I Think I Pulled A Muscle...

[soren7550]

... while shoveling show & helping get two cars unstuck yesterday. But my problem is (beside difficulty moving & pain) that I'm not sure if I really did pull any muscles.

Here's what happened: New York had a bit of snow fall yesterday and the night before. In front of most of my apartment building was a snowdrift that was about chest height from the building to the street. Lucky me had to go shovel that. I was able to get about half of it shoveled (without any rock salt, lucky me), and I helped two cars (a passenger and a minivan) get unstuck from the snow in the street (most of the streets here weren't plowed yesterday and even today). The rest of the day I've had horrible back & arm pain, I was hardly able to stand and I can't really grip anything. I thought some sleep would make me feel better but come this morning I still felt horrible. I can stand up pretty fine now but the arm & back pain is still persistant.


Is this a sign I've pulled a few musceles or am I just very sore from the work?

 

[Gaz6231]

I'm not a doctor, I am however an IT specialist, so let me ask you a few starter questions;

Is your arm plugged into your torso?
Have you upgraded your firmware recently (for example changed from a t-shirt to a sweater)?
Are you still able to run pickupcup.exe?
Have you tried going to sleep turning it off and on again?

 

[Jonluw]

I would imagine you're just sore. Speaking as someone who lives in Norway, shoveling snow can be heavy work if you aren't used to it. Particualrly straining on the back.

You probably shouldn't worry, but if the problem persists, you might want to see a doctor.
[sub]Oooh, look at me, all high and mighty, giving advice that everyone already knows.[/sub]

Edit: I imaine how you should interpret the situation comes down to how good shape you are in.

Edit: Here are some internet tips for treating a pulled muscle, just in case. http://orthopedics.about.com/od/sprainstraintreatment/ht/muscle.htm

Aside from the anti-inflammatory medications, none of this stuff will do you any harm if you haven't actually pulled a muscle, so it won't hurt to do it in either case.