David, a recent patient at Wellness Embodied has been struggling with his trail running. He usually runs 3-4 x per week but lately was only managing one run due to waking up the next day with severe pain and swelling around his ankle. When we asked David about his training he told us that the intensity, volume or frequency hadn’t changed, and he was running the same trail he usually does. He was maintaining his normal warm up and warm down routine and he even tried cutting down distance without improvements in pain.  With further investigating however, we found out

What is a muscle strain? In short, it is the overstretching or tearing of muscle fibres. The majority of muscle strains occur for one of two reasons: either the muscle has been stretched beyond its capacity or it has beena forced to contract too strongly. The severity of injury can range from only a few muscle fibres that are damaged, and the muscle continues to function, through to complete tears where the muscle may be unable to function.  How do I know if I have strained a muscle? Symptoms include: Pain and tenderness in the muscle, especially after physical activity