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Suggest Treatment For Muscle Strain

Posted on Sat, 21 Jun 2014

Question: My 88 year old brother was sleeping and moved his arm to cover himself and felt sudden horrendous pain in his upper arm (between shoulder and elbow). The pain subsided after while and when he woke this morning, his arm in the same area was very red. His blood pressure was very when he went to the ER. He could not tell me what dx they gave him. They did an Ultra Sound, but only said he does not have a blood clot. He was told to use ice packs for two days and see his PCP in three days. He no longer has any pain and can move his arm normally. Could this be serious? Any other suggestions on follow-up?

Answered by Dr. Saurabh Gupta (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Seems to be muscle strain.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for your query.

I have read your query in detail. The symptoms you have described are more likely to be symptoms of muscles strain. It does not looks like something serious.

I advice him to follow the below mentioned guidelines -

* Give adequate rest to the involved muscle group and avoid any movement that causes pain
* Ice packing once in every 2 hours over the affected area
* Moist heat application to relax the muscles
* Local application of muscle relaxant gel
* Analgesic medications as needed

I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query.

Take care

Note: For further follow-up it is advisable to consult an emergency medicine specialist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad