help! I pulled a muscle . . .

[taekwondomom]

. . . and the promotional test is tomorrow!

OK, maybe I shouldn't have been out digging in the garden, but I've never pulled a muscle in my back (lower back, near my left hip) doing that before . . . oh dear, maybe I'm getting old.

Anyone have any advice? I've been putting a heating pad on it, and have taken ibuprofen.

Wish me luck, at any rate. I'll post info, stories, pictures on my blog . . . whether or not I'm able to test.

[tufrthanu]

You should be icing it not heating it. In case there is a slight tear you want to reduce the bleeding as much as possible. But the best advice for all injuries is RICE.

Rest

Ice

Compression

Elevation

Pulled muscles can keep you out for a week or more depending on severity...if you are just starting tkd ask your sabum if he can test you at a later date. If you try to test with a pulled muscle you will probably be able to fight through the pain however you will make the injury much worse.

[solar_kid]

You might find advil/motrin/ibuprofen to be helpful to reduce the pain and swelling before the exam, if you decide to proceed with it. Much has been posted here on using drugs, and you can find that elsewhere, but I do think it would be OK for you as long as you aren't using it regularly.

[hammer]

When can you retest? If you can retest soon (and you don't mind waiting), you may want to just take the time to heal.

In the club that I'm in, students approved for testing usually test within 2 weeks, but if you can't be there for some reason they just put you off for another week until you can make it to class. That happened to me for one test; I was ill for a few weeks and I tested the week I was able to make it back.

One big exception for us are the BB tests -- those come just once every 6 months. In that case, I've seen people just take whatever pain meds work for them (ibuprofen's my friend in those cases) and tough it out.

In any case, good luck on your test.

[JaseP]

Tell your instructor about it, and get yourself a generous tube of BenGay... and a large Ace bandage...

AND,... make sure you have some laundry soap that'll get the Ben Gay Out!!! Equally important.

PS... warn your partners and fellow students of your use of the noxious stuff.

[fangshi]

You should be icing it not heating it. In case there is a slight tear you want to reduce the bleeding as much as possible. But the best advice for all injuries is RICE.

Rest

Ice

Compression

Elevation

Pulled muscles can keep you out for a week or more depending on severity...if you are just starting tkd ask your sabum if he can test you at a later date. If you try to test with a pulled muscle you will probably be able to fight through the pain however you will make the injury much worse.

I agree 100 %

This is coming from a guy that is recovering from back surgery .