Do you have a pull in your shoulder? Do you feel tension in the quadriceps? If the answers are affirmative, it seems that you will be unable to train for a couple of weeks. Even if the muscle tension is severe, you could be away from training for months.
I know that the first questions that come to mind are:
- What caused that strain?
- Is there anything I can do to get back to training as soon as possible?
- How can I make sure it doesn't happen to me again?
Don't worry, a muscle strain is more common than you think. Below we will tell you why they occur, how you can recover and what you can do to avoid them.
Muscle strain: the most feared injury
Muscles are pretty cool tissue that have the ability to produce force and absorb it, physically changing their length. When you add load to a muscle, it has to absorb that load. As that happens, the muscle lengthens by stretching eccentrically. If the load is too heavy or we add it too fast, the cells inside the muscle tear. So, the more cells that are torn, the greater the severity of muscle tension.
There are two ways to force load in a muscle: active and passive. A passive charge It can happen, for example, in a stretch. As you stretch the muscle, you generate a force that is absorbed by the muscle as it lengthens. If the load (stretch) is too intense or too fast, the muscles will stretch beyond their recoverable limit (resting state).
The load can also be applied active in the muscles, both by external force and by their own contractions. For example, let's think about when you run away from your opponent in soccer. As you sprint, your muscles contract and produce high forces very quickly. If you force the muscle to contract too hard or too quickly, the stretch will be too great.
It is true that some muscle strains are worse than others. Your muscles are made up of many smaller muscle cells. As the load applied to the muscle exceeds the muscle's ability to absorb that load, the smallest cells stretch beyond their limits until they break. The more that rupture, the worse the muscle strain will be.
When most of the cells in a muscle are stretched beyond their limits, a complete muscle tear occurs. Of course, not all cells in your muscles are the same. we have certain muscles more prone to distension What others. This is because muscle strains happen when muscle cells break into the tendon (the tissue that connects muscle to bone). And that transition is quite more prone to injury because it is not as strong as muscle or tendon.
The most common muscle strains They occur in the weaker transition areas of the muscle. For example, in muscles that have two joints, such as the hamstrings (at the knee and hip) or the biceps (at the elbow or shoulder).
How can we recover as soon as possible?
The body is an amazing "machine" that has the ability to heal himself, In most cases. But before you can get back to training after a strain, you need to understand how a muscle rehabilitates and what it means for your recovery.
Your muscles will heal after a tear, but not by growing new muscle. Instead, the body uses the scar tissue to repair the damage. That tissue is weaker and less elastic than muscle tissue itself. Unfortunately, this means that the transition zone of the muscle has weakened a bit. So muscles that have already been through a strain are more likely to be reinjured.
If the tension is light, the muscle will be able to repair itself in three to six weeks. Fortunately with these injuries, if the muscles surrounding the scar tissue become hypertrophied, they will not suffer a real loss of function/strength. For more severe tears, the recovery process can take several months.
Be aware that the resulting dense scar tissue can affect muscle function and contribute to future pain. What does that mean for recovery? The secret to getting back to training after a muscle strain is to keep the injured area at rest while also trying to keep your body active. Like all injuries, the key is to allow the injured tissues to calm down, so you'll need to stay away from activities that aggravate the area.
Of course, that doesn't mean you should throw yourself on the couch and do nothing. Athletes who rest completely after having injuries such as muscle strains actually increase their chances of re-injury. If you rest completely, the body will stagnate.
Training reduction means:
- More time to recover.
- Decreased strength and capacity of the injured muscle.
For this reason, there are athletes who rest relatively in order to improve their recovery. Maintaining good physical conditioning in a way that does not aggravate the injured area has a crossover effect. Working the uninjured part reduces the time it takes for the injured part to "catch up." If you have a muscle strain, be sure to let your tissues heal while you work to keep the others strong.
What happens to the stretch?
We said before that a muscle strain is a cluster of small muscle fiber tears generated by excessive load and excessive stretching. So if we stretch after suffering a strain, we will only make the problem worse! In the acute phase of the tear, you have to let the tissues relax. I mean, leave them alone.
Work around the injured area to ensure proper blood circulation so that the body can do its job. As the injury begins to heal and the pain lessens, we will be eager to regain our range of motion at the injury site. and here is the static stretching It could play a role, but know that improving that range of motion won't reduce your chances of injury without first building strength.
By this I mean that static stretching will not make you stronger. And without strengthening your range of motion, it won't be enough to reduce the chance of injury.
Can you stretch? Yes, but think of stretching as something that can help reduce the sensation of pain. If you feel tight, go ahead and do some stretching or foam rolling after your workout.
What three factors influence the cause of a muscle strain?
Little or no heating
You have to spend time warming up. And for this you must include:
- Movements of lesser intensity (aerobic) whose purpose is to progressively raise the heart rate.
- Carry out movement patterns similar to those used in training (squats, jogging, push-ups, lunges, skipping, heels to buttocks…).
The goal of the warm-up is not only to prepare the body physically for movement, but mentally as well. When you practice the movements that you will perform later at higher intensities, you will be able to improve your motor control.
you perform fforce o inadequate mobility
Muscle strains occur when your muscle exceeds the threshold for a load. If you improve your body's ability to handle higher loads, you'll have a better chance of avoiding a strain in your muscles.
Science has recently shown the positive relationship between athletes who correctly perform a strength training program and the reduction of the chances of injury. We all know that injuries occur when the applied stress is too high. If we want the body to be able to handle high stress, we must prepare it better.
Strength training acts as a tool to reduce the risk of injury, as it improves the ability of your tissues to handle high loads. When done with attention to movement quality, the athlete improves motor control and performance while reducing the risk of injury.
That is, an athlete with a higher work capacity can handle higher loads, do more work, recover better, improve at a faster rate, and reduce the chance of injury.
Too much muscle fatigue
We already know that strains happen when loads are too big or too fast. And what does that have to do with fatigue?
When muscles are continuously loaded, they get tired. When you are fatigued, your elastic qualities and those of your tendons diminish. This means there is less room for the muscles to stretch. And less room to maneuver means a higher chance of tearing.
When you central nervous system is fatigued (the typical feeling of exhaustion), your movement patterns are more likely to deteriorate. Additionally, poor technique can contribute to inadequate muscle loading, increasing the likelihood of strain.
Fatigue is a necessary factor to achieve physical improvements. Your body fatigues as a result of being broken down, and cannot recover to improve without first being broken down. Your muscles will always fatigue with a higher volume of work. This type of fatigue can be reduced by recovery methods such as ice baths or foam rolling. However, your body will naturally recover from fatigue with enough night's rest and nutrition.
Generating fatigue in the nervous system is necessary to improve. If you want to develop a new ability, you have to stress the system. Unfortunately, this type of stress is also caused by other aspects of our lives (school, work, children, your boss, family...). This type of stress can be reduced through, in addition to sleep and nutrition, relaxation, massage, meditation and even laughter.