Muscle Pain in Leg? Biggest Mistake & How to Fix Fast!
- Apr 2
- 11 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in December 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/e3G2QEDOkdM
Brad: Oh, man.
Mike: What's wrong with you? Age catching up finally?
Brad: Oh, Mike, I just hurt my legs the first time I played that new game, that cucumber ball or whatever it is. And my hamstring is stretched. I think I strained it.
Mike: Well, if you have some brine or vinegar, you could play pickleball. But anyway, if you are one of those people that's a weekend warriors and you get injured, this information can help.
Brad: That's right. This comes right from the clinic and personal experience. It's the step-by-step for sure, helping to cure your leg. Now this is one of those situations that does happen. You do something new, you overdo it. Muscle strain typically in the quadriceps, the hamstrings, or the calf muscles. Very common. We're going to go through how you can repair and heal this quickly.
Mike: So we're actually going to go through seven different steps here. Try them all, see what works for you, and go through them. It's kind of a progression.
Brad: It actually is, but you may start at one and may skip two, depending on where you're at. But I would really look at them all. Take your time, take notes, and go through it methodically.
Mike: Well, should we start with number one?
Brad: Yep, absolutely. The big thing is, and this is the biggest mistake most people make who don't have a background in muscle rehab or injuries, is they hurt their hamstring, the first thing, "Oh, I better stretch it." So they start stretching a muscle that already has torn tissues and has been overstretched. So this is the biggest mistake. Do not stretch an area that has just become injured. It needs rest time. So how are we going to do that, Mike?
Mike: So this is within the first two to three days. You can relax, take it easy. If you are really walking badly and limping, you may actually need to unload that limb, and you can use crutches or a cane, depending upon your age and injury. But just having an assistive device temporarily can really help.
Brad: That's right. So also if you're on the couch and you hurt your hamstring, get some pillows out. Throw me a pillow, Mike.
Mike: Oh, I guess I'll just get up and run away here.
Brad: Yeah, so this is my injured leg, and I'm relaxing, trying to get some TV time. Go in there. Makes a big difference just to get some relaxation. Unload the weight from the joint or the muscle. This will make a big difference. And like Mike is showing, take a cold pack out of the freezer that stays soft. Put it on the muscle that is injured and leave it on there for 15 to 20 minutes. Oh, one thing, if you're watching TV, don't watch the news. It'll get you all riled up and make your muscles tighten up. That's a big no-no. Watch something nice and joyful so you can relax.
Mike: So for the first two to three days, make sure to do this. You're in the acute injury phase, so ice will be your friend, rest, and taking pressure off that area. Now, once you're on day three or four, maybe you could start doing some gentle range of motion on your injured area.
Brad: That's right. So that just means if it's your quadrants or your hamstring, simply sitting on the edge of a chair or your pickup truck, if you've got the tailgate down, and start moving it back and forth. Then you're doing some gentle stretching, a gentle range of motion. Mike is showing us if it's up in the hip area.
Mike: Yeah, just kind of move that joint around in the pain-free range of motion. You can do this lying down, seated on the floor if you're comfortable there. Quit touching me with your feet.
Brad: Sorry.
Mike: Just do some gentle motion and don't do a lot of strengthening or anything. Just getting some movement in there can help repair the injury faster.
Brad: Right, and if it gets to the point where walking is no longer painful, it's just a little strain, but no sharp pains, get out and do some walking, but don't go too far. Keep good judgment. So we're going to first rest it, then you get it moving, and then start some real low activity motion. Oh, what do you have there, Mike?
Mike: Now, once you're kind of out of the acute phase, so the first, it can be two days, five days, whatever your injury severity is, you can start putting some heat on it to actually loosen up the muscles more if they're kind of feeling tight. And it also gets a lot of blood flow to the area.
Brad: That's right.
Mike: So you can use any type of hot pack, a microwaveable one if you have one. We have a heating pad here. These work great. Just plug them in, leave them on. I actually have one at home. It's great
Brad: Right, now this is one thing I do want to mention. If you have a hot pack, and I've just discovered this, get one that is weighted. In other words, they have beads in there, they're very flexible, and the big advantage of them is they wrap right around the curvature of your body. Whether it's the knee, ankle, hip, or shoulder, the heat really conducts into that joint or the muscle quickly. They're very comfortable. It is a big advantage, and I recommend it to anybody who is looking for a hot pack. Get a weighted one.
Mike: You can even take a hot bath. Or if you have a hot tub or a hot shower.
Brad: There you go.
Mike: That also has a similar effect.
Brad: That's right.
Mike: Now, the next tip is to massage the area that is painful. Now you want the pain to calm down enough so that it's not super tender. So maybe day five or a week out, you could start massaging. So, if it's on the bottom of your foot, you can just use your hands. If it's on your calf, quad, or any area, you could certainly just massage and dig in there. However, most people get sick of doing self-massage with their hands after a while, me included. So, using a sort of tool.
