We treat a lot of different diagnoses and issues in physical therapy. One of the most common one is a muscle strain. In this post I am going to answer the most common questions surrounding a 'muscle strain.'
What is a muscle strain? Each muscle in the body is made up of thousands of muscle fibers. These are the individual 'workhorse' of the muscle. When you use a muscle it shortens or gets tight. This happens because the muscle fibers pull closer together and as they do this they are able to pull on the bones they attach to and cause them to come closer together. The muscles fibers work together (kind of like the musicians in an orchestra) to cause the muscle to exert force and be able to perform a movement. The fibers don't all fire at the same time. They fire at different times, in different parts of the muscle, depending on the movement you are trying to do. Sometimes the muscle fibers get injured. This can happen if the fibers pull together or pull apart too quickly. This can also happen if there is direct trauma to the muscle. When some of the muscle fibers are injured this causes a 'muscle strain'.
Why does a muscle strain hurt so much?
