Saturday, September 5, 2009

Chest muscle strain

Chest muscle strain is a problem which you may encountered frequently.A chest muscle strain, or a pulled chest muscle, is normally a result of overload during your workouts. When you pull any chest muscle, you are stressing a muscle in your chest too much which results in small tears in the tissue.

The most evident early sign of chest muscle strain is pain in the affected area. Prior to manifestation of the chest muscle pain, an individual may experience a pulled muscle feeling in the chest portion, which worsens as a sharp burning pain during movement and / or rotation of the affected portion. Within a few days, the chest muscle pain becomes obvious even while lifting the arms. Depending upon the severity of the condition, the symptoms of pulled chest muscle can be classified into the following grades:

Grade 1: Pulled muscle in chest portion characterized by mild discomfort is categorized as Grade 1 symptom. Under such a condition, the person can manage and perform free movement activities.

Grade 2: The pulled chest muscle with moderate pain is termed as Grade 2 symptom. Very often, it is accompanied with swelling and inflammation in the affected chest area. An individual with Grade 2 pulled chest muscle symptom experience sharp pain during high level physical activities.

Grade 3: This the most severe type of chest muscle pain. Grade 3 symptoms of pulled chest muscle encompasses severe intolerable pain, muscle spasms, increased sensitivity of the muscles, tenderness, swelling and bruising in the affected chest portion.

A chest muscle strain takes time to recover completely. If a person experiences pulled chest muscle, then he / she should stop training or other physical activities until complete recovery is achieved. In fact, proper rest is the basic tip for management and treatment of pulled chest muscle symptoms. Continuing workouts with pulled chest muscles may aggravate the condition, resulting in tendon injury. Applying ice packs over the affected area may help in relieving muscle pain to some extent.

For treatment of chest muscle strain , one should consult and seek advice from an exercise professional or a health care provider. Do not follow unsure individual tips for recovering from pulled chest muscle, as they may worsen the condition, rather than reducing the chest pain. In order to prevent the consequences of a chest muscle strain, it is always advisable to perform warming up and warming down exercises before and after doing a work out schedule.