A muscle strain, also called a pulled muscle, happens when the muscle gets torn or overstretched. This generally occurs due to fatigue, excess use, or incorrect muscle use. Strains can occur in all muscles, though they’re most prevalent in your neck, shoulders, lower back, and hamstrings.
Such strains can lead to pain and might restrict movement in the impacted muscle group. Gentle to moderate strains may be effectively treated at home with heat, ice, and anti-inflammatory drugs. Serious tears or strains may need medical treatment. CBD also has emerged as a potent therapy for Muscle Strain due to its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and muscle-relaxant properties.
What Constitutes Muscle Strain
Muscle strain, muscle pull, or also a muscle tear signifies damage to a muscle or its joining tendons. You can exert excess pressure upon muscles in the course of normal everyday activities, with abrupt heavy lifting, in sports, or while performing work jobs.
Muscle injuries can take the shape of tearing (part or all) of the muscle fibers and the tendons linked to the muscle. The tearing of the muscle can also injure tiny blood vessels, leading to local bleeding, or bruising, and pain resulting from irritation of the nerve endings in the area.
Causes Of Muscle Strains
A strain happens when muscle fibers get damaged from being overstretched or torn. As tendons are an integral part of muscles, strains may also include tendon damage. Strains are more commonly known as pulled muscles.
Strains happen due to overstretching a muscle by excessive force. Common causes are sporting injuries, a fall or an abrupt movement, or an effort to lift a heavy object. Sometimes, constant coughing can also strain muscles within the rib cage.
Strains can impact nearly every muscle of the body. Common areas impacted include the calf, back, thigh, shoulders, and neck. A strain impacting the back or neck may cause lower back or neck pain (a stiff neck).
Strains impacting the muscles at a joint like the ankle may also be linked with damage to the ligaments – this is termed sprain.
Symptoms Of Muscle Strain
You’ll usually experience a muscle strain as it happens. Symptoms comprise:
- Abrupt onset of pain
- Restricted range of movement
- Soreness
- Bruising or discoloration
- A knotted-up feeling
- Swelling
- Muscle spasms
- Weakness
- Stiffness
How CBD Is Effective For Muscle Strain
Cannabidiol, or CBD, has huge promise as an alternative to prescriptions as a safe, efficient muscle relaxant to assist with a muscle strain. CBD serves to mitigate the symptoms of muscle strain by acting in the following ways:
Functions As A Muscle Relaxant
When a muscle contracts, it results from these chemical messengers arising from the central nervous system, shifting to a muscle, and compelling it to contract. Without a proper supply of endocannabinoids, these excessive chemicals cannot be slowed down, making muscles contract repeatedly. An inadequate supply of endocannabinoids leads to the medical condition of Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency or CECD.
CBD directly assists in retarding this flow of chemical messengers, and it also hikes the body’s supply of endocannabinoids, causing a two-fold impact, aiding with muscle relaxation and lowering spasticity.
CBD influences the raised degrees of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). CBD lessens it to create numbness, thereby generating analgesia. CBD includes muscular and vascular relaxant. Thus, it reduces muscle spasm together with inflammation.
Aids To Combat Inflammation
The anti-inflammatory properties of CBD aids to manage inflammation emerging from Muscle Strain. The body on irritation sends a group of invading immune cells to the region to remove any pathogens that may be injuring your body. Excess inflammation can worsen the problem wherein CBD proves handy. CBD elevates the endocannabinoid 2-AG that reduces the number of immune cells discharged.
Acts As A Pain Alleviator
Constant inflammation during Muscle Strain causes chronic pain. This is induced by macrophages – essential large white blood cells available in the immune system, which identify and consume viruses, bacteria, and parasites. These macrophages enter a region where there is a discharge of cytotoxins and cytokines, causing inflammation and irritation. CBD upon accessing the body, initially functions as an analgesic on the neurotransmitters, relieving pain naturally.
A big way CBD helps to relieve pain is by preserving Anandamide – an endogenous cannabinoid naturally available in our body. When CBD reaches the endocannabinoid system, it halts anandamide from disintegrating too quickly, by joining the proteins that split this bliss molecule. Thus, CBD aids retention of anandamide in the system longer, which allows the ECS to work more effectively.
CBD also assists in the relief of pain by modulating and controlling endorphins. Endorphins are the feel-nice chemicals available in the body that aid with pain. CBD assists to elevate our internal endorphins naturally, eliminating the risk of dependence on synthetic drugs and Opioids.
Conclusion
CBD has a host of therapeutic properties from being an analgesic, muscle relaxant, bone growth stimulator, promoter of neurogenesis to treating various types of muscle sprains and strains. This has made this phytocannabinoid a popular plant-derived medicine that has become a safer alternative as against Opioids and painkillers.
