on Asia. Final Words Climate change affects our health in one way or another. However, there is a lot of measures we can take to reduce its impact and prepare ourselves. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is already causing a cascade of consequences on the world. But it is also essential to act fast and reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change. Read Also: Six Main Reasons Why You Need to Care for Environment How to start living off the grid

Staking Claim To Receive Suitable Compensation

A large number of individuals are lulled into a sense of security, expecting to remain safe always. However, accidents and incidents do happen and it is virtually impossible to prevent them. This could be due to the negligence of others or oversight in a place of work that leads to personal injury to individuals. The nature of injuries differ from incident to incident, and for those who are in major accidents or incidents that cause debilitating and life-altering injuries, it is necessary to have the right lawyer to help claim and receive adequate compensation. Injuries can keep individuals away from gainful employment during the period of recovery : Certain injuries may require a lengthy period of recovery and recuperation during which time it may not be possible for the injured individual to take up employment. This may result in possible loss of pay and additionally, may stall the career of the affected party. For instance, the injury may have occurred at a time when the victim was just about to take up a position that would have scripted great professional success. The injury and subsequent loss of employment may have put paid to career prospects temporarily. A need to budget the manner in which the settlement amount is spent : A problem that has been seen among plaintiffs is the tendency to spend the settlement amount in a short period of time. This is a practice that has been witnessed by San Diego Personal Injury Attorneys and it needs to be avoided, by using the amount judiciously. One of the reasons for the prudent expenditure of settlement amount is the lack of clear idea about the exact date on which the individual will be able to rejoin duties or find suitable employment after the period of hospitalization or recovery. While individuals may have a fair idea of the period, it may be difficult to accurately predict the date of employment and subsequent earnings. This may very well leave the individual in a situation where he or she has exhausted the amount, with nothing to take care of needs. Choose lawyers with specialization in personal injury practice areas : Lawyers specialize in various practice areas and if you happen to find yourself in an incident or accident, where it becomes necessary to move the courts for compensation, you need to find a lawyer with the right experience and specialization. This will help in proving your case in the best manner possible, present evidence, and seek fair and adequate compensation. Without the right presentation, the strongest case may falter in a court of law, and this makes it all the more important to employ the services of a competent personal injury lawyer with a specialist practice. Public-spirited lawyers and attorneys who fight for social causes will be a better option, because of the additional motivation to fight for the rights of victims. While this is not necessarily mandatory, it does help in receiving the assistance of lawyers who stand up for a cause.