When you injure a muscle, your body will begin to repair the damaged tissue. Part of this process requires amino acids, so it is important to have adequate protein intake if you have recently suffered a muscle injury. However, the rest of the repair of damaged muscle cells depends on a variety of chemical signals and cellular changes that are relatively unaffected by diet.
The Basics
When you damage your muscle fibers, your body has to either repair or re-form the fibers that are broken. This is actually the mechanism by which your body is able to increase your muscle size. When you do exercises that build muscle, such as lifting weights, you cause some tears in your muscle fibers. To repair these tears, your body makes your muscle fibers bigger and increases their number, adding muscle mass.
Protein
To repair damaged muscle fibers, your body has to make new proteins because the muscle fibers themselves are made out of protein. To make new proteins, your body needs an adequate supply of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Your body gets some of the amino acids it needs from dietary protein. When you consume protein, your digestive tract breaks down the protein and absorbs the amino acids, which can then be used to make new proteins in your body.
Inflammation
Although it is important to consume enough protein to allow your body to repair your muscles, it is unlikely that eating extra protein will make a significant difference in the time it takes for an acute muscle injury to repair itself. This is because one of the major parts of muscle repair is inflammation, a 2005 review in the "American Journal of Physiology" notes. When a muscle is injured, your immune system is activated, and the ensuing inflammation triggers nearby cells to start repairing your muscle. This process takes time and will not be accelerated by increasing protein intake.
Recovery Time
If you do suffer a muscle injury, such as a strain, many steps can be taken to minimize the pain and help speed the repair. Resting the affected muscle is one of the most important things you can do; mild injuries need about two days of rest, whereas a severe strain might require two weeks of rest. Applying ice and pressure to the affected area and elevating the injured part of the body can also help with the healing process.
