Ooooo! Love that Anatomy!

Ever wondered what the difference between a sprain and a strain is? Been positively plagued by the fact that you didn't know? Well, today is the day you find relief from that" inflammatory" question. A strain is an injury to a muscle or it's tendon. It may range from a minor pull to a total tear. A sprain is an injury occurring at a joint when it is pushed out of its normal range of motion, resulting in over-stretching or even tearing of the tissue surrounding the joint (i.e. the ligaments, joint capsule or even the tendons). So a sprain can result in a strain if the muscle surrounding the bones is pulled/torn.

In general, muscles heal more readily than ligaments. Now I've got you dying to know why right? Simply on the edge of your seat. Muscle fibres have a rich blood supply, but ligaments, a form of dense connective tissue, do not. What's more, once ligaments are over-stretched, they do not go back to their original length.

So, be gentle with those yoga stretches! More is not necessarily better!