Pulled hamstrings are common among athletes but are painful and require treatments to ease the pain and cure the pulled tendons. This condition occurs when the tendon of thigh muscles get stretched beyond their stretching capacity. While it can happen when you are running, or playing football, or skating, there are things you can do to avoid getting a hamstring injury.
Always warm up before you start a physical activity. Even if you are going for a run, prepare your muscles for intense movements by doing basic warm exercises.
Be slow with your warm up exercises. There are incidences where people get a hamstring injury not while running but while warming up. The irony can be avoided by going slow while warming up.
Do not over train yourself. As the saying goes, too much of too good is not so good. It is true in every case including training and exercising. Over exertion can not only lead to a pulled hamstring but also fatigue. Train only as much is required.
Try glute training to avoid hamstring injuries. These can also help you in treating hamstring injuries if you get them.
Do not overload your hamstring while sprinting on each step.
If you have already had one hamstring injuries and tried several things for treating those hamstring injuries, then you should know about some causes that make hamstring injuries to re-occur. It is not uncommon for a sport injury to re-occur. But by knowing these causes of recurring hamstring injury, you can prevent them from happening.
Inappropriate pelvic position. Make sure your pelvic position is right while you are doing any physical activities. This is important because hamstring consists of three muscles and one of those muscles is attached to your pelvic muscle.
When your glutes are not supporting the muscles while you are active (i.e., moving, walking, running and playing). Hamstring, glute and lower back muscle should work together when your body is moving. When they are not in-sync, hamstring injuries and strike again and you have to try more thing for treating hamstring injuries.
When athletes do no move correctly. There are right movements for every physical activity. Paying attention to the right movements will prevent you from getting a pulled hamstring again while ignoring that will give you the opposite result ad you will get back to treating hamstring injuries which takes time.
Knowing your body more will only help you from preventing it from injuries. Instead of trying many things for treating hamstring injuries, you can learn about the things you can do to avoid them.
Chronic migraine is a condition where the affected person experiences at least 15 headache days a month. It is observed that at least 8 out of these 15 days are migraine headaches with severe symptoms, and this pattern of discomfort remains consistent for 3 months. Initially, it may not be a frequently occurring episode, however, with time, the episodes may get regular with chronic headaches. If left untreated, this condition can affect a person’s life.
Causes
Several factors determine the onset of this kind of migraine. One of them includes a steady increase in the frequency of episodic headaches. Over-the-counter treatment options that are used to treat frequent headaches stop affecting over time, leading to side effects that develop into chronic headaches. Some other factors that can put an individual at a high risk of developing this condition include mood disorders like anxiety or depression, snoring, excessive caffeine intake, ongoing disturbed sleep patterns, and a history of stressful life events causing emotional or physical trauma. An unhealthy lifestyle leading to an increase in the body mass index (BMI) can also be a causal factor.
Symptoms
There is no difference between symptoms of chronic migraines and episodic migraines. However, the only thing to notice is the increased frequency of episodic headaches in a month. Some typical symptoms of this illness can be observed for timely diagnosis and treatment.
Transitioning symptoms (episodic to chronic migraines)
Diagnosis
A health professional will take a look at the affected person’s health history. If needed, the doctor may ask questions that help understand the migraine patterns. The questions include how and when the migraines begin, how long they last, are there any notable physical factors or triggers that worsen the condition, and where the location of the pain is.
The professional may also ask for a detailed history of other health conditions like anxiety, depression, lifestyle choices that may trigger these headaches, any treatment options used, and possible side effects that could be factored into the diagnosis. Based on the results, appropriate treatment methods will be advised and implemented.
Treatment options
Most of the treatment methods focus on managing the symptoms, the migraine attacks, and reducing the episodes and pain.
One of the treatment therapies includes focusing on lifestyle changes.
Some other treatment options for managing migraine attacks include:
Other techniques include:
Also, maintain a headache diary and note down the possible triggers and the number of migraine attacks in a month. If there’s a notable increase in the attacks, consult a doctor at the earliest. Knowing the triggers can help the doctor chalk out an effective treatment plan.
Preventive treatments and methods
Apart from treatment options that help manage the symptoms, there are preventive treatment methods that reduce the episodes of these headaches to a certain extent. These include using beta blockers and other therapies. One such treatment method also includes using an Allergan product named BOTOX®, which doctors recommend for those 18 years and older. The intravenous treatment method is administered around the neck or the head, where the migraine pain usually affects the person. This ten-minute procedure is not painful and can prevent headaches for three months. The procedure takes place in a doctor’s clinic under close supervision.
Chronic migraine can be painful and disrupt everyday life activities, so choosing the right treatment plan is crucial. Get all the information from a licensed health professional and seek the best possible treatment plan according to a detailed diagnosis.
Exercising is a treasure trove, making one achieve optimum health, among other benefits. With daily exercise, one can also expect better concentration and a massive energy boost to last throughout the day. The best part? One does not have to pay for a gym membership to access these benefits. Workouts can be simple and highly effective, even when done at home. So, here are some easy at-home exercises one can add to their daily routine:
Squats
Squats boost one’s core strength and lower body flexibility. One can start by standing straight, with the feet slightly apart. Then, they will need to brace their core and bend their knees as if they were sitting on an imaginary chair. While bending down, the chest and chin must be up, and the hips must be pushed back. The knees must not be outward or inward, and the thighs must be parallel to the ground. After holding this pose for a second, one can rise and repeat.
Dumbbell rows
Useful for the back and other upper body muscles, this exercise involves holding a 10-pound dumbbell in each hand and bending forward at the waist, with the back at a 45-degree angle with the ground. The back and neck should be straight as an arrow, and the arms should hang down. Then, one can gently pull the dumbbells up by bending one elbow and stopping just below the chest. One can follow the same steps on the other hand and alternate between the two.
Planks
Planks help tone the abdominal muscles and stabilize the abs without straining the back. Here, one should first plant their toes and hands on the floor while keeping their back straight, parallel to the ground, and their abdomen tight. For beginners, the plank position should be held for 20 seconds, with each subsequent one held for longer durations as the strength increases.
Push-ups
Push-ups strengthen the chest, triceps, shoulders, and core trunk muscles. First, one should get down on all fours and place their hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. After straightening the arms and legs, they can lower their body until their chest almost touches the ground before lifting themselves back up.
Walking
Walking helps burn calories, strengthen the heart, and improve blood flow. Gentle walking or rapid, brisk walking can be great warm-up exercises as well.