How can a pulled muscle hurt so much?

Have you had Sciatica before? A torn muscle can cause it, very painful. There are some good exercises on YouTube, NHS ones, that help.

I found sitting correctly on a kitchen chair for a few minutes released the nerve, when first sitting on the chair I felt sick and the pain was intense but after a minute it was fine.

Sounds very much like me 10 days ago.
A hottie wedged against my back, copious amounts of pain relief (amitriptilyne , naproxen and paracetamol) but the best and miracle worker was my Shiatsu back massager (see if you can find my thread on it)
Sympathies - it is so debilitating. .

Theexwife

Have you had Sciatica before? A torn muscle can cause it, very painful. There are some good exercises on YouTube, NHS ones, that help.

I found sitting correctly on a kitchen chair for a few minutes released the nerve, when first sitting on the chair I felt sick and the pain was intense but after a minute it was fine.

I hope this advice helps OP. As for your holiday if you have a nice view could you just rest up and enjoy that? Really sorry about your pain.

Any soft tissue or nerve damage causes more pain than a broken limb and takes longer to heal. I had a fall on the bus and hit my sciatica nerve. I am used to pain been in all my life. But the pain from sciatica was far worse. Pain killers helped but the best thing I found I brought a flexible electric heating pad off Amazon. It had 6 heating temps and you could set it to stay on from 30 mins to 2 hours. Then it shuts itself off. The pain in my bum was eased by sitting on the pad at max temperature for 2 hours. Then moved it to my back them the backs of my legs. Took 3 weeks to heal . Wish I had brought one years ago because have pain in my legs and arms and when it's bad the pad eases each area. And it's bliss when my lower back hurts.

It says it can be washed but would never do that . It was £16+ pennies it's dark grey other colours where more expensive.

It might help with your pain .

Have you tried elevating the leg,using ice packs then hot water bottle. Both encourage blood flow to the injured area which is supposed to aid the repair. I was also told eat high protein as the muscle needs extra to repair itself. I feel your pain!!!

As Whiff says, get an electric heat pad.
My son gets sciatica and bought one. It did help.
The gel between his lower discs had worn out and in great pain so he has to be careful what he does.
There are exercises you can do that might help. Google Sciatica exercises. I've just had a look.
I know my son was told to keep on the move rather than sit down and to stretch his legs down as far as he could.
He was given Co Codamol but beware they can cause bad constipation.
You have my sympathy. I've had it not quite so bad after heavy lifting and that was painful enough.
I hope you find some relief soon.

It sounds like Piriformis syndrome. The piriformis muscle in the lower back goes into spasm and affects the sciatic nerve that runs down the hip and leg. I've had that and my son has been suffering from it in the past week. The best remedy for it has to be rest to allow the muscle to recover and for the pain, whatever you can manage to tolerate. My solution came through a Bowen therapist, but Bowen's does not work for everyone. www.bowen-technique.co.uk

I saw my GP yesterday and I found talking to her much more reassuring than the doctor I saw at A&E. She showed me how the back of the hip feels bruised and this is affecting the nerves down the leg. She gave me stronger medication which is actually taking the edge off the pain.

I'm still walking like Quasimodo, though!

Thanks to all of you who responded. All I can do is wait till it eases off.

So sorry the pain in backs can be horrendous.

I am currently dealing with a resurrected pulled muscle problem in my thigh. Happened 9 years ago, absolutely agonising. 8 months ago caught the same leg on a table leg and pain excrutiating. Did seek medical help, been having physio but feel it's a losing battle. Caught me out when on holiday and decided to have a swim. Two kicks and that was me in agony, had to be assisted out the pool much to my embarrassment. Beginning to reconcile leg will never be back to normal, if I can remember what that is! Xray showed no bone issues.

I had sciatica last year, it came on a few days after I landed hard on my bottom and lasted for five months. I was uncomforable all the time and couldn't even put my socks on!
Treatment from an osteopath didn't really help though it did make my slightly more flexible. Then I caught a virus and rested up for most of the week on the sofa and my back magically cured itself. I suggest that you find your most comfortable position on a sofa, upright or reclining, and take it very easy.

I did buy one of the heat packs that straps round your middle and think this helped a little.

I once had a damaged sacro-iliac joint. The pain was intolerable, and most intense when not weight-bearing - so bad in bed that I had to wedge myself with about half a dozen cushions in case of moving once asleep.
Doctor thought it was amusing and made it worse by testing the range.
The only thing that worked was the Serola SI belt I bought.
Might be worth a try.

