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Strain (injury)

 

 
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Strain (injury)
 
 
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A strain is an injury
Injury

Injury or bodily injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or Purpose of the body caused by an outside wiktionary:agent or force, which may be physical or chemical....
 to a muscle
MUSCLE

MUSCLE is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.MUSCLE is integrated into UGENE bioinformatics tool as a plugin....
 in which the muscle fibers tear as a result of overstretching
Stretching

Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific skeletal muscle is deliberately elongated to its fullest length in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and reaffirm comfortable muscle tone....
. Strains are also colloquially known as pulled muscles. The equivalent injury to a ligament
Ligament

Ligaments connect bone to bone. In anatomy, the term ligament is used to denote three different types of structures:# Fibrous Tissue that connects bones to other bones....
 is a sprain
Sprain

A sprain is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by being stretched beyond their normal capacity and possibly torn. Muscular tears caused in the same manner are referred to as a Strain_....
.

ins can happen to anyone and are not restricted to athletes. People can get strains from everyday tasks.






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Encyclopedia


A strain is an injury
Injury

Injury or bodily injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or Purpose of the body caused by an outside wiktionary:agent or force, which may be physical or chemical....
 to a muscle
MUSCLE

MUSCLE is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.MUSCLE is integrated into UGENE bioinformatics tool as a plugin....
 in which the muscle fibers tear as a result of overstretching
Stretching

Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific skeletal muscle is deliberately elongated to its fullest length in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and reaffirm comfortable muscle tone....
. Strains are also colloquially known as pulled muscles. The equivalent injury to a ligament
Ligament

Ligaments connect bone to bone. In anatomy, the term ligament is used to denote three different types of structures:# Fibrous Tissue that connects bones to other bones....
 is a sprain
Sprain

A sprain is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by being stretched beyond their normal capacity and possibly torn. Muscular tears caused in the same manner are referred to as a Strain_....
.

Symptoms


Typical symptom
Symptom

A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality. A symptom is subjective, observed by the patient, and not measured....
s of a strain include localized pain
Pain

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm....
, stiffness
Stiffness

Stiffness is the resistance of an Elasticity body to deformation by an applied force. It is an intensive and extensive properties....
, inflammation
Inflammation

Inflammation is the complex biological response of Blood vessel tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. It is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue....
, and bruising around the strained muscle.

Causes

Strains can happen to anyone and are not restricted to athletes. People can get strains from everyday tasks. Nevertheless, people who play sports are more at risk of developing a strain.

Treatment

The first modality for a muscle strain in the acute phase
Acute phase

The Acute phase of an injury is the period of time in between when the injury is sustained, and the beginning of the sub-acute phase. Depending on the severity of injury, and the age and health of the patient, this phase can take up to four or five days....
 is R.I.C.E.
RICE (medicine)

RICE is a treatment method for soft tissue injury which is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Physical compression and Elevation . When used appropriately, recovery time is usually shortened and discomfort minimized....


  • Rest: Stop all activities which cause pain to avoid the strain becoming more serious.


  • Ice: Helps reduce swelling. Never ice for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Use a layer of fabric or paper in between the ice and the injury to avoid freezing the skin.


  • Compression: Wrap the strained area to reduce swelling.


  • Elevation: Keep the strained area as close to the level of the heart as is conveniently possible to keep blood from pooling in the injured area.


The ice and compression (cold compression therapy
Cold compression therapy

Cold Compression Therapy combines two of the principles of RICE to reduce pain and swelling from a sports or activity injury to soft tissues. The therapy is especially useful for sprains, strains, pulled muscles and pulled ligaments....
) will stop the pain and swelling while the injury starts to heal itself. Controlling the inflammation is critical to the healing process and the icing further restricts fluid leaking into the injured area as well as controlling pain.

Cold compression therapy
Cold compression therapy

Cold Compression Therapy combines two of the principles of RICE to reduce pain and swelling from a sports or activity injury to soft tissues. The therapy is especially useful for sprains, strains, pulled muscles and pulled ligaments....
 wraps are a useful way to combine icing and compression to stop swelling and pain.

This immediate treatment is usually accompanied by use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., ibuprofen
Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug originally marketed as Brufen, and since then under various other trademarks , most notably Nurofen, Advil and Motrin....
), which both reduce the immediate inflammation, and also serve an analgesic.

It is recommended that the person injured should consult a medical provider if the injury is accompanied by severe pain, if the limb cannot be used, or if there is noticeable tenderness over an isolated spot. These can be signatures of a broken or fractured bone
Bone fracture

A bone fracture is a medical condition in which a bone is cracked or broken. It is a break in the continuity of the bone. While many fractures are the result of high force impact force or Stress fracture, bone fracture can also occur as a result of certain medical conditions that weaken the bones, such as osteoporosis, certain types of cance...
, or a severe strain or sprain
Sprain

A sprain is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by being stretched beyond their normal capacity and possibly torn. Muscular tears caused in the same manner are referred to as a Strain_....
.

See also

  • Repetitive strain injury
    Repetitive strain injury

    Repetitive strain injury , also known as Cumulative Trauma Disorder , occupational overuse syndrome, non-specific arm pain or work related upper limb disorder , is the most recent manifestation of illness concepts that link use of the arm to injury or disease....