What is a back muscular injury?
Back muscular injuries often occur in the form of a strain. A strain occurs when a muscle in your back is over stretched or torn. People often refer to this as a 'pulled muscle'.
What causes a back muscular injury?
Back muscular injuries (muscle strains) can be caused by activity that puts a lot of stress through your back such as:
- Lifting a heavy object
- Twisting while lifting
- Bending repeatedly
- Falls
- Poor posture
- Sports injuries: from sudden impact or high speed movement
These actions can overstretch the tissues of the muscles and ligaments in the back. This causes micro tears in those tissues which can weaken and inflame them. Weakness in the structures supporting the back leads to instability and poor posture, which in turn can lead to stiffness and pain from nerve impingement.
Above: Our physiotherapist assisting in a technique to help relieve back pain.What are the symptoms of a back muscular injury?
A back muscular injury (muscle strain) can cause a range of symptoms. The main symptom is usually pain.
- Pain that is localised (in one area of your back) and doesn???t spread or shoot into your legs or arms.
- Pain that comes on suddenly.
- Pain that is worse with activity - eg. Standing, walking, bending over
- It may be sore upon touching the area of the muscular injury on your back
- Pain that eases with resting.
If you have a muscle tear, you may have observable deformity of the muscles on your back and may experience excruciating pain.
How is a back muscular injury Diagnosed?
Diagnosis of a back muscular injury (muscle strain) can be carried out by one of our experienced physiotherapists at Liverpool Physio through a thorough assessment of your back.
For further information about how Physiotherapy can help treat muscular injury, or to book yourself an appointment, please email office@liverpoolphysio.co.uk or ring us on 0151 558 0077.
Above: Our therpaist providing massage to relieve muscular back painWhat would a physiotherapy assessment for a back muscular injury involve?
For a back muscular injury (muscle strain) you would need an initial appointment to be assessed. Our specialist physiotherapists at Liverpool Physio would divide this appointment into two parts:
Subjective
A discuss about how long you have had your symptoms, what you think the cause was, what activities make them worse and better, and how your injury is affecting you and your lifestyle.
Objective
Following assessment of your current pain and the tenderness of where it is located, our physiotherapist will assess the range of movement in your back, muscle strength, your sensation and carry out a series of special tests if necessary to rule out further injury.
What would physiotherapy treatment for a back muscular injury involve?
If our physiotherapists identify that you have a back muscular injury (muscle strain) there are a series of treatments that we can provide you at Liverpool Physio. Your treatment sessions will be tailored to your own personal interests and aims, but may include:
- Soft Tissue Massage
- Ice treatments
- Heat treatments
- Muscle strengthening
- Muscle stretching
- Postural advice
- Activity modification advice - while your injury heals
- Electrotherapy - for pain relief
How can I arrange a physiotherapy assessment for a back muscular injury?
If you suspect you may have a muscle injury in your back, and are experiencing pain or stiffness during activity, you will benefit from an assessment by one of our physiotherapists at Liverpool Physio.
You can contact us directly to arrange an assessment and we can advise you if further treatment is recommended, or give you details on self-management for minor cases. To arrange an appointment please email office@liverpoolphysio.co.uk or call 0151 558 0077.
Summary
Injury to your back muscles can have a pronouncedly negative impact on you daily life, in some cases limiting all mobility due to pain. Whether your condition is mild or severe, if it left untreated it may take much longer to recover and without advice there will be a higher risk of re-injury.
Our physiotherapists at Liverpool Physio want to ensure that you get the best treatment for your injury. We will use a combination of heat treatments, massage and muscle stretching and strengthening to achieve the best possible rehabilitation.
For further information about how Physiotherapy can help treat muscular imjury, or to book yourself an appointment, please email office@liverpoolphysio.co.uk or ring us on0151 558 0077.
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