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Tight muscles and how to treat them

Posted by on 21 October 2009 | 0 Comments

Muscles go into a tight state for several reasons. One reason is because it is guarding and protecting itself from damaged muscles. Muscle can be damaged in a positive way if it is simply tight for being worked out hard to exhaustion. Or it can be negative if the muscle is over exerted or over trained. Another reason is dehydration. The human body is made up of 70% water, without proper hydration levels the body shuts down into various degrees. One of which is becoming fascially restricted; restricting the body’s biomechanics. Most chronic muscular tension comes from postural reflexes altered by injury, emotional stress, or repetitive use patterns. Everyone has tight muscles sometimes, and some people have tight muscles all the time. While tightness is certainly uncomfortable and a request for attention, it is not a useful adjective for diagnosis, because this sensation has several causes. Treatment for one type of tight muscle can actually make another worse. Learn six types of tightness so you can respond to your muscles' complaints more effectively. 1. Short and overused After an intense workout, the muscles in your legs may feel tight and sore, because they have been overused. The muscles are contracted and could benefit from gentle stretching, especially while they are warm from activity. 2. Long and overused, but weak Unbalanced posture creates imbalanced muscles. Some muscles will be short and contracted. Others will be long for counterbalance, which creates stiffness that feels like tightness. Computer posture is a great example. The muscles in the front of the chest are short and overused. The upper back and shoulders are overstretched and working in a compromised, weakened position. Isometric exercises, such as squeezing the shoulder blades together and down to shorten and strengthen the upper back muscles, are effective. 3. Underused and weak If a muscle is not used, it will waste away and the surrounding connective tissue and fascia become dense. In computer posture, several arm muscles fall into this category. Gradually increase strength through exercise to rebuild the health of the muscle and feeling of suppleness to the fascia. 4. Strained Muscles that are overused to the point of strain tighten up for protection. The first step in healing is rest. Ice, heat, or a combination can help, too. Then gradually introduce exercise and stretching. It is important to back off your usual routine and build up slowly to avoid additional strain. 5. Trigger points Strain can create trigger points and so can structural imbalance, poor posture, and being cold. These knots are often described as tightness. The best treatment is warming the muscle, pressing or massaging the tender points, and then stretching. 6. Scar tissue Muscles and connective tissue that have been damaged, either from a sudden injury or continual microtrauma of poor alignment, repair themselves with stiff, inflexible scar tissue. Manual therapy like deep tissue and cross fiber friction massage is an effective treatment. Gentle stretching sometimes helps, but overstretching creates microtears in the connective tissue and even more scar tissue. DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE Deep tissue massage is a kind of massage therapy which centres its attention primarily on the ailing, the sore, the painful, and the distressed deeper layers of muscles and connective tissues. Its therapeutic benefits are particularly beneficial for chronically tight and constricted areas such as in cases of stiff necks, tightness of lower backs and aching shoulders. Deep tissue massage is useful in dealing with painful contractions and spasms due to stress, strain, or injury because that is the only way to get to the root of the problem. By applying firm pressure and direct friction across the grain and fabric of the muscles, deep tissue massage aims to break down the troublesome adhesions to restore proper blood circulation, reinstate full movement and heal the inflamed tissues. The therapists performing the massage may use fingertips, knuckles, hands, elbows and forearms during the therapy session and alternate them during the various stages. Clients are frequently asked to take in deep breaths as the therapists dig deeply into a particularly tense area. Yes, it can be painful. In addition, there is usually some measure of soreness immediately after the treatment which can last up to an entire day. However, the pain of the therapy, and the lingering soreness afterwards, is nothing compared to the pain before the treatment and it comes with the knowledge that it will all be over very shortly. The therapist may suggest applying an icepack to the sore area. Deep tissue massage sets its sights on more limited, problematic areas such as those afflicted with: • Chronic or acute pains • Diminished mobility or limited range of motion. • Healing areas after traumas or injuries caused by falls, sports injuries, whiplashes from car accidents and so on. • Strains from repetitive motion such as the carpal tunnel syndrome. • Pains due to incorrect posturing of the body. • Muscle tension, contractions or spasms. To flush out metabolic waste from the massaged tissues, clients should drink plenty of water after the massage therapy.