Muscle strains and similar injuries have many causes and wind up costing an estimated $45 billion to $54 billion in annual economic impacts, the Centers for Disease Control reports. Harvard Medical School describes muscle strains as the stretching or tearing of muscle fibers. Usually, there are two causes: The muscle either was stretched beyond its limits, or it contracted too quickly.
Doctors treat muscle strains based on one of three levels of injury. A grade I strain has only a few muscle fibers that are stretched or torn. The muscle will be sore, painful and seem weakened. But, in fact, it has full strength and only needs some rest to recover. Such injuries often cure themselves overnight or over a day or so.
A grade II strain injures involve many more muscle fibers and result in swelling, loss of strength and might include bruising. The muscle is painful, swelling is moderate, and the loss of strength is very noticeable. Someone with a muscle strain in a leg, for example, likely would have a noticeable limp.
Such strains often result in either time off work, restricted or modified duties, or both. They also often require medical attention, which employers should provide, and that workers’ compensation insurance should cover.
A grade III strain completely tears the muscle into two pieces or shorn away from a tendon. The strain often is accompanied by extreme pain and a popping sound when the muscle tears. When the muscle is torn, a dent or gap might form beneath the skin, where the muscle has been disrupted.
Grade III strains are the most serious and take the longest to heal. Sometimes, they can result in partial disability. Often, due to the complexity of grade III muscle strains, the cost in treating them, the time off work, and the ability to heal fully are much slower than with a simple bone fracture.
