10 Ideas on How to Speed Up Muscle Strain Recovery in the Back

Muscle strains in the back are no joke. If you've ever suffered a back strain, you know how debilitating it can be. The good news is that muscle strains in the back typically heal independently in a few weeks. The bad news? Even a mild strain can put you on the sidelines for weeks, disrupting your workouts and negatively impacting your performance. Returning to your sport is your top priority if you're an athlete. Understanding how to speed up muscle strain recovery in the back can help you achieve your goals, restoring mobility and comfort while minimizing pain and downtime. To aid in recovery, consider using some of the best recovery tools for athletes, such as foam rollers for deep tissue massage, compression sleeves to reduce swelling, heat therapy for muscle relaxation, and cold therapy to decrease inflammation. Tools like TENS units and muscle stimulators can also promote healing by stimulating blood flow and reducing pain.
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Pliability’s mobility app offers valuable tools to help you recover quickly from a muscle strain in the back. Focusing on improving your soft tissue health, the app’s guided routines can help you restore mobility to your back, ease your pain, and get back to your regular training.

What’s the Difference Between a Strain and a Sprain?

If you haven’t already, you probably will experience a pulled back muscle at some point. They’re the most common cause of low back pain. It could happen during a game of golf, while cleaning the garage, or even on the dance floor. While we often refer to soft tissue pain in the back as a “pulled back muscle,” we’re talking about two kinds of back injuries:

• Strains
• Sprains 

Muscle vs. Ligament Injury

What’s the difference between a strain and a sprain? A strain happens when you injure either a muscle or a tendon. Your tendons are tough, fibrous tissues that connect your muscles to your bones. When you are experiencing back strain, you have twisted, pulled, or torn the muscles or tendons that support your spine. 

If you stretch a muscle too much, you cause tiny tears in the muscle fibers. Conversely, a sprain occurs when you pull a ligament too far or tear it. Ligaments are the fibrous tissues that connect your bones at your joints.

Injury Severity

Sprains and strains may not sound like serious injuries, but the back pain they cause can hurt! The pain can be so excruciating that some people are convinced they’ve done something terrible to their back and that they’ll need surgery. The good news is you definitely won’t need surgery. 

Healing and Warning Signs

Pulled muscles in the back (whether it’s a strain or sprain) usually heal within days or weeks on their own. Please note, if you have severe, constant pain that keeps you from sleeping, experience a loss of bladder or bowel control, or have progressive lower extremity weakness, you may have a more serious injury to your lumbar spine and should be evaluated by a professional. 

Location and Symptoms

Although it’s possible to have a pulled muscle anywhere in your back, these strains and sprains most often occur in the lumbar region or lower back. One of the most common symptoms of a pulled back muscle is lower left side back pain. And they’re so common they’re the second leading complaint doctors hear after headaches. 

They’re also the second most common reason people miss work, after the common cold. Key takeaway: “Pulled back muscle” is a catch-all phrase for two types of injury: strains and sprains. 

Risk Factors for Pulled Back Muscles

While that pulled-back muscle may come on suddenly, it was a long time coming. You could be ignoring some vital warning signs. If you're not in pain now, consider sitting up and paying attention. Do you sit in a chair all day? Do you exercise incorrectly? Are you under tremendous stress?

Addressing Pulled Muscles

Are you dehydrated? Are you substantially overweight? Did you answer yes to one or more of those questions? If so, you’re at greater risk of muscle imbalances, trigger point pain, and a higher risk for injuries like a pulled back muscle. But when you experience pulled back muscles, what do you do?

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How to Speed Up Muscle Strain Recovery in Back Muscles

1. Ice Your Back Muscle Right Away

Apply ice to your injury as soon as possible. The sooner you apply the ice, the more it will help. The cold will cause nearby blood vessels to constrict and also help minimize swelling and painful inflammation. 

The cold also stimulates your body to rush more oxygen-rich blood, full of antibodies and vital nutrients, to repair the injury and carry away waste products as it attempts to warm the area. Use an ice pack, a Ziploc bag of crushed ice, or even a bag of frozen vegetables in a pinch. 

Cold Therapy Application

Apply the cold pack in a circular massaging motion to prevent the ice from resting in one place too long. Be sure to place a thin towel between the compress and your skin to help prevent frostbite. Ice can be applied up to 20 minutes at a time. Repeat over the first few days, or after flare-ups.  

2. Heat Therapy for Muscle Strains

Try applying heat directly to the strained or sprained area after the ice. This is a powerful way to “double-shock” your back muscles out of the pain-spasm cycle. Apply 20 minutes of ice followed by 20 minutes of heat and repeat up to three times. This should provide some relief from even severe lower back pain. 

Heat Therapy Options

There are many ways to apply heat, including a long hot shower, ultrasound, heating pad, and pain cream. Try a far infrared heating pad if you want the gold standard in pain relief. This produces heat that penetrates much deeper than the superficial heating a standard heating pad offers. 

As heat is applied, your back muscles relax and circulation increases again as your body sends fresh blood to cool the area back to normal. Repeat heat treatments as necessary.  

3. Natural Anti-Inflammatory Remedies

Think twice before you reach for that bottle of painkillers. It might kill more than just your pain. The truth is, inflammation is a normal part of the healing process. The problem with inflammation is that our bodies lose the ability to turn off the inflammatory response as we age. 

Pain Relief Alternatives

Over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and naproxen can help with both pain and inflammation, but they also carry significant cardiac and digestive health risks. A better approach is to replace what your body stops producing enough of as you age, specifically, systemic proteolytic enzymes. 

