Pulled a muscle, what to do?

[knicknack]

*pout*

I think I pulled a muscle in my leg playing tennis a couple of weeks ago. It only mildly hurt but it isn't going away. This means I should have to rest instead of exercising.

But I want to exercise.

Any ideas? Do pushups every day? I'll probably take very short walks I think, but *sigh*

Just pouting I guess. This is an obstacle in my path, drat it!

[BornToWin]

Re: Pulled a muscle, what to do?

I would just let it heal. Pulled muscles recover relatively quickly. Sucks, but to injure it any worse would be worse than missing a few days of exercise.

[Terry]

Re: Pulled a muscle, what to do?

Ouch! If it is still hurting a few weeks later then you do need to let it rest. You will be able to get back to your normal routine sooner if you let it heal.

[LeahRachel]

Re: Pulled a muscle, what to do?

Do not exercise an injured muscle. I am a nurse. You need to let the muscle heal. Find other exercises not involving that muscle. Hope you recover soon.

[Bugaboo]

Re: Pulled a muscle, what to do?

I'm going to chime in with what everyone else is saying. Don't exercise it! However a few times a day gently...I mean gently stretch the muscle. I'm the queen of tweaked muscles (in fact my lower back has a tweaked muscle right now) and gently stretching it will help. Since it's been a couple of weeks if it doesn't feel better soon make an appointment with your doc. You may need some good muscle relaxers (clorazapate works well for me) or a professional to take a look-see at that muscle to make sure you don't have any torn tendons. I hope you feel better soon!

[knicknack]

Re: Pulled a muscle, what to do?

Yeah, i've been a little worried about the tendon thing - it's so high up on my calf that it seems odd. However, there's a muscle up there that gets strained by people playing tennis so much that it's called "Tennis calf" or something like that. So, we'll see. I'm doing nothing for now. EVery time I stand up after sitting I hobble around for about 5 min and then I can walk fine. But, better safe than sorry.

I've been doing the RICE thing: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation

(well, no compression)

we'll see.