The most common form of muscle injury is a muscle strain and it occurs most frequently among athletes. A strain injury develops when the muscle is overstretched, causing it to tear. If you sustain a muscle injury, your doctor may recommend treatment with analgesic medication, physical therapy or---in the case of severe muscle rupture---surgery. Talk with your doctor if you develop muscle injury symptoms to ensure that you receive appropriate treatment and care.
Pain
A torn or injured muscle can cause significant pain in some patients. Painful sensations are typically localized at the site of the injury but can radiate to other nearby muscles and tissues within your body. Muscle injury pain can be dull, achy or sharp, depending upon the extent of muscle tissue damage. Such symptoms can also be accompanied by numb, tingly or prickly sensations near the site of injury.
Immobility
If you sustain a severe muscle injury, the nerves that signal your muscle to contract and relax may also be damaged, which can prevent you from voluntarily moving the injured muscle, explain doctors at The Mayo Clinic. If this occurs, you can experience significant difficulty walking or moving about normally. A muscle tear can dramatically weaken the damaged muscle, which may limit your ability to put weight on the affected muscle.
Swelling
An injury to a muscle can cause severe inflammation, which may lead to fluid retention and swelling within the tissues that surround the damaged muscle. A muscle injury can also result in the appearance of a bruise at the site of injury. A bruise develops when the tissue beneath the skin is damaged without breaking the top layer of skin. Swelling and bruising can cause the skin covering your muscle injury to appear discolored or enlarged and may also contribute to symptoms of tenderness, pain or immobility in some patients.
Muscle Spasms
Abnormal muscle spasms can occur in an injured or damaged muscle. If this occurs, your muscle can involuntarily twitch or spasm, which can cause severe pain to develop in some people. You may also experience muscle cramps, which are prolonged muscle contractions that tend to be painful, explains The Merck Manual, an online medical encyclopedia for patients and caregivers. Muscle spasms typically occur intermittently but can persist until the muscle injury heals.
References
- "American Journal of Sports Medicine"; Muscle Strain Injuries; WE Garrett, Jr.; 1996
- The Mayo Clinic: Sprains and Strains - Symptoms
- The Merck Manual: Symptoms and Diagnosis of Musculoskeletal Disorders
