**Treatment**

**Chapter 5**

**Medical Treatment of Muscle Lesion**

Cristiano Eirale and Giannicola Bisciotti

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56329

**1. Introduction**

for cases of muscle strain.

**3. RICE protocol**

**2. Immobilization/Mobilization**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Though muscular lesions are the most common injuries in sport, there is limited evidence for the majority of management techniques. In particular, treatment aimed at minimizing the risk for recurrent muscle injurieshas progressed little in the past few decades. None of the medical treatment currently used in clinical practice is supported by strong scientific evidence.

In the following chapter we will perform a short analysis of the main medical interventions

Immobilization has been shown to result in beneficial effects in the very early phase of muscle regeneration as it appears to provide the new granulation tissue with the necessary tensile strength to resist the forces created by muscle contractions [1,2]. This can be achieved simply by applying rigid adhesive taping. The use of crutches is also recommended in cases of major lesions. After the first few days, early mobilization should commence. This provokes more rapid and intensive capillary development in the injured area, better regeneration of muscle fibers, and more parallel orientation of the regenerating myofibers in comparison to immobi‐

The first treatment of a muscle lesion, as with any other injured soft tissue, normally consists of the RICE protocol (Rice, Ice, Compression and Elevation). The rationale behind this

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 Eirale and Bisciotti; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

lization, which was the previously preferred treatment for injured muscle [3,4].
