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Understanding Muscle Injuries:

There are three ways in which injuries of the soft tissues in the body can arise:

• 1 - Acute Conditions: pulls, tears, crush injuries.
• 2 - Repetitive Stress: accumulations of small tears over time (micro-trauma).
• 3 - Posture: Your body's response to bad posture and stresses that occur over time directly related to the way one holds their body, and the body's response to it.

Each of these can cause the body to produce scar tissue. Scar tissue is a tough, dense network of collagen fibers that develops to repair/protect the area that has been injured.  Excess scar tissue can prevent the muscles and other structures from working properly, which can lead to changes in normal movement, muscle shortening and weakness, misalignment of bones, and even disruption of the movement/structures in the surrounding areas. A compromised muscle, or muscles, not only places more tension on the tendons that attach muscle to bone, which can cause tendonitis/tendonosis, but can irritate nerves that pass though or supply the muscle.  This injury process can cause the following symptoms:

• Loss of range of motion;
• Loss of strength;
• Aching, pain, tingling, numbness;
• Swelling;
• Spreading of symptoms if untreated;
• Further injury.

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» Heat or ice?

What happens when you get injured?

When you get injured, your body sends pain signals to the brain. Those signals help the body to protect the injured area by discouraging the body from using that specific part. It is important to heed this warning from the body!! An injury also stimulates the body to produce chemicals that cause inflammation. Signs of inflammation are swelling, redness and heat. When you are injured, either initially or chronically, ice is always appropriate, as it slows the blood flow to the area, decreasing damaging inflammation.

How to apply ice.

• Dampen a small, thin towel, or a few layers of paper towels. *
• Put the wet towel on the target area, and place the ice on top
• Use a flexible gel pack, or a bag of frozen peas.
• If possible, wrap an ace bandage or band around the ice and the injured area to create a moderate amount of compression.
• Ice for 5 to 15 minutes, 20 minutes maximum! Over-icing can lead to ice burns.
• Repeat after an hour.

* Putting ice over clothes is not effective.

Using a Cervical Roll.

Roll a small hand towel into a cylinder, so that it supports your neck comfortably, without propping your head off the table.

When is it safe to use heat?

In case of injury, you should definitely avoid heat. Heat increases blood circulation, which causes more inflammation. The only cases where heat is appropriately is when used alternately with ice in chronic injures, or to relax muscles when there is no injury. When in doubt use ice.