The musculoskeletal system faces daily demands for movement on a largely unstable base. Because humans have two rather than four legs, balance and strength are crucial to healthy locomotion and motor skills performance. A muscle strain, or pull, occurs when body condition is not up to the attempted tasks.
The causes of a pulled muscle include many types of sports injury, accidents and structural limitations. Being aware of physical capacities and tendencies can help prevent muscle strains and the pain and damage they cause.
Accidental Injury
Collisions with falling or stationary objects, such as tree limbs or open car doors, can either tear muscle tissue or cause a reflex action that overstretches a muscle. The Cleveland Clinic reports that bone fractures can traumatize adjacent muscle tissue as well.
Jerking movements that snap the neck or extremities are responsible for pulled muscles, resulting in whiplash or muscle strains near joint areas. Automobile and heavy machinery accidents are prime candidates for initiating such injuries.
Acute Sports Injury
Pulled muscles can result from rough play or simple maneuvers made while an athlete is out of balance. An immediate sports injury is most often caused by a blow or fall, such as in football scrimmage or after a leap in basketball. According to the Cleveland Clinic, these incidents may cause joint sprains or dislocations along with muscle trauma.
Hitting stationary objects with force generated by running or diving can cause severe muscle damage. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons notes that sports injury involving loss of consciousness or spinal injury requires immediate medical attention to avoid further harm.
Overuse Injury
The University of Maryland Medical Center cites many cases of muscle strain from overuse of the rotator cuff. Injury to the shoulder muscles often takes place in baseball, swimming, tennis and volleyball---sports in which overhead movements must be repeated frequently. Pulled muscles can develop incrementally by using the same muscle movements over days, weeks or months.
Weakened muscles can also suffer overuse injury due to an acute trigger, such as performing yard work with out-of-condition muscles or heavy lifting, especially overhead. Any muscle group can be overused.
Improper Warm-Up or Cool-Down
Muscles can be damaged by working when too tense, too weak or too fatigued. Prior to exercise, individuals should stretch all the active muscle groups to reduce tension and increase flexibility. Cold weather, which constricts muscles, heightens this need, as NYU Langone Medical Center reports.
Out-of-shape muscles should be strengthened through exercise, and muscles that have worked very hard during a game or exercise session should be stretched afterward. Failure to take these precautions can produce a relapse or new muscle injury.
