FAQ: "Why Do I Have a Pulled Muscle?"

As we launch our new business in the Florida Keys, I've decided to repurpose some of the content from our old website in New Jersey. While the topics may not be specific to the Keys, I hope you'll find the information helpful and informative.

Today we're going to talk about muscle pulls or muscle strains. If you're an athlete, odds are you've dealt with some sort of muscle pull, but also non-athletes and just your everyday desk jockey can deal with some sort of muscle strain as well. So the muscle's like a giant rubber band. It should rest in a nice relaxed state. So when we contract our muscle, the muscle gets very tense, and then it relaxes. So it gets tense and relaxes. That's a nice, healthy muscle. So in an athletic type of muscle pull situation, maybe we contract too quickly and it causes an injury to those muscle fibers.

But what we don't think about is things like desk jockeys or people who spend a lot of time on their feet, they can deal with muscle strains just from what we call repetitive strain or repetitive stress and this happens when the muscle stays in a semi contracted state for a long period of time and there's excess tension on that muscle. So that muscle never really gets a full opportunity to relax and let go of all that lactic acid. And it really puts a lot of stress on those individual muscle fibers and that can actually lead to a muscle strain too.

So in summary, there are two types of muscle pulls or strains that you could deal with, a traumatic type injury, like a pulled hamstring, or at worst, like an Achilles injury or a repetitive muscle strain. A lot of times we'll see that up in the neck. like when you kind of got to work out your neck all the time, or in the low back, if you've been doing a lot of yard work. Repetitive type motions like that can also cause muscle strain.

So if you're dealing with this, it's very important to kind of check out the joints in the area and makes sure they're moving properly. Because remember, the primary job of a muscle is to move a joint and if that joint's not moving properly, it may cause excess stress and tension on the muscle. So our job is to remove any restriction from the joint, in turn helping the muscle function at its optimal capabilities and removing tension from that muscle. So if you're having any sort of muscle strains or if you're susceptible to these types of muscle strains, make sure to give us a call and make sure to like, follow, and subscribe to our pages. Thank you.

If you have any questions or please do not hesitate to reach out!
DrJesse@WaldwickChiropractic.com

Jesse J. Suess, DC CCSP®
Seaside Chiropractic
Key Largo, FL