Normally a muscle strain is a slight twist or possibly a tear of a muscle or tendon. Tendons are tissues that connect our bones to our muscles; think of a tendon as a very strong version of an elastic band. These types of strains are associated with sportsmen and women, and are commonly found in areas such as the upper and lower back, upper thigh, abdomen (core section), and arms. They usually occur by over training, lifting too heavy, overstretching or over-tightening of a muscle. A lack of rest and recovery, older age, working muscles far too hard, and previous injury could put you at a higher risk of a muscle strain. There are various types of muscle strain: mild, moderate and severe. Treatment may depend on which of the three types you have.

Signs of a strained muscle include swelling and bruising, pain when moving the area and most likely some loss of strength. To determine the severity of the injury you may need a CT (computed tomography) scan, ultrasound, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan or an x-ray.

I believe like most others that rest is vital to give the muscle time to recover from the injury. Anti-inflammatory solutions can also be used to decrease the swelling and pain. Doctors may suggest you have an injection into the muscle, physical therapy or in the worst case, surgery. With the correct treatment you may be able to go back into training relatively promptly. Sufficient rest and recovery as well as making sure you warm up and cool down properly will help prevent another muscle strain or worse.

Treating muscle strains

The most commonly used treatment for muscle strains is RICE, which means Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. When you apply this method you will reduce the risk of swelling and bruising, which will help to stop the bleeding of the damaged area and decrease the pain.

• Rest: Rest your muscle to allow your injury to heal. I would rest for at least 3 to 7 days immediately after the injury occurs. For a severe muscle strain, rest should be for 10 to 14 days. When the pain decreases, begin normal, slow movements. If your muscle strain is in your legs or lower body, you may need to use crutches to walk.
• Ice: Put a towel around an ice pack (or bag of frozen vegetables) and hold on the injured area. Do not put the ice pack directly on your skin.
• Compression: Wrap an elastic bandage around the area to decrease swelling. It should be tight enough for you to feel support, but not so tight as to affect circulation.
• Elevation: Keep the injured muscle raised above your heart if possible. For example if you have a strain of your lower leg muscle, lie down and prop your leg up on pillows. This helps decrease pain and swelling.
Warming up
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10 minutes of low to moderate effort on a bike or cross-trainer or walking on a treadmill with a slight incline.

Cooling down

10 to 20 minutes on any piece of cardiovascular equipment, normally the recumbent bike. Do this at a low pace as we’re only cooling down now. The other benefit of this 20 minute slow cardio process after a workout is that it helps you to burn off some unwanted body fat.