Ouch! What to do when you sustain an injury

Pulled a muscle?

Sprains and strains to muscles and joints happen to all of us and for most they are a painful but temporary, reminder to be a little more careful.  Prompt action can help your body to heal faster and may prevent further injury or prolonged pain.

Strained or 'pulled' muscles often happen when we over exert untrained muscles, train without properly warming up or try to go beyond a joint's natural flexibility.  Sometimes we feel the pain straight away, however some injuries might not cause pain until later on.  What can you do?

Remember RICE (Relative rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation), using these can help to relieve the pain and start the healing process.

Relative rest:  The first thing to do if you feel pain is to reduce the offending activity - pain is usually your body's way of telling you that there is something wrong that needs your attention.  It can be normal to feel a little sore after exercises for a day or two, but if it is more than this, pushing through the pain is rarely beneficial.

However, movement stimulates the healing process so stay as mobile as you comfortably can.  Try to keep the joint moving through a comfortable range of motion, without forcing it to the point of pain.  This will help to encourage blood flow and keep your joint flexible whilst it heals.  This is particularly relevant for back pain as gentle exercise, such as walking, can help.  You should slowly build your activity levels up as soon as your symptoms begin to resolve and as soon as you are able.

Ice: Cooling the area using an ice pack can help to reduce swelling and pain.  Wrap a thin tea towel around the area so as to avoid direct skin contact and then apply the pack to the injured area for 10 - 15 minutes.  You should repeat this several times per day for the first 72 hours.  This will help to control inflammation, making it easier for your body to get blood and nutrients to the area and resolve the injured tissues.

Compression:  Gently applying a compression dressing may help to temporarily support the injured joint and reduce swelling, though remove this immediately if there are signs that this is reducing the circulation to the area (numbness, pins and needles, the skin turning white or blue etc).

Elevation: If the injury is in the lower limb (knee or ankle), elevating the area a little can make it easier for your body to drain fluids that might accumulate around the area, causing swelling.  For example, if you've hurt your knee, sitting down with the knee raised on a low foot stool may ease your pain.

Seek medical attention.  If you have pain that can't be controlled with over the counter painkillers, can't put weight on the injured limb, experience paralysis or loss of sensation or the swelling is very bad seek help from your local A&E department, urgent care centre or telephone 111 for advice.

If the pain or swelling fails to improve within a week, a visit to an osteopath may be beneficial.  They will be able to assess the injury, advise you on the correct treatment and can provide some manual therapy which may help it get better faster.

Fascial Release therapy at Absolute Health

Fascial Release pain relief therapy

Myofascial or Fascial release is a manual therapy that can often have profound effects on the body and is used to treat chronic pain conditions that often do not respond to other forms of treatment.

Fascia allows movement between structures in the body but can develop adhesions following trauma or injury, preventing normal function.  Fascia interweaves within and across muscle groups to form a silk-like bodysuit, which helps the body’s musculoskeletal system transmit and amplify force. It also acts as a natural shock absorber, making the body more resistant to injury. Fascia is a vital component of human physiology and there is growing evidence that fascia is the most pain sensitive tissue in the body.  Breaking down adhesions (and trigger points) can allow the brain to dampen down pain signals that are no longer helpful for the body, after healing has occurred.

Abnormal fascial tension can lead to chronic pain in areas such as the neck, shoulders, lower back, and hips. So, if you’re feeling slightly immobile or are in full-blown pain, dealing with any problem in your fascia is really important to help speed recovery.

Unfortunately, muscle fascia doesn’t show up well on an X-ray or MRI. Maybe that’s why most medical professionals aren’t looking at fascia as a contributing cause of injury, movement dysfunction and chronic pain.

Fascial Release Treatment

Fascial release therapy involves a gentle massage using fingers and thumbs and the 'Fascial Edge Tool' to find and release stiff and tightened areas. Normal fascia should feel pliable and elastic. The therapist will begin massaging and stretching the areas that feel rigid with light manual pressure. The process is repeated multiple times over any 'trigger points' that are found (areas of tight muscle that cause pain to radiate in a specific pattern) until the therapist feels that the tension is fully released.

Who benefits from Fascial Release?

Patients with myofascial pain syndrome frequently benefit from this type of therapy. People who experience chronic headaches may also find relief from Fascial Release. Gently massaging on tightened muscles in and around the neck and head may reduce headaches.

If you have a chronic back ache or pain in the upper back, then there could be an underlying trigger point or fascial problem which would benefit from Fascial Release.

If you have not had a diagnosis for your condition you should seek advice from your GP or an Osteopath before booking in for treatment, to ensure there are no other problems that have been overlooked (e.g. a joint problem or arthritis).

Call Absolute Health today on (0116) 282 7766 to make an appointment with one of our Registered Osteopaths.



Part of this article was extracted from: http://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-pain/myofascial-release