What Is A Muscle Strain
The role of a muscle is to produce force. When a muscle contracts, it shortens which pulls on the bone
where it attaches, creating motion around a joint. Moving your hand and arm to control your mouse and keyboard is an example of this-
all the movements you require to do such
a task is the result of many small muscles contracting and relaxing pulling on various bones to move the joints in your arm and hand.
Muscles enable us to have control over and move all the joints around our body as we
need during our every day life and during sport and activity. When we injure a muscle, we often refer to it as a strained muscle. We can injure
or strain a muscle in a number of different ways, including:
While a muscle is contracting or tensing, e.g. feeling a sharp or tight
pain in the back of your leg or thigh while running or sprinting, usually leaving you unable
to continue because of pain and weakness.
Due to over-stretching, e.g. slipping on a wet ground and over-stretch your leg. This can lead to muscle fibres overstretching and
tearing causing pain and weakness.
Due to a direct blow, often called a corky. This is mostly seen in high impact sports.
Those with a corky can often continue playing or exercising,
however after cooling down, the muscle will become very sore and restrictive.
Due to sustained postures. This will lead to fatigue-related muscle pain commonly seen in the shoulders, neck, low back and upper back.
An example being an onset of pain in the lower back muscles while sitting at a desk for a long period of time.
How Can We Help?
Physio for a muscle strain will involve a thorough assessment to determine which muscle is injured.
Lower limb posture, strength, flexibility, mobility and control will then be closely examined to
determine why the problem occurred and how to stop
it from happening again. Common treatment modalities include:
Deep tissue massage and trigger point therapy, dry needling
Joint mobilisation
Analysis of posture and footwear
Video analysis of limb biomechanics, often including a running, jumping, throwing or weightlifting assessment
Exercise therapy including prescription of strengthening, stretching and control exercises