Brad: Wait, don't forget. I wanna make sure we emphasize, Mike, not only do you want to do that and get the tissue massage breakup scar tissue to keep mobility and increase circulation, which is going to increase healing time, make it faster. But now he doesn't know it because he's still young, but you get to be my age in your 70s, your thumbs and your fingers may get painful 'cause I already got some arthritis in them. And these massage guns really take that out. Go ahead, talk about it, Mike.
Mike: So you can just take a massage gun and massage around the painful area. If it's too sensitive to go directly on it, say just it's plantar fasciitis, which is commonly here. I know that because I have a mild plantar fasciitis right now. I am much more healed than originally, but I kind of go around the area and don't press too hard directly into it. Use the side of the massage gun. Once it starts becoming less painful and it feels good, you can kind of start digging in there a little more. But that took me a couple of weeks before I could do that.
Brad: Yeah. Now I want to mention this, particularly for leg injuries, like we're talking about specifically. This new massage gun and belt that actually has heads and works exactly like that. I'll show you in a bit. But it also has this strap. And you can see it just vibrating away and massaging. If you have a foot injury, you can put it on the foot, and it really works nicely. It makes the oddness of bringing your foot up like that. I can simply relax my leg and massage the bottom of my foot. You can crisscross it like this to get the full wrap. It really is nice.
Brad: And again, this is something that I've just started using in the last couple of months, and I'm really sold on it. The great thing about using it on your legs is whether your calf, your hamstring, or your quadriceps. Not only can you work the calf or the hamstrings like this, if you want to do the full massage, but you wrap it around the leg. You get this spiral effect. This not only works the muscle, but it also covers a large area, which can be really effective in getting the fascia. And the fascia has what, Mike? A lot of...
Mike: Pain receptors in there.
Brad: There you go! A little pop quiz! And you can work it down around the kneecap. You don't have to worry about banging into the kneecap with the massage gun head. It is really a treat. And you can control the intensity by how tight you pull on it, or it has five different levels. So the big double bang with this is that it has five massage heads, and you can actually use it as a massage gun. I'm going to show you in just a second. Okay, you simply take the strap off. It's threaded on there, so it's a secure positive fit. And then you put on the head there, one, two, three, four, five different heads. I'm going to use the air head, nice and soft, good one to begin with. And simply, we get it moving, and so it is literally the same kind of massage gun as our other ones. But you know, the beauty of it is you're getting two different massage guns with the strap and the standard with all the heads that you need. It works great. And it's kind of nice. The handle's a little different. You get some good ergonomics steady here. You know, you could work it here.
Brad: I know this is about leg injuries, but I do want to mention that, look at this, you can use the strap on your back with ease. Whereas a typical massage gun, it's very challenging to get to your back, particularly right up in the upper back, where this goes well. Just another benefit that makes this a good product to purchase, if you're looking for one.
Brad: Let's go on, Mike. Okay, once you get your muscles feeling better, you're walking, and you feel like you can get back into your activity, start some gentle stretching to make sure everything is working well. You have a full range of motion. Nice general stretch for your leg overall. I like this one. If you have a stool, or you can do it on some stairs. Mike will demonstrate that. Your foot is off the edge, so we stretch the ankle. And then the knee gets full range of motion and flexion, or bending, and then your hip also gets full flexion. And then make sure you do the other leg as well, because now their sore leg is on the bottom. We're going to stretch the hip flexor out, and you're going to get that. You're also going to get stretched a little bit on the hamstring and also on the foot and weight bearing, which is consistent with your activity, assuming it's something you're doing on your feet.
Brad: There are other stretches you can do for these muscles. I'm not going to get into all of those. What you can do is search YouTube for Bob and Brad, if it's your hamstrings, search how to stretch a hamstring, and it will give you a full array of videos. So once you get and you're stretching it and you're feeling good, wait a week or so, then get back into your activity. The more aggressive the activity, the slower you want to get into it. Such as if you're doing tennis, you're not going to go out there and start playing with an opponent and do aggressive competitive tennis. You're going to be hitting it against the backdrop and just playing easily, progressing more. Mike, do you have some more to say on that?
Mike: I don't play tennis, so I don't have much more to say about that, but just slowly go back to feeling normal with your activities. Obviously, if you're creating more pain when you're progressing, you need to back off. And then just slowly ramp up again. Many people are thick-headed like us, and we like to go back full bore right away, but take your time.
Brad: You're saying if you're a man, you're probably going to go too hard, just saying.
Mike: Your ego gets in the way sometimes.
Brad: Anyways, take your time with it. You will get back sooner than you would ever think if you use this particular protocol. But we do have another video, don't we?
Mike: Yes, if you're having leg pain still and you're not sure what's causing it, watch "10 Causes Of Pain Down Your Leg. Sciatica or is it Something Else? "
Brad: That's right. You're getting that weird pain going down your leg, numbness, tingling, those types of things. That's a good video for that.
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