Heat and Cold Therapies

• Healing a pulled muscle requires the use of heat and cold therapy to speed up your recovery. The heat therapy is used to increase the blood flow, and cold therapy is used to treat inflammation and swelling. Take a plastic shopping bag and fill it up with a tray of ice. Take the bag of ice and twist it so that the ice cannot fall out and then wrap it with a small kitchen towel. Apply and hold the ice to the pulled muscle area for 10 minutes. Fold two washcloths together and gather a bucket. Take the bucket and fill it up a quarter of the way with hot water. Make sure that you can tolerate the hot water. If it is too hot, add some cold water to make it suitable for your tolerance. Dip the washcloths into the water, wring them out and apply them to the pulled muscle. After a few minutes, re-dip and wring out the washcloths and apply them again. Do this heat therapy for 10 to 15 minutes. Use this heat and cold therapy three to four times daily until the pulled muscle no longer hurts.
  
  

Epsom Salt Therapies

• Use Epsom salt to relieve a pulled muscle. Take an old cloth such as an old T-shirt and soak it in an Epsom salt-water mixture. Wring out the T-shirt and wrap the sore muscle area. Leave the T-shirt wrapped around your affected area for 20 minutes. Use this treatment every day until you have fully recovered. You can also add a cup of Epsom salt to your bath water and soak in the tub every day for half an hour until symptoms have subsided.
  
  

Rest and Medication for a Pulled Muscle

• Never stretch a pulled muscle. Rest your sore area as much as you can and try not to put any weight on it. If possible, elevate the sore area. Drink eight glasses of water daily and take an anti-inflammatory medication according to the bottle instructions to seek pain relief. If symptoms become worse or do not change, seek treatment from your family doctor.