Athletes Do not continue training for muscle strain

In muscle strain training break is necessary
When football, jogging or basketball you get quickly a strain. Mostly the muscles are then not sufficiently warmed up or overloaded. Although the muscle strain is a harmless injury, a training break is still necessary. If the athlete continues to train, he risks a torn muscle. The news agency "dpa" talked to the orthopedist Ingo Tusk, the physiotherapist Michael N. Preibsch and sports physician Jürgen Wismach, president of the Berlin Sports Doctors' Association, about the causes of muscle strain and treatment options.

Muscle strains can be very painful
Almost every athlete knows muscle strain. They are uncomfortable, but heal well, as long as the affected person takes a break from training and is gentle. Physicians understand a stretch of the finest muscle fibers, the so-called sarcomeres, Tusk reports. "This is the most harmless of all muscle injuries." However, athletes should not underestimate them.

Mostly the affected one feels a stinging, sucking pain and the pulled muscle becomes hard. The surrounding muscles are immediately tense. "That's a protective reflex," explains Preibsch. Typically, strains occur on the inner and posterior thighs and calves. The orthopedist and the physiotherapist agree: Sport should be over for now. Because who continues to train with a strain, risking a rupture of the pulled muscle. Tusk advises to use the PECH scheme: pause, ice-cooling, compression, elevation. The cooling causes a contraction of the vessels in the muscle, so that further bleeding into the tissue can be prevented. An elastic bandage also supports this process. "The lofting finally causes the blood to flow away from the pulled muscle," explains Tusk. The more consistent the PECH scheme is applied, the less damage is done by the injury, and the faster you can be operational again.

After muscle strain, start training slowly
Some time may pass before the strain is completely healed. First, according to Tusk, the muscle should be spared and moved only without pain. Slight strains could be tried after a few days. When the muscle softens again, the exercise break can be stopped. "Then you can get back in slowly," says the orthopedist. Physiotherapy helps to get fit faster.

If very severe pain occurs, so that you can no longer walk and even in the resting position complaints occur, one should consult a doctor, advises Wismach. If pulled, 14 days rest would be a rule of thumb. "All in all, that's hard to say. Sometimes the cure takes three weeks. "

How do you get muscle strains??
Muscle strains can occur if the athlete has not warmed up properly. "The muscle first has to run warm, almost like a car engine," reports Wismach. Therefore gymnastics and stretching exercises are useful before the actual training. This is especially true at cooler temperatures, because then the muscle is prone to injury. "Even rain can have a cooling effect," adds Tusk. In particular, the calves are often affected. In such weather conditions, athletes can use special necks down to the knee or long trousers to protect their muscles.

Other causes of strains are overload and fatigue, for example, if the muscle is jerked after heavy exercise, so Wismach. This is especially the case for sports with fast tempo changes such as foot or basketball or interval runs with slow and fast parts of the case.

Strains are caused in a simplified way by yielding extensions of the muscle strands, so-called eccentric muscle movements, as can be observed during the landing phase during jogging during the occurrence, for example. "Because more muscle fibers also involuntarily tighten in these movements, the danger increases that they break," explains Preibsch.

Basically, if the muscle hardens slightly, this is a first sign of overload. The muscle "is closing", athletes describe this condition. According to Preibsch this is a warning and the training should be stopped. Frequently, the muscle lacks important electrolytes such as magnesium. "They are an important softener for the muscles," explains the physiotherapist.

Strain can cause torn muscle develop
If athletes despite training no break in training, threatened a torn muscle. This manifests itself among other things by a punctual, stabbing pain. Sometimes there is also a dent under the skin, which is also painful under pressure.

In a hamstring much more muscle fibers are injured. The muscle does not become hard as in the straightening but soft. "He responds with relaxation to prevent further tearing," explains Preibsch. Moreover, hematomas often occur in torn muscle fibers, according to Wismach. In a strain, however, there is an injury in the muscle cells, which regenerate again. "It is a precursor to the muscle fiber tear." The limit of the elasticity of the muscle is reached, but not exceeded as in the crack.

While the strain on the muscle is sufficient, a torn muscle fiber may require surgery if there is a significant restriction in function and more than a third of the muscle is torn. After the operation, the affected muscle is immobilized for six weeks to prevent it from tearing again. Even without surgery, the recovery after a hamstring lasts three to six weeks. The expression of the crack plays an essential role. (Ag)

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