Pulled Back Muscle

There are certain pulled back muscle symptoms that are common to all back muscle pain conditions. Muscle and ligament injuries are not usually serious, but can be extremely painful. The horrible agony might make the patient think that there is serious damage in their back or spine. Remember that muscle pain will not leave permanent damage, as long as it is rehabilitated correctly.

Symptoms of a Pulled Back Muscle

* Pain. The actual site of the injury will hurt. It is also common for the pain to radiate out from a central point into surrounding muscle tissue. The pain might be sharp, burning, dull, aching, blinding or a combination. The pain might be constant or related to an activity or movement. Doctors always hear, �It hurts when I...�

* Stiffness or tightness. The affected muscle or ligament might feel stiff and resistant to movement. There may be a �pulling� feeling in the muscle. It might feel shorter than usual, as if it can�t stretch to its normal potential.

* Back Muscle Spasm Muscles that are newly injured might go into spasm. This is when the muscle contracts violently and uncontrollably. Back spasm can last seconds, minutes or hours. Sometimes, it might last for days� Muscle spasms are terrifically painful.

* Heat in the muscle. Affected area might feel hot to the touch.

Recommendation for a Pulled Back Muscle

Take it easy. Use ice for the first 48 hours to reduce swelling. Get some rest. After the first 2 days, slowly start to move around and get the blood flowing into the muscle. Heat can be great to increase circulation.

The main thing to do is to relax. If you worry about the injury or obsess over the pain, you are setting up the ideal conditions for a chronic pain condition to start. Have faith that the pain will be short lived. Work on carefully rehabilitating the injury as soon as it is healed. Try not to let emotional stress affect your body or tighten your muscles.

Pulled Back Muscle to Back Pain Home 6/2/06 Revised 8/12/08