Healing Muscle Pain at Home (+10 Best Stretches)
This post was sponsored by Upswing Health as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
If you’ve been feeling a few new aches and pains lately, you aren’t alone. You may also be wondering what you can do to heal your muscle pain at home without visiting a doctor’s office. Here I am sharing my own 10 best stretches you can do daily to help prevent those pains, plus an excellent virtual resource to help heal musculoskeletal injuries right at home!
Musculoskeletal injuries are common
If you know me or if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you probably know that I’m not new to injuries. Like, I’m ridiculously accident-prone for some reason.
Just in the past 6 years, I’ve dealt with a hip sprain, knee pain, shin splints, foot pain, a shoulder injury, overly mobile hips and other joints due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, back pain, surgery to repair a torn labrum and biceps tenodesis, and (most recently) ongoing neck pain.
When you have four kids, you do NOT have time to be down and out. Moms don’t get sick days, so we have to stay on top of our game!
However, musculoskeletal injuries are fairly common. People experience a variety of pains all the time, for various reasons.
- injuries due to exercise
- running injuries
- overuse injuries
- pains due to sitting for extended periods (like desk jobs)
- injuries and pain due to everyday life – like parenting
You don’t have to engage in risky behavior to experience sudden pain and injury. The first time I threw out my back, I was kneeling down to help my 2-year-old out of the tub. And I was only 31 years old! I’ve even strained a back muscle from coughing too much with bronchitis. Talk about crazy injury stories!
Muscle and joint pain causes
While it seems like our pains and injuries pop up out of nowhere, there are generally some pretty common reasons why they occur.
Aside from anything out of the ordinary, many pains are due to:
- a muscular imbalance (very common)
- overuse (which can lead to a muscular imbalance)
- impact injuries (such as falls)
- daily life at home
- work life (repetitive use or being in the same position for most of the day)
While there are many other reasons that people may experience joint or muscle pain, these common causes are more frequent that we realize. Fortunately, there are things we can do at home to prevent these issues – and even more importantly – to help heal any issues that you may already have, without ever leaving your house.
Treat injuries at home with Upswing Health
Many musculoskeletal injuries can be easily treated at home through guided exercises and stretches, without ever seeing a doctor. Upswing Health is a web-based service that can help people treat musculoskeletal injuries at home. It’s quick and easy to connect with someone to get started! Here’s how it works:
- On the Upswing Health site, you identify your injury or pain with the “What Hurts” feature.
- The advanced AI diagnostic system helps you to figure out what’s wrong.
- For minor injuries, a certified athletic trainer will communicate with you via text and will provide personalized at-home exercises with detailed instructional videos to help relieve your discomfort.
- For more serious injuries, the certified athletic trainer may set up a telehealth visit with a primary care sports medicine physician for virtual care.
- And it’s all currently FREE.
Upswing Health has a library of over 7,000 exercise videos that have been curated by licensed physical therapists. It’s beneficial for a person of any age, activity level, or ability. And Upswing is the only national telemedicine service that allows you to talk to a sports medicine doctor for FREE.
Oh if only I had known about Upswing for all my past injuries. Think of how much time I could have saved in waiting rooms!
My experience with Upswing Health
After learning about what Upswing Health has to offer, I wasted zero time trying it out for myself. This neck pain is something I deal with daily – some days are worse than others – and I need some relief!
Besides not being too keen on getting out of the house for adjustments and massages right now, I’m not one to pass up advice I can get at home — for FREE.
Here’s how it went for me:
I followed the steps outlined above – went to the Upswing website, identified my pain the best I could (it actually is in two different areas, so I chose the area that hurts the most), and entered my phone number for someone to text me.
Within a few minutes, Kelsey texted me and introduced herself as my certified athletic trainer and asked for more details on my situation. I explained things a little more in-depth, and Kelsey offered to put together a program for me to help with my pain.
After about 10 minutes, I received another text with my home exercise program, which contained 10 exercises/stretches to complete each day. With videos, instructions, and details on how often to complete them, I was all set!
Kelsey also sent some additional information on ways she could support my treatment and said that she would follow up to check on my progress. With the quick responses, personalized information, and friendly communication, I was definitely pleased with my Upswing experience!
Even with my history as a personal trainer, the services offered by Upswing Health are incredibly valuable to me. There were some stretches that I already knew to do, but others that I had not thought of. And it never hurts to get advice and perspective from someone with a healthcare background!
I definitely recommend Upswing Health, and encourage you to visit their website to learn more about their telemedical services!
The 10 best stretches to do at home daily
While Upswing Health gives detailed and personalized treatments to help with musculoskeletal injuries, there are also some general stretches that can be done daily to help prevent those pains and injuries.
To ensure you do your stretches daily, find a time when it is convenient and then do your stretches at the same time each day. After being consistent for a while, you’ll find that your stretches just become part of your daily routine!
These are the 10 best stretches I have found to help with overall flexibility and wellness. Hold each stretch for 30-60 seconds before moving on to the next stretch.
- Neck/upper trapezius stretch
- Upper back stretch
- Chest/shoulder opener
- Bicep stretch
- Tricep stretch
- Hip flexor stretch
- Glute/hip stretch
- Quad stretch
- Hamstring stretch
- Inner thigh stretch
Have you had a musculoskeletal injury that has interfered with your daily activities? Do you think Upswing Health could help you or a loved one? Share your story with me in the comments below!
