It Hurts but It’s Not Serious

Diagnosing the cause of a back problem can be very difficult. The source of pain can be almost impossible to pinpoint in many cases. A muscle strain won’t show up on a MRI or X-ray making it hard to say exactly what’s been injured. But one of the most common diagnosis is muscle sprain. A strain can actually be a muscle, ligament or tendon strain.

When you strain your back, there’s a limited number of things you can do to make it feel better. Often, it just takes some time for the sprain to heal. You can reduce your physical activity while it’s healing. You can also put an ice pack on the area where it hurts right after the injury happens. There are plenty of over-the-counter medications you can take too. As the pain begins to go away, you should start moving around again. It usually only takes a few days for a sprain to get better.