Exercise is one of the best ways to stay healthy, but sometimes it can do more harm than good—such as when you pull your abdominal muscles.
What causes a pulled abdominal muscle
Generally, a pulled muscle is caused by overuse, excessive force or by stretching a muscle too much. In terms of pulling abdominal muscles when you exercise, it could be caused by:
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using the wrong technique during exercise
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suddenly twisting your body
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lifting something heavy incorrectly
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overexercising the abdominal muscles
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failing to warm up properly
How bad is it?
You’ll probably know you pulled your abdominal muscles because it will hurt, having swelling, muscle spasms or bruising, or make it difficult to stretch before exercise.
But just how serious is a pulled abdominal muscle? That depends. There are three levels of severity:
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Mild strain: This will cause the fibers to stretch or tear, but your strength won’t be affected.
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Medium strain: This will cause more torn fibers than a mild strain and there more be bruising or swelling. You’ll notice that your muscle is more weak than usual.
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Severe strain: If you rip the muscle, it will be very painful and you’ll lose muscle strength.
Someone people think they have a hernia—a bulge in the abdomen when fat, tissue or part of the small intestines pokes through the weakened part of the abdominal muscles—when it’s actually just an abdominal pull. But a hernia will often call pain or burning in the groin area (or swelling in the scrotum), especially in men.
When it’s serious enough to see a doc
Most minor abdominal muscle pulls will heal themselves. You’ll just need to rest it and avoid doing anything to strenuous.
But the pain is long-lasting, gets worse or is accompanies by nausea, vomiting, fever or a red and tender bulge in the groin, you will need to seek treatment.
