A muscle strain may not be the most serious injury, but the pain and discomfort associated with it have the potential to slow you down. So, if you find yourself fighting this common ailment, you should consider all available treatment options.
Heat therapy is one of the best treatments for a muscle strain, as it’s associated with benefits such as:
Speeding up the healing process.
Promoting blood flow to the injured area.
Calming muscle spasms.
Improving mobility in the affected area.
Decreasing inflammation.
Reducing the need for pain medication.
Adding to the above, it doesn’t take expensive equipment or an excess amount of time to take advantage of these benefits. For example, if you have a heating pad and 10 to 15 minutes of time — three or four times per day — you have everything you need for effective heat therapy.
If you’ve never used heat therapy to treat a muscle strain, you could be missing out on the one treatment method that brings you faster relief. There’s no harm in trying, so you might as well head down this path the next time a muscle strain is bogging you down.
Jennifer Ferdinand, owner of Serendipity Wellness Studio in Burke, VA, has been practicing massage therapy and esthetics since 2006. She is nationally certified through NCBTMB, and licensed in Virginia for both Massage Therapy and Esthetics.
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