When you are going about your day and find yourself needing to lift an object off of the floor, the last thing that you would expect is to end up with a pulled back muscle from the strain of lifting. However, if you position your body wrong or you lift up at the wrong speed or angle, you can do just that. A pulled muscle in your back can be very painful. And for the most part, treatment options are limited as far as healing the injury goes. There are pain management techniques that you can try to help alleviate the pain you feel in your back from a strained or pulled muscle. Get to know more about a few of these options so that you can begin to feel better as soon as possible.
Prescription Medications
Generally speaking, aside from rest and heat/ice treatments, the first pain management treatment option recommended for a pulled back muscle is prescription medications. There are different types of prescription medications that can help with the pain and discomfort associated with the pulled muscle.
Anti-inflammatory medications can help with internal swelling and irritation from the injury, and they can also help to relieve some of the pressure felt in the back. Muscle relaxants, on the other hand, are designed to keep the muscles from contracting, which often occurs as the result of a pulled or strained muscle. And finally, prescription pain medications can block the pain receptors from receiving signals from the nerve cells, which means you are temporarily rid of all or most of your pain.
Massage Therapy
Some pain management doctors will recommend alternative treatment options for pulled muscles in the back over prescription pain medication simply because these pain medications can be addictive. Massage therapy is one such alternative treatment option.
During this treatment, the massage therapist focuses on manually manipulating muscle tissues by combining static pressure and rubbing motions to alleviate tension and pain in the muscles. Part of your pain after you pull a back muscle may be due to the constant contraction of the injured muscles or the overcompensation of the muscles around it to try to make up the difference.
A massage therapist can identify those problem points and address them all. Massage sessions once a week or more after you pull your back muscle can help you to experience less pain and feel more able to go about your daily life until you are healed completely.
Now that you know more about a few of the options available to you to treat your pulled muscle-related back pain, you can be sure that you are doing what you can to feel better as soon as possible. For more information on other pain management doctors, contact a company like Southwest Florida Neurosurgical Associates.
Share8 April 2016
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