Muscle injuries

March 5, 2025

At Physiotherapy Matters, we strive to provide you with the best insights and advice to help you maintain optimal health and well-being. In this blog, we are focusing on muscle injuries, which can affect anyone from athletes to individuals with sedentary lifestyles. Our goal is to help you understand the common causes of muscle injuries, identify areas that are most prone to injury, and offer effective management strategies.

At Physiotherapy Matters, we strive to provide you with the best insights and advice to help you maintain optimal health and well-being. In this blog, we are focusing on muscle injuries, which can affect anyone from athletes to individuals with sedentary lifestyles. Our goal is to help you understand the common causes of muscle injuries, identify areas that are most prone to injury, and offer effective management strategies.

Muscle pain and common causes

Most people will experience aching or sore muscles now and then during everyday activity, related to overuse, strains, stress or anxiety. You can experience muscle pain in a small area of your body or throughout your whole body and the pain can range from mild to severe. Muscle injuries is a broad term used in many pathologies. Muscle injuries are normally linked with either trauma, which is classed as an acute injury or overuse injuries which are more a chronic injury.

• Acute muscle injuries are normally a result of a sudden traumatic event. It is often due to a sudden sprint, twist or jump during a sporting event or an everyday activity.
• Overuse / chronic muscle injuries normally occur over a longer period. It could be a result from repeating the same movement during your sport, work or daily activities.

Muscle injuries can also occur due to lack of warm-up, fatigued muscles, dehydration and poor nutrition. It is important to warm up before a workout to help with blood flow and flexibility in muscles. It is also very important to stay hydrated and to have the correct diet to help with muscle function and recovery.

Common Areas for Muscle Injuries

Muscle injuries commonly affect certain areas of the body and have an impact on both mobility and function. Here are a few areas that are commonly injured:

• Rotator cuff muscles in the shoulder.
• Abdominal muscles which is the muscle on the front of the body between the pelvis and the ribs.
• Lower back muscles.
• Hamstrings which are located at the back of the thigh.
• Quadriceps at the front of the thigh.
• Calf muscles.
• Groin muscles.

Signs and symptoms of a Muscle strains

A muscle strain (pulled muscle) is a tear in the muscle fibres of the involved muscle and is one of the most common soft tissue injuries. The symptoms of a muscle strain depends on the severity of the strain. Common signs and symptoms of muscle strains can include:

• Muscles pain
• Muscle spasm
• Muscle weakness
• Swelling
• Bruising
• Limited range of motion

A muscle strain can be classed as mild (grade I), Moderate (grade II) and severe (grade III).

• Grade I is the most common muscle injury. Only a small number of fibres in the involved muscle has been over streches/pulled.
• Grade II is when a significant amount of the muscles fibres has torn. This moderate muscle strain is reducing your muscle strength and range of movement.
• Grade III is a complete tear of the muscle. This severe strain/tear brings on severe swelling and bruising with full loss of strength and function in the muscle.

Effective Management of Injuries

Managing muscle injuries properly is crucial for recovery and prevention of future issues. Most people recovery from a muscle injury at home. In the case of a severe muscle tear, further investigations are needed.

The POLICE (Protect the area, start with Optimal Loading, Ice the area, apply Compression and Elevate) method is used over the first few days after a muscle strain.

Contact your GP or pharmacist to discuss pain relief and anti-inflammatory medication options.

Physiotherapy can assess, diagnose and develop a rehabilitation program specific to your needs and focus on strengthening without further harm.

Muscle injuries can vary in severity, so consulting a physiotherapist in the early stages of the injury can help prevent the problems becoming chronic / long term with treatment including a graded loading programme. With the correct advice and treatment approach, you can return
to your daily activities stronger and more resilient.

For any questions or concerns please contact physiotherapy matters at info@physiotherapymatters.co.uk or give us a call on 0191 285 8701 to have a quick chat with one of our physiotherapist.