How Long Does It Take for an Oblique Strain to Heal?

An oblique strain may heal within a few weeks to six weeks.

An oblique strain is an injury to the abdominal muscles, often caused by pushing them beyond their limits. Learn more about the causes, symptoms, recovery, and treatment options.

An oblique strain is a specific injury that affects your oblique muscles in the abdominal region. Pushing these muscles excessively can result in a mild or serious strain. Knowing how it works can help you understand what causes oblique strains, how to care for yourself after one, and how to prevent similar future injuries.

Your abdominal muscles are between your ribs and pelvis on the front side of your body. This group of muscles supports the bulk of your body, allowing you to move while maintaining correct internal pressure to keep your organs in place.

Abdominal muscles are split into four different groups. Two of these groups make up your oblique muscles:

1. Your external oblique muscles are on either side of your body. The external oblique muscle is a large muscle that extends from halfway down the ribs to the pelvis, lies just beneath the skin and fat tissue, and covers the sides of the abdominal region. External oblique muscles let you twist your body as the opposite muscle contracts. For example, you turn your body to the right by contracting your left external oblique muscle.
2. Your internal oblique muscles are on the inside of your hip bones. The internal oblique muscle lies deeper, beneath the external oblique muscle and covers the area between the ribs and pelvis on the sides. They work together with the external oblique muscles but function oppositely. Your right internal oblique muscle is engaged when you twist your body to the right.

An oblique strain or oblique injury happens when you stretch or tear one of these muscles in your core, also called a pulled muscle. Oblique strains can occur on the left or right side of your body.

Usually, an oblique strain is caused by overuse of an oblique muscle. You're at risk of muscle strain when you do the same movement repeatedly, like in sports or other exercises.

Other possible causes of an oblique strain include:

• Accidents like car wrecks or falls
• Chronic sneezing or coughing
• Excessive or intense exercise
• Lifting something heavy
• Bad form while exercising or playing sports
• Sudden movements involving your core, like twisting

Anyone is at risk of pulling an abdominal muscle, but if you often take part in certain activities, you're more likely to injure yourself. Football, baseball, tennis, and any activities that involve reaching or side-to-side movements usually cause this kind of muscle strain.

When you have an oblique strain, the main symptoms will be abdominal pain and muscle pain on your sides. You might notice that coughing, sneezing, laughing, exercising, or moving around after being inactive for a long time, triggers oblique pain.

In addition to pain, you may experience:

• Bruises
• Muscle spasms
• Muscle stiffness
• Swelling

If you think you have an oblique strain, visit your healthcare provider. You can see your general provider, a specialist in sports medicine, a physiotherapist, an exercise physiologist, or any combination of these.

Be prepared to answer questions about your symptoms, medical history, and regular activities. They'll take a close look at your stomach area and ask you to do specific movements, like a sit-up, to see if it's painful.

With clinical examination, the doctor or physiotherapist will be able to determine which oblique muscle is injured, or if anything else is injured. Accordingly, they will advise you on what you should do to prevent further strain, the length of period of rest you require, and the right physiotherapy exercises for recovery and strengthening.

If your pulled muscle seems serious, your healthcare provider may order an X-ray to make sure you don't have an injured rib cage, fractured spine, or broken bones.

With time and rest, your oblique muscle strain will get better.

Some things you can do to help your injury heal include:

• Learn stretches and strengthening exercises from a physical therapist.
• Wear an abdominal brace around your core to take pressure off your oblique muscles and reduce swelling.
• Use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to help with pain and swelling. Remember that too much use of NSAIDs like ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin could cause internal bleeding and other issues.
• Take acetaminophen as directed on the bottle or by your healthcare provider. Beware that excessive use of this can cause liver damage and other issues.
• Consistently apply ice packs, packages of frozen vegetables, or cold compresses. Do this every few hours for 20 minutes each time.
• Use a damp heat source on the injury for 10 or 15 minutes before you do strengthening exercises and stretches. Dry heat patches, moist heating pads, wet washcloths, or hot showers are great ways to apply heat to your oblique strain.

If you have a mild strain, you should be fully functional after a few weeks. If you have a serious strain, it could take more than six weeks to heal completely.

If you have an oblique strain, you should be back to your normal activities after a few weeks. The best thing you can do is to rest, stretch often, and slowly build your oblique strength back up. Don't push yourself to recover too quickly. If you feel that your healing is prolonged and you have trouble walking, intense pain that makes it hard to sleep or follow your routine, or hernia symptoms, get in touch with your healthcare provider immediately.

When one of your organs finds a weak spot in a muscle and pushes through, you have a hernia. Common areas for hernias include your groin and the space between your upper thigh and abdomen. If you strain your obliques, your chances of getting a hernia are increased.

Both of these conditions result in abdominal pain. However, hernias may cause different symptoms than a muscle strain:

• A bump or bulge where the hernia is
• Aching or burning where the hernia is
• Constipation
• Nausea and vomiting

If you have a hernia, you will need to visit your healthcare provider for treatment. If you have an oblique strain, you may get better by resting.

