Myofascia – part 1

I know those of you that have had a muscle cramp or spasm may be fearful of it reoccurring. So I know what to explore some of the contributing factors to muscle cramps. The aim of this is by minimising the contributing factors you will reduce the likely hood of getting muscle cramps. Dehydration Muscle cramps commonly coincide with dehydration. So good hydration before, during and after exercise is important, especially if the exercise exceeds one hour. So how much should you drink? Hydration guidelines are personal but the goal is to prevent excessive weight loss i.e. >2% of body weight. You can weigh yourself before and after exercise to see how much fluid you have lost through sweat. One litre of water weight 2.25 pounds. Depending upon on the amount of exercise, temperature, humidity, body weight and other factors you can loose anywhere from 0.4 to 1.8 litres per hour. A good rule of thumb is to always drink enough fluids so that your urine is clear, pale yellow & copious. Electrolytes Sodium & potassium are the major components of sweat. So anyone who exercises hard for more than four hours in heat such as marathon runners, triathletes, tennis players etc should replace the lost electrolytes. While a lack of sodium and potassium may contribute to muscle cramps, it should be noted that a potassium deficiency is unlikely as your body contains more potassium than even a marathon runner might lose during a hot, sweaty race. However you can rule out this as an issue by eating potassium rich foods such as bananas and oranges on a daily basis.   Replacing the sodium lost during sweaty exercise is vital and this can be done by having an endurance sport drink or a salty snack.

What are knots:

• Muscle knots are points within a muscle where contracted fibers are unable to relax.
• The dictionary is: “highly irritable localized spots of exquisite tenderness in a nodule in palpable taunt bands of muscle tissue.”
• The medical term for muscle knots is myofascial trigger points.

• Active An active trigger point or knot is one that actively refers pain either locally or via nerve pathways to another location in the body.  Active trigger points are the one that clients are aware of and cause them to book to see a masseur.
• Latent A latent trigger point is one that isn’t painful until pressure is applied to it.  This is when clients come to me and they find that during the massage they feel pain that they hadn’t felt before the treatment.

• Your posture
• Your potassium and calcium levels as both help to prevent knots
• Being dehydrated doesn’t help
• Your posture
• Stretching may help release knots

• To self-treat a muscular knot put a tennis ball in a sock (it makes it easier to hold on to the ball), simply place the tennis ball in the sock against either a wall or the floor and then press the part of your body with the knot on to it and move your body up and down.
• As an alternative, you could apply a deep, stroking massage directly to the muscle knot.
• The alternative is to visit a masseur.

One of the most common reasons for booking a massage is pain relief, whether its Neck pain Shoulder pain Lower back pain As a massage therapist to [...]