Why are my muscles rigid? Introduction

Muscle rigidity refers to stiffness or tension in your muscles. Muscle rigidity characterized by the inability of the muscles to relax normally. The condition can affect any of the muscles in the body, causing sharp pain that makes it difficult to move.

Muscle rigidity tends to happen when muscles contract for a long period of time, often due to

  • stress
  • medications e.g. statins
  • underlying health conditions
  • dehydration
  • delayed-onset muscle soreness – which is a condition characterised by muscle pain and stiffness that develops hours or days after very strenuous exercise
  • minor injuries
  • over use due to repetitive movements e.g. sewing, knitting, exercise, typing

There are several self-help strategies that may be effective in treating muscle rigidity caused by minor injuries, stress, or overuse. They can include the following:

  • Applying a warm compress or heating pad to the affected muscle to help relax rigid muscles.
  • Gently stretching your stiff muscle to help relax it.
  • Avoiding strenuous activity that may trigger the muscle to become rigid again.
  • Encouraging the muscles to relax using massage, yoga, or tai chi.

If muscle rigidity is affecting you, and you would like to book a massage, click here.

Related Posts

  • Arm and Hand Stretches

    These stretches can either be done as a complete series or individually and most of them can be done at your desk.  Some will ease tension in specific parts of the body whilst others are generally relaxing.  Please remember stretching should always be relaxing and never painful! To get maximum benefit from these stretches you should do them daily and hold each stretch for 15 seconds and repeat twice unless otherwise stated. Arm and Hand Stretches

    • Stand with your feet together, keeping you feet together and your knees soft.  Raise your arms alternatively swinging them over your head as if you were performing backstroke.
    • Raise your left arm above your head and push up as high as you can.  Feel the stretch down the left side of the body.  Hold for 30 seconds.  Repeat on the right.
    • Raise your right arm to the side, keeping at shoulder height.  Point your fingers towards the ceiling and push your palm away from your body.  Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on left side.
    • With your right hand by your side, point your fingers behind you with your palm facing up.  Push your right shoulder and wrist towards the floor, then make a fist.  Hold.  Repeat on the other side.
    • Keep your arms by your side and clench your fists as tight as you can, then spread your thumb and fingers as far apart as possible.
    • Let your arms hang loosely by your side and shake them for about 15 seconds.
     

  • Is the way you breathing causing your neck pain? – Part 2

    In my last post, I explained how both your scalenes and sternocleidomastoid can become both tense and painful from shallow breathing.   Obviously deep breathing will help as it will address the cause.  But what if you have a bad habit of shallow breathing, and know its causing tension in your neck muscles? First there are some stretches that will help.

    • Sternocleidomastoid Stretch
    scm_stretchThe sternocleidomastoid muscle runs like two long strap-like muscles on either side of the front of the neck. To stretch it, rotate the head to one side as far as is comfortable. Then tilt the head to the same side, as if trying to reach the ear to the shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds and then repeat on the other side of your neck.
    • Scalenes Stretch
    The scalenes muscle groups is made of three muscles; anterior scalene, middle scalene & posterior scalene.  Due to the location of these muscle tightness can contribute to tension headaches & can refer pain both to the chest and shoulder.  In addition the brachial plexus a network of nerves that supplies signals to the shoulder and arm.  Therefore tension within these muscles can also restrict these nerve signals, causing pain and pins & needles (paraesthesia) down the arm to the hand. Stretching the scalenes is relatively easy. Start by sitting in a chair. Put your right hand under your bottom and sit on it. This pins the shoulder down so that your neck can stretch without raising the shoulder. Tilt your head directly to the left bringing your left ear towards your left shoulder. If you don’t feel much of a stretch, bring your left hand up to Gently pull your head down towards the left more. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat this stretch tilting the head slightly in front of and behind the shoulder as well. This stretch can also be done lying down. See picture below. scalenes_stretch
                  Finally you can book a Seated Acupressure Neck & Shoulder massage.

  • 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
    Probably equally important to all those benefits is that the treatment is very convenient, inexpensive and effective. So to go back to the questions should I have an ice bath after training. If you have injured yourself during training you should definitely follow the RICE (Rest Ice Compression and Elevation) protocol
    • 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.
    The only exception to using Ice for injuries is for people with a peripheral vascular disease e.g. diabetes, anyone who is hypersensitive or has a physiological aversion to cold if you are frail or if you have varicose veins in the injured area or  the injury is a broken bone. However, what if you haven't injured yourself, should you have an ice bath after training.    Taking an ice bath or sometimes a cold-water immersion is certainly now more popular amongst athletes than ever before.   The key reason is that as it reduces muscle tightness and soreness and it allows athletes to recover more quickly after intense training.   The big draw back is that is uncomfortable and not really scientifically proven.  My recommendation would be only to do it if you are training really intensively and you are not contraindicated (see above exceptions to using ice) and want to, as ice baths are optional.  For me the most important thing to prevent injury and allow you to recover quickly is a well designed training plan where you build up the intensity of the exercise slowly, with adequate warm up routine and a cool down routine and stretching. Remember if you do get injured or have tight muscles after training, a good masseur will be able to sort these out.