I have a pulled ab muscle. I felt it a few weeks ago doing russian split squats, and I paid attention to it and backed off a bit. But the other day I was doing russian twists (what is it with the "russian" exercises?!) with a 25 pound weight (the most weight I've done..oh, ever), and I knew immediately after the first set that I was hurt.
So what do you do for a pulled ab muscle? Mostly rest, (I didn't leave the house for a full 48 hours- that was a nice little dose of cabin fever), ice it, and try not to use the abdominal muscles, which is so difficult to do it's almost funny. I mean we use our abs just to keep ourselves upright, so...a lot of laying down is in order with an ab injury. Anyway, once the initial pain went away, I applied heat, and a few days later started doing very gentle stretching- nothing that would aggravate it. That's where I'm at now. It is feeling much better, but still not 100%, so I'm taking it really easy, doing some reading (Gone Girl, so good!), meticulously folding the posters that will accompany my Sweat dvds when they ship, and overall just trying to relax.
Ohhh injuries. A pain in the ass (or in this case, the abs), but our greatest teachers. I've finally learned to accept injuries if they come, crawl into the discomfort and understand that they're the body's way of letting me know I need to slow down and be more present.