Tired Quads, Strained Quads.
Swimmers, runners, and cyclists will know what it feels like to have tired quads. So, if that’s you, read on.
Look down at your legs when seated, and you are looking at your Quadricep muscles. Quad is Latin for 4, and so you have four muscles making up the group, namely:
Rectus femoris
Vastus medialis
Vastus lateralis
Vastus intermedius.
These originate from the pelvis and thigh bone (femur) and attach to the shin bone (tibia) via the kneecap (patella).
Your quads straighten your legs while walking, kicking, cycling, running, swimming etc.
Two things can happen:
1. The muscle can stiffen, fatigue and develop some really sore areas.
2. One or more of the quads can tear; this is known as a strain. The rectus femoris is particularly at risk from strains. When one or more parts of the quadriceps muscle tear, the condition is known as a quadriceps strain.
Muscles strains range from Grade 1 to a Grade 3 tears.
Grade 1 Quadriceps Tear: a small number of fibers are torn resulting in some pain, but allowing full function.
Grade 2 Quadriceps Tear: a significant number of fibers are torn with moderate loss of function.
Grade 3 Quadriceps Tear: all muscle fibers are ruptured resulting in major loss of function. The majority of quadriceps strains are grade 2 tears.
Causes of a quadriceps issue:
- The muscle can become tired and tight from endurance sports such as swimming, cycling and running. This responds well to a bit of rest and regular massage.
- The muscle can get strained from sudden movements such as kicking a ball or sprinting.
Signs and symptoms of a quadriceps strain:
Athletes with a quadriceps strain usually feel a sudden sharp pain or pulling sensation in the quadriceps muscle at the time of injury.
Treatment for a quadriceps strain:
Ignoring symptoms, or adopting a, ‘no pain, no gain’ attitude, is likely to lead to the problem becoming chronic. Immediate, appropriate treatment in patients with a quadriceps strain is essential to ensure a speedy recovery. Once the condition is chronic, healing slows significantly resulting in markedly increased recovery times and an increased likelihood of future recurrence.
So, give them a break for a few days. You need to be able to move without pain before resuming your training schedule.
A mix of massage, mobility band treatment, percussion treatment and kinesiology tape are beneficial. Give me a call, I can help in this regard. This should be followed by a stretching/strengthening program.
You can also look at super oxygenating the muscle group in our hyperbaric chamber.
There are several factors which can predispose people to developing a quadriceps strain.
– Some of these factors include:
– poor quadriceps flexibility
– quadricep weakness
– muscle tightness (particularly the hamstrings, gluteals, hip flexors)
other muscle weaknesses (such as gluteals)
– inappropriate training
– inadequate warm up
– incorrect running gait
– inadequate rehabilitation following a previous quadricep injury
– fatigue
– poor core stability etc.
Our runners leg assessment program can help highlight many of these factors.
Regards,
Mike Roscoe.
Kinesiologist.