To prevent oblique strains, always warm up properly and stretch for an appropriate amount of time before activities that could strain your obliques. When your muscles are strong and flexible, they're less likely to get injured. When starting a new exercise, be careful and don't push yourself too hard. If you have to lift something heavy, bend at the knees and hips while keeping your back straight.

Regularly doing exercises like Pilates or yoga is a great way to keep your abdominal muscles strong and flexible. Exercise routines that target your core will keep your obliques strong. Don't forget cool-down exercises after you're done.

How do you treat an oblique strain?

The immediate treatment for an oblique strain is what is known as the PRICE principle: protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Protection and rest involve avoiding or minimizing movement of the injured muscle to prevent further injury. Ice packs and compression bandages may be used to reduce inflammation and swelling. Elevation usually works for muscle injury in the limbs, but this cannot be used for oblique strain. Once the pain subsides, start your physiotherapy sessions with gentle stretching and mild strengthening exercises, and gradually increase the intensity.

How long does it take to recover from an oblique strain?

Mild oblique strains may take 2 to 4 weeks for recovery, but you may take up to 8 weeks to recover from a severe oblique strain.

Can you exercise with an oblique strain?

Avoid exercising if you have an oblique strain, and give it time to heal. Oblique muscles are core muscles and are engaged in most body movements. Minimize doing anything that increases the pain and do the recommended physiotherapy exercises after the pain subsides. Depending on the severity of the strain, it may take a couple of weeks to a couple of months to get back to your normal exercise regimen. Take it slow and test your muscles gently to prevent further injury.

What causes an oblique strain?

Most often oblique strain is caused by certain sports or physical exercises. Sports such as javelin, tennis, baseball, and football involve throwing motions, and a lot of twisting and sideway movements, which can put extra stress on the oblique muscles. Accidents and sudden twisting movements too can cause an oblique strain. Poor form and posture in weightlifting and other sports activities are a common cause of oblique strain. Sometimes, prolonged cough or sneezing can strain your oblique muscle.

Is it possible to prevent an oblique strain?

It may not always be possible to prevent an oblique strain, particularly for a sportsperson. But you can minimize the risk by following proper form in lifting heavy weights or in sports, warming up properly before intense exercise, and cooling down at the end of it.

How do you know if you have an oblique strain or a hernia?

Oblique strain will cause muscle soreness, whereas a hernia need not necessarily be painful. Oblique strain may also cause muscle spasms and stiffness, and bruises and swelling in the injured area. Hernia causes a bulge that usually increases when you strain, and goes down when you lie down. You may not feel pain initially, but if it gets worse it can hurt around the bulging hernia. Hernia pain may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and constipation, which do not occur with an oblique muscle strain.

What stretches can help with an oblique strain?

Wait for your pain to subside before you start stretching exercises for oblique strain. Test your muscles with gentle stretches and increase the depth of stretch gradually.

Some stretches that help with an oblique strain include the following:

• Standing side bend stretch: Stand tall with feet hip-width apart, hips square and balanced. Bend your torso to one side, hold for 15 to 30 seconds, and return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. Make sure you do not lean forward, only sideways. You can do 3 to 5 reps. You can rest your hands on the hip or lift one arm while bending on the opposite side or lift both arms when you bend.
• Seated Russian twist stretch: Sit on the ground with knees up and feet on the floor. Lean back slightly and hold your hands across your chest or behind your head. Twist your torso to one side, and hold. Return to the starting position, and twist to the other side.
• Lying spinal twist stretch: Lie flat on your back, with arms stretched out at shoulder level. Bring your right knee towards your chest and drop it to the left over the left leg. Keep your right shoulder flat on the ground, turn your face to the right, use your left hand to gently coax the knee down to the left, and hold. Repeat for the left leg.
• Mermaid stretch: Sit cross-legged on the floor, lift one arm, bend towards the opposite side, and hold. Repeat on the other side. You can progress to advanced variations with legs folded at right angles, or legs folded to one side and bend towards the same side.
• Side plank with hip dip stretch: This is an advanced stretch, do not attempt till you have fully recovered from your oblique strain. Get into a side plank position, dip your hips slightly, hold for some seconds, and raise them back. Repeat on the other side.

Can an oblique strain cause back pain?

Internal oblique strain can cause one-sided low back pain on the affected side.

When should you see a doctor for an oblique strain?

If your oblique strain is mild, you can try home remedies such as resting, avoiding movements that hurt, cold compresses, mild over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers, and wearing an abdominal brace. If the pain doesn't start reducing in a couple of days, see a doctor as soon as possible because the injury could get worse without treatment.

If you have a severe oblique strain and/or you have intense pain, go right away to a doctor. The doctor can examine you and diagnose the exact region and extent of injury, and treat you appropriately.