Symptoms:
Bruised wrists, ankles, fingers, knees, back, hips, and sore or swollen muscles.

Cause:
Muscle injuries can occur when straining muscles too much, using them too long or hard, suddenly twisting, or hard falls.

Athletes frequently have such problems.

Sprains are a painful stretching of ligaments of the joints, caused by lifting, sudden stops or turns, injuries, or falls.

Strains are more severe; They involve torn ligaments and torn joint capsule, with bleeding and swelling.

The following suggestions are good both for prevention and treatment of injuries:

Treatment:
• According to one view, sprains should be treated with ice or very cold water. Follow this by bandaging the injury with an Ace bandage.

• But, according to a different view, sprains should be initially treated with alternate hot and cold—especially if it is in the wrist, elbow, or ankle. This method works better than using cold alone!

• Put the injured part in very hot water, and keep it there 20-30 minutes. Every few minutes take it out of the hot water and plunge it into cold water for about a minutes, then back into the hot. Keep the hot water hot. This can continue for up to 2 hours with good results.

• Repeat this for several days; and, twice a day, massage around the area.

• If you use the cold method alone on a sprain, you may not be able to walk on a sprained ankle for days; use the alternate hot and cold method, and you may be much better in half the time.

• (A third method calls for cold on strains to begin with, to reduce initial swelling, followed by alternate hot and cold afterward.)

• If the sprain or strain is in the back or shoulder, treat it with hot fomentations, short cold, and massage.

• A bad bruise on any part of the body can be treated as for a sprain or strain.

• In addition to the above, strains frequently require a cast similar to that used for a fracture, so the injured joint area can be immobilized for more complete rest.

• DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) is a liquid that can be applied externally to the injured area, to relieve pain, reduce swelling, and promote healing. But only buy it in the health food store.