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Information about Strain (injury)

This article is about the injury. For other meanings, see strain.


A strain is an injury to a muscle in which the muscle fibers tear as a result of overstretching. Strains are also colloquially known as pulled muscles. The equivalent injury to a ligament is a sprain.

Typical symptoms of a strain include localized pain, stiffness, inflammation, and bruising around the strained muscle.

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

Whiplash is a specific type of strain AND sprain injury to the neck and upper back. One can suffer with whiplash symptoms for many years after a serious car accident. [1]. The seriousness of a whiplash injury can never be underestimated; no matter how insignificant the collision seems to be.

Treatment

The first modality for a strain is R.I.C.E.[1]
  • Rest: Stop all activities which cause pain.
  • Ice: Helps reduce swelling. Never ice for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Protect 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) 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 wraps are a useful way to combine Icing and Compression to stop swelling and pain.

See also

References



 •  • [ e]
Dislocations, sprains and strains ( where x=0 to 9, )
Neck (x=1)Whiplash
Shoulder and upper arm (x=4)Dislocated shoulder
Hip and thigh (x=7)Dislocation of hip
Knee and lower leg (x=8)Anterior cruciate ligament injury - Unhappy triad
Ankle and foot (x=9)Sprained ankle
Strain can refer to:
  • Strain (materials science), the deformation of materials caused by stress
  • Strain (biology), a variant of a plant, virus or bacterium; or an inbred animal used for experimental purposes
  • Strain (injury), a muscle injury
  • Strain (music)

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Injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside or force, which may be physical or chemical. Injury may also refer to injured feelings or reputation rather than injuries to the body.
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MUSCLE (multiple sequence comparison by log-expectation) is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.
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muscle fiber, also spelled muscle fibre (see spelling differences), also technically known as a myocyte, is a single cell of a muscle. Muscle fibers contain many myofibrils, the contractile unit of muscles.
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Stretching, as theorized in literature, is the deliberate act of lengthening of muscles, in order to increase muscle flexibility and/or joint range of motion (Weerapong et al 189-206).
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In anatomy, the term ligament is used to denote three different types of structures:[1]
  1. Fibrous tissue that connects bones to other bones. They are sometimes called "articular ligaments"[2], "fibrous ligaments", or "true ligaments".

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A sprain (from the French espraindre - to wring) is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by a sudden over stretching (for the muscle injury, see strain). The ligament is usually only stretched, but if it is completely torn, a longer period of immobilization and
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The term symptom (from the Greek σύμπτωμα meaning 'chance', 'mishap' or 'casualty', itself derived from συμπιπτω
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Pain is a sensation transmitted from sensory nerves through the spinal cord and to the sensory area of the cerebrum, where the sensation is perceived. It is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional
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Stiffness is the resistance of an elastic body to deflection or deformation by an applied force. It is an extensive material property.

Definition

The stiffness k of a body that deflects a distance δ under an applied force P is


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Inflammation (Latin, inflammatio, to set on fire) is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants.
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MeSH D003288 A bruise, also called a contusion or ecchymosis, is a kind of injury to biological tissue in which the capillaries are damaged, allowing blood to seep into the surrounding tissue. It is usually caused by blunt impact.
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MeSH D014911 Whiplash is the common name for neck sprains, such as those caused by hyper extension/flexion injury to the cervical, thoracic or lumbar spines. The injury is referred to as "whiplash" due to the neck or back being thrown forwards and/or backwards at a rapid
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The neck is the part of the body on many limbed vertebrates that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk.

Anatomy of the human neck

Bony anatomy: The cervical spine

The cervical portion of the human spine
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human back is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck and the shoulders. It is the surface opposite to the chest, its height being defined by the vertebral column (commonly referred to as the spine or
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Cold compression therapy combines two of the principles of R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) to reduce pain and swelling from a sports or activity injury to soft tissues; most notably in boxing.
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Cold compression therapy combines two of the principles of R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) to reduce pain and swelling from a sports or activity injury to soft tissues; most notably in boxing.
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Repetitive Strain Injury
Classification & external resources

DiseasesDB 11373

eMedicine pmr/97  
MeSH D012090

A repetitive strain injury (RSI), also called cumulative trauma disorder, occupational overuse syndrome
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Not to be confused with pneumonic.


A mnemonic (pronounced IPA: /niːˈmɒnɪk/ in RP, /nɨˈmɑnɨk/
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dislocation (Latin: luxatio) [1] occurs when bones in a joint become displaced or misaligned. It is often caused by a sudden impact to the joint. The ligaments always become damaged as a result of a dislocation.
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A sprain (from the French espraindre - to wring) is an injury which occurs to ligaments caused by a sudden over stretching (for the muscle injury, see strain). The ligament is usually only stretched, but if it is completely torn, a longer period of immobilization and
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The neck is the part of the body on many limbed vertebrates that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk.

Anatomy of the human neck

Bony anatomy: The cervical spine

The cervical portion of the human spine
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MeSH D014911 Whiplash is the common name for neck sprains, such as those caused by hyper extension/flexion injury to the cervical, thoracic or lumbar spines. The injury is referred to as "whiplash" due to the neck or back being thrown forwards and/or backwards at a rapid
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In human anatomy, the shoulder comprises the part of the body where the arm attaches to the torso. It is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons.
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An arm is an upper limb of the body.

Arm (or arms) may also refer to:
  • Armaments, weapons; as in Small arms, Right to bear arms
  • Eta Capricorni, a star, traditional name "Arm"

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MeSH D012783 A dislocated shoulder occurs when the humerus separates from the scapula at the glenohumeral joint. As the most maneuverable joint in the human body, the shoulder is the joint most vulnerable to dislocation.
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hip is the bony projection of the femur which is known as the greater trochanter, and the overlying muscle and fat. The hip joint is the joint between the femur and acetabulum of the pelvis and its primary function is to support the weight of the body in both static
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In humans the thigh is the area between the pelvis and buttocks and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb.

The single bone in the thigh is called the femur.
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MeSH D006618 A dislocated hip is a condition that can be congenital or acquired. Congenital hip dislocations are much more common in girls than in boys.

Posterior vs. anterior

Nine out of ten hip dislocations are posterior.
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In human anatomy, the knee is the lower extremity joint connecting the femur and the tibia. Since in humans the knee supports nearly the entire weight of the body, it is the joint most vulnerable both to acute injury and to the development of osteoarthritis.
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