Treatment of Muscle Injury

Muscle injuries are one of the most frequent lesions in sports. They can be treated conservatively or operatively. Return to play should be based on the patient’s ability to stretch the injured muscle as much as the contralateral healthy muscle, pain-free use of the injured muscle in sports-specific movements (mainly in eccentric exercise), comparable strength between injured and healthy muscles and functional tests. Strategies can be adopted to minimize the recurrence rate and to enhance performance. Novel gene and cell therapies including stem cell therapy are emerging but need more research before they are ready for routine clinical use.