Why do your muscles hurt?
The most common reason for booking a treatment with Vitality Therapy is muscle pain due to your”knots”.
So what do we mean by “knots”? Technically speaking they are either Trigger points (or Myofascial Trigger Points to give them their correct name) or hypertonic muscles.
There are six key elements that cause acute or chronic muscle pain:
- Ischemia: the lack of blood flow to soft tissues that causes hypersensitivity to touch.
- Hypertonic muscles: very tense muscles or muscle spasms.
- Trigger points: highly irritated points and bands in the muscles that refer pain to other parts of the body.
- Nerve entrapment/compression: pressure on a never by soft tissue, cartilage or bone.
- Postural distortions: imbalance of the musculoskeletal system resulting from poor posture while siting at a desk.
- Bio-mechanical distortions: imbalance of the musculoskeletal system resulting in faulty movement patterns e.g. poor sports techniques.
A massage therapist has a wide variety of techniques in their toolkit to help release muscle pain including NMT.
Related Posts
The Impact of Sitting All Day – Part 1
For most people know they sit all day as part of their job. Recently there has been a spate of article in the press about the impact of sitting all day, so I wanted to take some time to look at the impact of sitting all day.
Sit up Straight
I want to start this series of articles on a positive note, as most of my clients have to sit to work, the negative impact of sitting is minimised if you sit correctly. As your Mum always said, "Sit up straight", i.e.- Not leaning forward
- Shoulders relaxed
- Arms close to sides
- Elbows bent 90°
- Lower back should be supported
- Feet flat on floor
So what happens if you don't sit up straight?
As you would expect from a masseur I am going to start by looking at the impact on your muscles.
Strained Neck & Sore Shoulders
If most of your sitting occurs at a desk at work, craning your neck forward toward a keyboard or tilting your head to cradle a phone while typing can strain the cervical vertebrae and lead to permanent imbalances. The neck doesn't slouch alone. Slumping forward overextends the shoulder and back muscles as well, particularly the trapezius, which connects the neck and shoulders. Here at Vitality Therapy we offer Seated Acupressure Massage to directly address these issues.Bad back
When we move around, soft discs between vertebrae expand and contract like sponges, soaking up fresh blood and nutrients. But when we sit for a long time, discs are squashed unevenly. Collagen hardens around supporting tendons and ligaments. So people who sit more are at greater risk of slipped disks or herniated disks.I recommend the Yoga position cat-cow for increasing your spinal flexibility. (Click here for guidelines on how to do cat-cow.)
When you sit for a long time, a muscle called the psoas travels through the abdominal cavity and, when it tightens, pulls the upper lumbar spine forward. Upper-body weight rests entirely on the ischial tuberosity (sitting bones) instead of being distributed along the arch of the spine. A sports massage or a deep tissue massage can release a tight psoas muscle.
Mushy abs
When you stand, move or even sit up straight, abdominal muscles keep you upright. But when you slump in a chair, they go unused. Tight back muscles and wimpy abs form a posture-wrecking alliance that can exaggerate the spine's natural arch, a condition called hyperlordosis, or swayback. So sitting up straight is the first step to good abs!Tight hips
Flexible hips help keep you balanced, but chronic sitters so rarely extend the hip flexor muscles in front that they become short and tight, limiting range of motion and stride length. Studies have found that decreased hip mobility is a main reason elderly people tend to fall. So when you are in the gym remember tohttp://vitalitytherapy.co.uk/wp-admin/post-new.php stretch your hip flexors.Limp glutes
Sitting requires your glutes to do absolutely nothing, and they get used to it. Soft glutes hurt your stability, your ability to push off and your ability to maintain a powerful stride when walking. They can impact your performance when you run, as all powerful glutes are the key to increasing your speed and powering you up hills.Cryotherapy
We all know that sports stars take ice baths and I am often asked why they do it, and do I need to do it after I run. So today I am going to answer that question. Cryotherapy is one of long accepted tools of a sports masseur. If you have ever watched a football match on telly, you will have seen someone fall to the ground and the coach run on with a bucket of water and the magic sponge and the player then hopefully gets up and hobbles around before taking an active part in the game. So the magic sponge, (the application of cold water to an injured area) is Cyrotherapy in its most basic form. The local application of ice or cold water is beneficial because
- It relieves pain
- Reduces muscle spams (i.e. athletes take ice baths to avoid feeling stiff the next day)
- When someone is injured it moderates inflammation
- Rest - by which I mean avoid weight bearing activities and anything that causes pain for 24 - 48 hours.
- Ice - Use either cold water or ice wrapped in a tea towel and apply for 2 - 20 minutes for 2-3 days then 3 times daily. When applying ice you go through the cold, aching, burning and numbness sensation cycle, it is very important to stop at numbness to avoid burning yourself.
- Compression - use a compression bandage if necessary
- Elevation - if the injury is to a limb, elevate it to help it heal.
