What causes Pulling a Muscle?

Question

They say you always gotta stretch but what happens if you play a quick game of basketball? For instance, i did a quickgame with my friends played for an hour. i took off my shoe and i felt that pain that nobody likes. What causes that and why? It happens usually on my right leg below the knees and above the ankles, what do you call that muscle too? what can make me prevent this from happening except stretching because stretching is boring and i think its a waste of time. My friends just say im an idiot but who can convince me?

My friend says when you pull a muscle, it gets you stronger because it gets bigger and tougher
I think this is so stupid because when i pull a muscle every time, that **** hurts, it doesn't feel good and i don't know if its good for me. My friend looks at it like candy, its the opposite though. Candy feels good tastes good but its bad for you. What do you guys think? I want some good info too plz thanks

Answer 1

The reason for stretching muscles before exercising such as like with a basketball game is to give the muscles a chance to warm and get used to being active.

When the muscles go straight in to exercising without that stretch it can tear or pull because it's not used to the exercise that one is doing.

The muscles in the area around your knee and ankle is the calf muscle.

I would recommend talking to your doctor as well to see what they say.