Like any system, your body is only as strong as its weakest link. If your activities or lifestyle strain particular muscles, the weakest link can reveal itself in the form of muscle strain or a muscle pull. If you are an athlete, chances are that you have experienced this in one way or another. Once one area of the body is in pain or is injured, trying to compensate only strains other...

When you tear a muscle fiber, the body immediately attempts to go into a recovery mode, sending in materials to clean up the mess and reconstitute the damaged muscle.   In order for this to happen, good circulation to the damaged area is essential.  If the blood vessels into and out of the muscle have been compromised, the body's first task is to repair them.If circulation is present, the body...

If you have sustained a muscle strain, here are some muscle treatment options: Rest. If you can, resting is very good for muscle recovery with one caveat. Rest is only good if the muscle pull recovery process is already underway.What does this mean? We had a call from an athlete recently exclaiming a common problem. “I sustained a pulled quad three weeks ago, and I’ve been resting, but...

Muscle pulls are usually classified as Grade 1, 2, 3 or chronic,based on the following signs. Grade 1 You have overstretched the muscle fibers, resulting in some minor tears. This can result in: tightness in the area of the strained muscle mild to moderate discomfort when performing movements that stretch the strained muscle fibers minor swelling or inflammation Grade 2 You have...

Before jumping in to what a muscle strain is, it’s important to cover a few basics on muscles. The human body contains three kinds of muscle fibers – cardiac (heart muscle), smooth (involuntary muscles such as the ones in the stomach lining), and voluntary skeletal muscles. The last category – skeletal muscles – makes up the majority of the muscles in your body. It is these muscles that...