Carisoprodol treats sprains and strains
One of the most common mistakes is to treat the words “sprain” and “strain” as being the same. Ask someone with a medical background and they will hold up their hands in shock and horror. No! they will say. Completely different! Well, how so? Whenever we fall down, it all hurts the same. Better still, ask a doctor about treatment and you will hear the same advice: rest, apply compression, use ice (being careful not to get frostbite) and keep the affected limb higher than the level of your heart. But, open a dictionary and you will find a sprain is when you stretch or tear a ligament, i.e. one of those thick bits of fiber holding two bones together in a joint. The most common sprain is of the ankle as any woman wearing higher-heeled pumps will be able to tell you. But a strain is when you stretch or tear a muscle or tendon. A tendon is the bit of fiber that ties a muscle to a bone. So the most common strains are when you lift something awkwardly and stretch the muscles in your lower back, or if you insist on exercise, damaging the hamstring muscle in the back of your thigh or, worse, the Achilles tendon linking your heel bone to the calf muscles. The injury is likely to be worse if you have been moving your body in a repetitive way, e.g. as in tennis elbow which slowly overextends the muscles and results in long-term injury. Both varieties of injury are more likely if you are unfit or you are overtired.
Again, no matter what you have done to yourself, there will be bruising, pain and the affected bit may swell up. You will not feel like moving. The only differences are that, with a sprain, you may hear or feel the joint “pop” when you slip or fall. With a strain, you are more likely to have muscle spasms after the injury. For the everyday injury, just rest and it will slowly get better. But you should see a doctor if you find you can no longer move around, the site of the injury is numb or you can see red streaks radiating from the point of injury.
For all the more mild injuries, you will be given painkillers and anti-inflammatories, and told to rest. Ice reduces swelling and exercise slowly rehabilitates the muscles, tendons and ligaments. To help prevent the swelling from reappearing, you can use elastic bandages. Do not keep them too tight or this will restrict the circulation. In serious cases, surgery may be required to repair a ruptured muscle or torn ligament. With the new techniques, many operations are now less invasive and recovery faster. If you have a strain, you may need to take Carisoprodol to reduce the risk of muscle spasms. These can be extremely painful and can, if not controlled, cause further damage. Carisoprodol relaxes the muscles and gives you the best chance of healing. If you keep the leg or arm raised above the level of your heart, this will drain down any swelling. After a few days, you will be ready to consider physical therapy to begin restoring muscle tone.