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pain relief

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If you have ever pulled a muscle in your body then you know how painful and uncomfortable it can be. Whether it’s from overexertion or everyday activities, muscle pain can be debilitating and disrupt your regular schedule. If this happens to you, don’t worry – there are plenty of steps that you can take to help ease the pain so that you can start feeling like yourself again. In this blog post we will discuss the workflow behind relieving muscle pain so that if this unfortunate circumstance arises, you’ll know just what to do in order to get back up and running quickly!

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

Understand the Cause

When you’ve recently pulled a muscle – whether the cause was an unexpected misstep or a vigorous workout session – it can feel overwhelming to know where to start. Luckily, with a plethora of doctors and experts, as well as online resources, finding the right guide to help you understand certain things is essential. Namely, this guide can provide a sense of direction when dealing with acute pain resulting from an injury. Muscular pain often comes on suddenly due to overuse, repetitive movement, age-related degeneration, or traumatic events. With an understanding of the cause of your discomfort as the first step, this guide will lead you through all of the necessary steps to relieve your pain and get back to life as normal.

Identify the Signs and Symptoms

If you’ve recently strained or sprained a muscle, often the signs and symptoms of an injury can be glaringly obvious – including localized pain, swelling, bruising, or redness in the affected area. You may also experience stiffness, and limited range of motion when trying to move your affected limb. Other indicators are a deep tissue ache away from the injury site and possible numbness or tingling at or around the afflicted area. All of these factors make it important to not ignore any potential warning signs that you have pulled a muscle and lead to making sure you follow proper protocols for treatment.

Stop Movement Immediately

If you’ve pulled a muscle and are feeling pain, you need to stop moving immediately to avoid further injury. When a muscle is overstretched or torn in any way, the best course of action is to take it easy and provide rest. Support your muscle with an ice pack or bag of frozen vegetables and reduce inflammation by gently massaging the affected area. You might also try taking over-the-counter medications, such as ibuprofen, to aid recovery. Keep mobility in mind: gentle stretching can help reduce tension but don’t push yourself too far! Listen to your body – take it slow and allow yourself time to heal.

Ice The Area For 20 Minutes Every 4 Hours

If you’ve pulled a muscle, it is important to take the right steps to ensure that it properly heals and reduces pain. One of the most effective methods for reducing pain and inflammation is to ice the area for twenty minutes every four hours. This can provide temporary relief from soreness, reduce swelling, and speed up the healing process. Ice should be applied directly to the skin without any sort of barrier or cloth between them – just make sure NOT to apply ice directly on bare skin as this can produce cold burns. Take care of yourself and ease your pain by following these recommended measures so that you can heal quickly!

Photo by Vidal Balielo Jr.

Avoid Heat and Alcoholic Beverages

If you’ve recently pulled a muscle, the ingredients for pain relief don’t include heat or alcoholic beverages. In fact, they can make things worse. Heat applied to a strained area may seem soothing at first, but it can even make inflammation worse by allowing more blood flow to the affected area – that’s why cold compresses are usually recommended instead. As for alcoholic drinks, alcohol is known to thin the blood and prevent clots from forming; this same effect can cause further irritation of the injured tissue due to an increase in circulation. To alleviate your discomfort most effectively, focus on gentle exercise and healing stretches so you can get back on your feet soon.

Compression May Help Reduce Swelling And Discomfort

Pulling a muscle can cause uncomfortable swelling, but medical compression can help alleviate that discomfort. Wrapping the area with light compression, ideally, an elastic bandage, lessens the risk of further damage caused by too much movement and helps with the swelling associated with pulled muscles. You can also use heat or cold therapy to provide relief and reduce inflammation around the muscle. Compression or wrapping should be done carefully and not be too tight as it could restrict circulation or cause additional pain.

In conclusion, if you’ve pulled a muscle, it is important to take the necessary steps outlined above in order to reduce your pain and symptoms. The most important things to remember – stop the movement immediately, ice the area for 20 minutes every 4 hours, avoid heat and alcoholic beverages, and compress the area – can help speed up your recovery and relieve you of unnecessary discomfort. It may seem hard at first to adhere to these guidelines as they may impose limitations on your lifestyle but they will eventually be helpful in achieving long-term comfort. After seeking medical advice, using over-the-counter medications or natural remedies might be needed in order to deal with your specific situation. Lastly, if in doubt then always consult a doctor as they are best placed to provide expert advice relevant to your individual needs.

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New data suggests that two common painkillers, ibuprofen and diclofenac, can slightly increase the risk of heart problems if taken in high doses for a long time.

People with severe arthritis often take the drugs, which also calm inflammation, to go about daily life.

The researchers said some patients would deem the risk acceptable, but they should be given the choice.

A study, published in the Lancet, showed the drugs posed even greater risks for smokers and the overweight.

The risks have been reported before, but a team of researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed the issue in unprecedented detail in order to help patients make an informed choice.

The group investigated more than 353,000 patient records from 639 separate clinical trials to assess the impact of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

They looked at high-dose prescriptions levels, rather than over-the-counter pain relief, of 150 mg diclofenac or 2,400 mg ibuprofen each day.

They showed that for every 1,000 people taking the drugs there would be three additional heart attacks, four more cases of heart failure and one death as well cases of stomach bleeding – every year as a result of taking the drugs.

Common painkillers ibuprofen and diclofenac can slightly increase the risk of heart problems if taken in high doses for a long time

Common painkillers ibuprofen and diclofenac can slightly increase the risk of heart problems if taken in high doses for a long time

So the number of heart attacks would increase from eight per 1,000 people per year normally, to 11 per 1,000 people per year with the drugs.

“Three per thousand per year sounds like it is quite a low risk, but the judgement has to be made by patients,” said lead researcher Prof. Colin Baigent.

He added: “So if you’re a patient and you go and sit in front of your doctor and discuss it, you are the one who should be making the judgement about whether three per thousand per year is worth it to allow you, potentially, to go about your daily life.”

He said this should not concern people taking a short course of these drugs, for example for headaches.

However, he did warn that those already at risk of heart problems would be at even greater risk as a result of the high-dose drugs.

High blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking all increase the risk of heart problems.

Prof. Colin Baigent said: “The higher your risk of heart disease, the higher your risk of a complication. Roughly speaking, if you’ve got double the risk of heart disease, then the risk of having a heart attack is roughly doubled.”

He said patients should consider ways to reduce their risk, which could include statins for some patients.

A similar drug called rofecoxib (known as Vioxx), was voluntarily taken off the market by its manufacturer in 2004 after similar concerns were raised.

A third drug, naproxen, had lower risks of heart complications in the study and some doctors are prescribing this to higher-risk patients.

The drug does a similar job to aspirin by stopping the blood from clotting although this also increases the odds of a stomach bleed.