These are the same enzymes your body uses to naturally quell inflammation once healing is complete and clean up excess scar tissue. You reduce painful inflammation and speed up recovery by giving your body what it needs to heal instead of masking the symptoms.

4. Follow The RICE Method

RICE stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. In this case, rest the injured muscle by taking a temporary break from intense activities (but continue normal activities such as getting dressed or walking your dog), ice the injured area for 20 minutes at a time (or use heat if it's more comfortable for you), compress the muscle with an elastic bandage, and elevate the injured area.  

5. Stay Hydrated to Help Muscle Recovery

Swelling, pain, and other symptoms of muscle strain can be made worse by dehydration. Hydration is essential to overall health, and it’s necessary when you are recovering from a muscle strain. You should aim to drink plenty of water throughout the day. Avoiding dehydrating snacks and drinks can also help.  

6. Compression for Muscle Recovery

Compressing the muscles is an effective way to keep the swelling down and keep your pain in control. Applying compression bandages or using an active compression system allows the damaged tissues to repair themselves more quickly. 

Compression bandages can be used for all other body parts except the lower back, where a back brace is required to help the muscles heal. The back brace must not be put on too tightly or worn constantly, as the muscles need blood flow to heal.  

7. Eat Well to Heal Back Muscle Strains

Eating a well-balanced diet and good hydration promotes overall good health and healing. Remember to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables for all the essential vitamins and minerals. These are vital to your recovery since they give the body the raw materials to heal your injured muscle.  

8. Rest, But Don’t Overdo It

Don’t rest too long. A little couch time won’t hurt, but light activity speeds recovery, so avoid lying down for long periods. Growing evidence shows there is little or no benefit to bed rest over staying active. So use this rule of thumb: listen to your body. Ultimately, your level of pain will determine your level of activity. 

If a particular activity led to a pulled muscle, don’t repeat it for at least a week. For example, if your back pain started after lifting something heavy, avoid lifting heavy objects for at least a week while your pulled back muscle heals. Also, avoid sitting for too long. 

Long periods of sitting can tighten your muscles and cause lower back muscle pain and stiffness. Use good posture when you sit and stand, avoiding slumping in your head and shoulders.  

9. Massage Therapy

A massage effectively increases blood flow toward the injured tissues. Careful manipulation of the body’s soft tissues increases blood circulation and relaxes the tensed muscles, improving the range of motion and easing the pain. Massage therapy also releases endorphins that lessen the pain signals in the nervous system. 

Some pain and stiffness are not unusual for a week or two as your pulled muscle heals and returns to shape. If your symptoms do not improve or you continue to face problems performing routine activities, visit your doctor.  

10. Stretching and Strengthening Exercises

You’ll want to be very careful in the first few days, but light stretching can often reduce pain from a pulled muscle in your lower back by relieving tension. Include both strengthening and stretching exercises. Try this easy stretch while lying in bed: Gently raise your knees from the bed to your chest, then put a slight pressure on your knees for a light stretch in your lower back. 

This stretch can help relieve muscle spasms in your back faster than waiting for them to resolve on their own. The stretch should not add to your pain. Try isometric exercise. If it's not too painful, gently contract (squeeze) the injured muscle for 30 seconds. This promotes the normal breakdown and reknitting of muscle tissue.

3 Gentle Shoulder Stretches

Seated Chest Stretch

• Sit straight in a chair, facing sideways. 
• Roll your shoulders down and back. 
• Clasp your hands behind you, intertwining your fingers so your palms face you. 
• Raise your hands toward the ceiling to the point of mild tension. 
• Hold the stretch, then slowly return to the starting position.

Shoulder Stretch Technique

• Sit straight in a chair, put your left hand on your right shoulder, and cup your left elbow with your right hand. 
• Roll your shoulders down and back, then gently pull your left elbow across your chest as you extend your left arm. 
• Hold the stretch, return to the starting position, then repeat on the other side.

Seated Overhead Stretch

• Sit up straight with your hands in your lap and your fingers interlaced. 
• Rotate your palms so they face away from you and extend your arms out in front of you. 
• Keep your shoulders down and back, and lift your arms toward the ceiling (palms facing upward). 
• Hold the stretch and return to the starting position.

Remember to listen to your body. Back support compression braces can be helpful during the healing process. They help stabilize your spine and prevent further lower back irritation when you twist or bend throughout the day.

Compression Benefits & Limits

Compression can also help reduce swelling after an injury so that compression braces may be helpful. I don’t recommend wearing a compression brace all day; just for a few hours or when you know you’ll be most active. Keeping it on for too long can prevent complete healing, as you need to strengthen those muscles to recover.

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Improve Your Flexibility with Our Mobility App Today | Get 7 Days for Free on Any Platform

After a muscle strain, your body needs to heal. The faster you can improve your flexibility and mobility, the better. You can recover better and return to your routine or sport quicker. Improving mobility and flexibility will allow you to:

• Restore function to the injured area
• Reduce muscle tension and help prevent future injuries.

‍Pliability offers a fresh take on yoga, tailored for performance-oriented individuals and athletes. Our app features a vast library of high-quality videos designed to:

• Improve flexibility
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Personalized Mobility

Pliability provides daily-updated custom mobility programs for those interested in optimizing their health and fitness. It also includes a unique body-scanning feature to pinpoint mobility issues. If you're feeling limited by pain or ability to move, Pliability aims to complement your fitness routine and help you move better. 

Sign up today to get 7 days absolutely for free on iPhone, iPad, Android, or our website to improve flexibility, aid recovery, reduce pain, and enhance range of motion with our mobility app. 

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