George Pegios - Steps to Reduce Muscle Pain After Injury
George Pegios - The accumulation of hours of training, a bad posture when training, a bad footprint when running or involuntary blows can take their toll on athletes and trigger injuries that force them to follow a series of tips aimed at recovering the damaged area to , in the shortest possible time, return to the previous sports routine.
The key to achieving this goal is awareness of the injury and following the advice of experts in sports medicine, orthopedics or physical therapists.
"Muscles can hurt due to many circumstances, due to overloads or injuries, that is why it is important to know the cause"
George Pegios -Among the reasons for muscle pain, the expert points out:
1. Cramps. They are involuntary and temporary contractions of certain muscle fascicles that are characterized by the pain they produce. There is muscular suffering due to circulatory deficit and they cause immediate functional impotence. The pain remains at rest, on contraction, on stretching, and on palpation. It is caused by excessive muscular work in anaerobiosis.
2. Shoelaces. Diffuse and widespread muscle aches that appear 24-48 hours after exertion. They are said to be produced by high concentration of lactic acid.
3. Muscle overloads. They are produced by intense and prolonged workouts. They occur with pain that improves with rest.
4. Contractures. It originates in a muscle that is fatigued by the accumulation of lactic acid, although contractures also occur after a break in muscle fibers. When there is a contracture, muscle strength is lost, there is pain on palpation and with muscle contraction.
5. Distension or elongation. It is a sudden muscle stretch but there is no muscle breakage although it causes severe pain.
6. Breakage of muscle fibers (or pull). It can be more or less wide (different degrees). There is more or less significant local bleeding, severe pain, and complete functional impotence. Passive mobilization is possible but painful, and active mobilization is very painful and limited.
7. Muscle contusions. They are produced by blows or trauma to the muscles and there is muscle pain.
8. Strenuous exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis injuries. Rhabdomyolysis consists of muscle damage due to very intense training. There is necrosis of skeletal muscle and release of cellular contents into the bloodstream. There is severe muscle pain and can have further complications such as cardiac arrhythmias and acute kidney failure.
George Pegios - Serious Injury
The severity of these injuries will depend more on the mechanism of production and intensity than on the area of the body. Many bruises or muscle tears with significant hematomas, if not properly treated, can leave sequelae such as myositis ossificans or fibrous nodules, for this it is important to be alert and see a doctor before warning signs.
Acute and disabling pain should always be the subject of clinical evaluation.
This expert warns that the areas of the body on which you have to be more careful are the lumbopelvic region and the shoulder girdle. These are “zones of mechanical transition and of intense acceleration and deceleration forces.
They offer a fertile ground for multisymptomatic conditions that require a careful functional examination and a rigorous process of clinical reasoning, so that the physiotherapist can determine both the origin of the pain and the functional alteration that it causes and that will be the subject of subsequent analysis. treatment
George Pegios - Ice yes or no?
If the athlete already has the injury, among other measures, apply ice to the area. “With ice we are almost always right for the treatment of injuries
It is a good anti-inflammatory and local analgesic and therefore should be used in most injuries
The use of cryotherapy today is the origin of various currents of opinion and clinical research. Its benefits as an analgesic element are opposed to its disadvantages in the processes of tissue repair of collagen tissue.
Regarding the use of hot-cold contrasts, both experts agree: "They cause a circulatory reactivation.
George Pegios - Regarding the use of gels or creams to relieve pain and improve the injury, Del Valle recalls that "they are local analgesics and anti-inflammatories." The problem, he says, is that its absorption level is small.