What are Sprains and Strains?
Sprain and strain are the conditions that occur when you injure your joints due to sudden twisting. In most cases, these may affect your ankle, wrist, knees, or hip joints. These conditions are painful and caused by extreme stretching or even ripping of ligaments. You may also experience symptoms like swelling and blackish discoloration of the affected area. The basic difference between sprain and strain is just that the sprain affects ligaments and strain affects muscle.
What are the Symptoms of Sprains and Strains?
- The symptoms of sprains are different from the symptoms of strains. Let us understand separately.
- Sprain symptoms consist of pain, inflammation, bruising, and stiff joints that are unable to move.
- Strain symptoms predominantly included muscle spasms, swelling, cramping, and difficulty moving.
What are the Causes of Sprains and Strains?
The typical cause of these conditions is an injury to your ligaments and muscles. You may hurt your ligaments while performing a sport, or walking on an uneven surface, or maybe running fast, etc. Any circumstances that may put a lot of strain in your ligament or muscle can trigger sprain and strain.
When to see a Doctor?
- If the Sprain and strain are not severe, it can be treated with home remedies and over-the-counter medicines. It generally heals within a week.
- However, in case you suffer from the condition for more than a week even after trying several home remedies and over-the-counter medicines, you need to visit a doctor. In case you have excessive swelling in the injured joint, you need to seek medical help. If your affected area is tender to touch and you find it really hard to put any stress in the wounded area, you need to book an appointment with your physician.
Lifestyle Prevention of Sprains and Strains
Preventing sprain and strain is not that easy. Limiting your physical pursuits and being prudent is something that may be an option but not always possible. But one should always avoid unnecessary physical activities or playing any sports if exhausted. Also, eating healthy food and including multi nutrients which reinforce muscles and joints is crucial.
Common Ayurvedic Remedies for Sprains and Strains
Some extremely effective ayurvedic home remedies can help you treat sprain and strain.
Most importantly, whenever you get a sprain or strain, wrap up the area in an elastic bandage as quickly as possible.
- Drink Juice: drinking pineapple or pomegranate juice is very important and effective. These two fruits have anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant properties which help to cure the sprain and strain quickly.
- Mustard Seed Tea Bag: For ankle sprain, soaking your foot in a pot of hot water with a mustard seed tea bag is very useful. To make this tea bag, put 2 tsp of mustard seed in a cheesecloth or other similar cloth and tie it up. Then plunge the knotted cloth with mustard seed in the hot water.
- Healing Paste: This herbal paste made of Turmeric and salt is a great remedy to reduce your swelling. Just add about half tsp of turmeric and half tsp of salt and then mix it with water to make a paste. Apply on the injured area.
Curative Ayurvedic Herbs:
Preventative Ayurvedic Herbs:
Not Known
Do you want to learn more? Ask us! OR Do you know more about this topic? Educate us.