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After a workout or demanding sports practice, sore muscles are to be expected. While you’ve likely heard the phrase “No pain, no gain”, you also know that not all discomfort is created equal.
“Good” pain often falls under the category of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which occurs six to eight hours after your workout and passes within 72 hours. As you increase your routine’s intensity, you may notice your body has an easier time handling it – muscles feel more flexible and responsive.
However, some pains stick around after 72 hours and don’t go away – even after you’ve rested or decreased physical activity. At this point, you could be dealing with a sprain – more common in athletes – or a strain – ordinary for weekend warriors who take on too much. Soreness could also be related to an overuse injury or, depending on the body part, could be a symptom of plantar fasciitis or shin splints.
Yet, muscle damage is not always the result of an improper warmup or applying too much force during a workout. Beyond the realm of sports and fitness, individuals often experience muscle and tissue damage as a result of an accident – for instance, a motor vehicle collision – and wait for the pain to go away.
Whatever occurrence the muscle injury can be traced back to, ignoring it can lead to reduced motion that impacts your performance, daily functioning and possibly result in permanent damage.
Understanding How Muscles Heal
Roughly one-third of all injured individuals don’t seek medical attention right away. Many wait to make an appointment until they can no longer use a limb or place weight on a particular body part.
As another factor, many people tell themselves, “It’s not a broken bone – I don’t need a cast.” Yet, bones heal best when they are treated correctly and in a timely manner. However with muscle and tissue injuries, this is not the case.
When a tear happens, the muscles have been stretched or overworked too quickly. As the body begins to repair itself, the muscle fibers regenerate and connective scar tissue starts to form, with your body’s collagen aiding the process.
However, the clean, orderly fibers never go back to their original formation. In turn, the healed muscle, with scar tissue and a disorderly structure, may end up being weaker.
Especially for athletes, this process can affect your future performance and often worsens when you ignore the injury to finish a sports season. After the damage is done, the muscle loses its strength, flexibility and range of motion.
Athletes who go right back to the intensity of regular practices and games after an injury have a higher likelihood of enduring further muscle damage or being permanently sidelined. Also, because muscles help support and give motion to the body’s skeletal structure, you have a higher risk of fractures if you don’t properly address the injury.
When You Ignore a Muscle Injury
Although RICE – Rice, Ice, Compression, Elevation – can help with sprains and minor overuse injuries, other conditions, may require medical attention and eventually therapeutic intervention.
Playing through your injury or returning to work after an accident without seeking medical attention ultimately worsens it. Your muscles don’t heal correctly and the rest of your body has to compensate for the weakened area. This aspect can result in additional strain, overuse injuries or fractures.
As one common scenario, the tendons connecting muscle to your bones have to pick up the slack. Yet the extra force places a higher degree of stress on your body’s tissue. This effect leads to inflammation, which can then materialize as tendonitis.
Especially for repetitive motions that engage the muscle and tendon, you’ll notice a burning pain or swelling, even during mundane activities like climbing stairs.
Your body’s cartilage also feels it when you suddenly apply more stress. This can result in fluid accumulating in your joint and lead to symptoms like pain, swelling and decreased range of motion.
As this occurs, the injury you haven’t treated does not stagnate. Rather, the tears your muscle fibers experienced can worsen – resulting in a rupture or complete tear. Unless the condition is addressed, the injury may develop into permanent muscle damage, which not only decreases its physical functionality and performance but can also release proteins into the bloodstream. This condition then affects the body’s kidneys and can lead to fatal complications.
Your body’s skeletal structure can also experience a degree of misalignment, reducing range of motion and leading to postural problems. As you place a greater degree of stress on certain bones within the body, you’ll start to experience stress fractures, which may eventually become a permanent break.
Added to these factors, both athletes and accident victims may experience sleep disturbances due to muscle or nerve pain or chronic headaches following the injury. This occurrence can lead some to medicate with sleeping pills or pain relievers, resulting in a potential dependency that never addresses the root of the injury, masks the symptoms long-term and can affect daytime cognitive functioning.
Physical therapy is key to injury recovery, including fiber regeneration and range of motion. If you experienced a sports injury or muscle damage from an accident, work with our team to effectively address pain and mobility.
To learn more or make an appointment, contact Integrated Rehab today.