Oh my goodnes, how are you feeling
Now? I hope the pain relief is helping and all the tips…I find heat the best.
I fell
Over indoors 5 weeks ago and whacked my left side; online assistance sought (111) and two a+e ‘appts’ later I’m still
Having trouble raising my arm and have forgotten what is it to
Sleep through the night ! I’m
Living on paracetamol and Napraxen and
No end in sight. I probably should have rested but I’ve worked throughout as a Childminder and my dd had a new baby so I helped out there too.
My partner just sighs if I say I’m still in pain as he has zero empathy - this post just reminded me that we do take longer to heal when not youngsters!

HAET HEAT and more Heat...keep mobile!I thought only Whelks could pull a mussel at th e crustacean jamboree !!!

I only found out fairly recently that Ibroprofen gel comes in different strengths. I get it on prescription, 5% doesn't touch my Osteoarthritis pain but 10% helps. Might be worth checking the strength of yours.

Recently tore a shoulder muscle and , in a separate incident, two ankle ligaments. Both very painful, but improved really rapidly after treatment by my excellent physio. Have to spend about 20 minutes a day on exercises, but well worth it.

I thought I’d pulled a muscle in my shoulder, turned out to be a trapped nerve in my neck, went to my osteopath, better today hope it continues to improve.

A couple of weeks ago l woke with mild back pain- l did a few gentle stretches and got a hottie
Fast forward to pain so intense it caused seizures. I was taken by ambulance and spent 3 days in hospital. Scans X-rays and MRI showed “ unremarkable “
It seems to have been a muscle spasm- l could hardly move, couldn’t lift my legs etc. It was pain as bad as labour and lm now having physio. The pain has gone but l have to be careful, whilst ensuring lm remaining flexible and building up muscle strength.
I hope you feel better ❤️‍🩹

Whiff

Any soft tissue or nerve damage causes more pain than a broken limb and takes longer to heal. I had a fall on the bus and hit my sciatica nerve. I am used to pain been in all my life. But the pain from sciatica was far worse. Pain killers helped but the best thing I found I brought a flexible electric heating pad off Amazon. It had 6 heating temps and you could set it to stay on from 30 mins to 2 hours. Then it shuts itself off. The pain in my bum was eased by sitting on the pad at max temperature for 2 hours. Then moved it to my back them the backs of my legs. Took 3 weeks to heal . Wish I had brought one years ago because have pain in my legs and arms and when it's bad the pad eases each area. And it's bliss when my lower back hurts.

It says it can be washed but would never do that . It was £16+ pennies it's dark grey other colours where more expensive.

It might help with your pain .

Reading your comments above, Whiff, just ordered the heating pad from Amazon. Both my daughter and myself have tried several ways of trying to ease our different aches and pains without much luck so will definitely give this a try. If it works for us I can then get one for my daughter. For the last 9/10 weeks my shoulder has been really painful and it's surprising how much it makes me groan to pick up something just a little bit heavy. So thanking you in advance.

Just a quick update. I had a physio assessment yesterday - I was lucky to be given a cancelled appointment - and the diagnosis is definitely nerve damage. No idea what caused it but was told it will eventually heal - a timescale of two or three months.

I'm taking Pregabalin and Cocodamol and the pain control is better now. I've also been referred to the NHS physio service though there is a long waiting list.

I'm taking the Cocodamol as little as possible because it causes constipation. On top of that, both meds make me very drowsy.

The house is very neglected. I can wash dishes and put washing out but apart from that nothing is being done. Really all I want to do is sleep!

Thanks for all your responses. I'll get there eventually but really I'm sick of being in pain and not able to move around as I usually do.

Be careful with the pregabalin it has some awful side effects. I gained a stone in weight and that is a very common happening. This happened to me and I'm currently doing planned withdrawal of this drug with my gp. You can't just stop it...too dangerous. I wasn't aware of all the side effects until too late. I have stopped my codiene based meds due to issues with my bowel....they didn't really take away the pain anyway. I'm now concentrating on exercise. I go to the gym for jointpain classes twice a week plus I do 2 classes of seated exercise as well. I belive this is the route gps are directing people now as its been found drugs are not always the answer. I wish you well and hope your issue is quickly resolved.