Seb Murtagh, Osteopath
This week we are talking about pulled muscles, otherwise known as muscle strains, writes Reading Osteopath Seb Murtagh. Muscle strains can happen anywhere in the body. However we most commonly see them in the back of your upper leg (hamstring), the back of your lower leg (calf) or the postural muscles of your lower back.
What is behind a pulled muscle?
These injuries can occur when a muscle is put under a strain that it is not used to. This causes it to become over stretched or tear. The reason behind a muscle injury can vary from fatigue, over use or the need to compensate for other underlying issues.
If not dealt with in good time, these muscle injuries can lead to scar tissue formation. Scar tissue can limit the flexibility of the injured muscles which can in turn restrict the movement of joint. The knock-on effect in the future can be an increased chance of injury.
Your Chiropractor or Osteopath may manage your muscle strains using a variety of techniques. Chiropractic or osteopathy can treat the underlying causes. Sports massage therapy and myofacial dry needling may also play an important role in your recovery. However, one modality that many patients are less aware of is laser therapy, so that is the focus of this blog article.
K-Laser Therapy for Muscle Strains
If you’ve ever torn a muscle or suffered muscle strains, then you will likely remember how
painful it was in those first few weeks. The injured area can be seriously tender to the touch making hands on treatment difficult and painful.
A huge benefit of K-Laser treatment is that it is completely pain free. The K-laser is not a healer in its own right. What K-Laser does do is encourage and enhance the body’s own healing mechanisms by increasing blood supply in the offending area. This increases oxygenation (Luo et al., 2012) in the treated area. The extra oxygen increases the local metabolism which in turn speeds up the local healing process. Another benefit of the increased blood supply is a reduction in inflammation. This should lead to a reduction in pain, an increase in mobility and a decreased healing time. This all works to get you back to what you want to be doing faster!
The earlier you start your laser therapy the better the outcome will be. If left to its own devices the body may form scar tissue and adhesions which leave you more susceptible to similar injuries in the future. K-Laser therapy can reduce the potential long term impact of your injury and get you back on your feet quicker.
The K-Laser can be customised to suit any area of the body and works on both acute (recent) injuries and chronic (long term) injuries. There are no negative side effects to laser treatment. This coupled with its ease of application it can be used to treat a range of people from young athletes to the elderly.
K-Laser is particularly good with sports injuries (Morimoto, Saito and Tokuhashi, 2013) and is used by elite Tennis players, Premier league football and Olympic teams. However, it works just as well with mere mortals such as you and I!
If you think you might benefit from K-Laser treatment, then book in for a consultation with one of our practitioners.
More info on K-Laser can be found here https://klaseruk.co.uk/science/.
Morimoto, Y., Saito, A. and Tokuhashi, Y., 2013. Low level laser therapy for sports injuries. LASER THERAPY, 22(1), pp.17-20.
Luo, L., Sun, Z., Zhang, L., Li, X., Dong, Y. and Liu, T., 2012. Effects of low-level laser therapy on ROS homeostasis and expression of IGF-1 and TGF-β1 in skeletal muscle during the repair process. Lasers in Medical Science, 28(3), pp.725-734.
