Imagine you just completed a tough upper body workout. Your muscles feel a bit tired, but overall, you can get through the rest of the day with no problem.
The next morning, you wake up to find that the back of your shoulder blade feels stiff. When you rub your shoulder muscles, it feels like you’re poking a small ball of gum under your skin. Every time you try to move it, the area feels tense, with slight stabs of pain.
Over the course of the next few days, his back slowly loosens, and eventually his shoulder feels normal again. However, it’s probably something you’d like to avoid or minimize in the future if possible. So what was going on with that muscle knot?
I’m an exercise physiologist. The goal of much of my research is to understand how different movements and forms of exercise put pressure on muscles. Discovering programs to maximize performance, regardless of your training goal, goes beyond what to do during training: it’s also about how to better prepare for and recover from the stress that exercise puts on your body.
Some of the most common questions I have heard during my years as a personal trainer and researcher in this field have to do with muscle knots. What are they and how can you get rid of them when they happen?
What are muscle knots?
The knots you feel in your muscle, which can feel as small as a marble or even as big as a golf ball, are called myofascial trigger points. Fascia is the thin layer of connective tissue that surrounds the muscle.
When your muscle is damaged, even a little bit, it can cause inflammation in the muscle bands and upper fascial layer. And that mass of inflamed tissue is a myofascial trigger point. The small bumps are often tender to the touch and can limit your range of motion or cause pain during various movements.
Muscle knots don’t show up on medical imaging scans, and researchers are still trying to figure out the exact physiological mechanisms within the muscle that cause this reaction.
Myofascial trigger points tend to develop when a muscle becomes irritated by a new or more strenuous than usual repetitive movement. For example, you may develop knots in the muscles that you stressed the most during a day of particularly intense exercise.
They can also arise if you introduce a new movement pattern into your daily training. Imagine adding a couple of days of running to your typical weekly routine of just lifting weights. Since running is a new movement, you may notice some knots in your calves, which you asked to do a lot of new work.
However, you don’t have to be a gym fanatic to be familiar with muscle knots. For example, if you’re constantly hunched over a computer all day, you may notice knots in your upper back and shoulders. Most people wouldn’t find sitting at a desk strenuous, but holding a position for hours puts strain on your muscles. Introduce muscle knots.
How to get rid of muscle knots?
One of the simplest solutions to the problem of muscle knots is to simply wait. It takes time for muscles to adjust to a new movement or recover from stress. Usually within a week or two a muscle knot will solve itself.
It can also help speed up the recovery process. Some options include massages; dry needling, which involves injecting a very fine needle into the trigger point to try to break up some of the tissue and increase blood flow to the area; and even electrical stimulation.
The goal of each technique is to decrease fascia and muscle tension in the area and increase blood flow. more blood passing provides nutrients and oxygen to damaged tissue improving recovery.
Although these techniques worth considering, there are other more profitable things you can do yourself at home. A pretty simple way to help relieve muscle knots stretch. Stretching can be particularly valuable if you normally sit in an awkward position all day.
Muscles held in such a way under constant stress for several hours benefit from undergoing different ranges of motion. For example, after sitting for a while, a few simple shoulder rolls and neck rotations can relieve some of the tension in those muscles, helping to prevent or reduce the buildup of muscle knots.
Another method you can try at home is called self-myofascial release. The idea behind this is the same as massage, except this method can be done in the comfort of your own home using a foam roller, rolling devicea hard ball, like a lacrosse or softball, or even a small piece of PVC pipe.
For example, if you have knots in the quadriceps muscle group in the front of your thigh, you can lie on a foam roller and gently roll your leg back and forth on it. Alternatively, you can roll the device up and down the muscle group, keeping the pressure within your comfort range.
Because you apply as much pressure as you like, you can work within your own pain tolerance—a benefit, as relieving myofascial trigger points can be uncomfortable. You can use this technique all over your body anywhere you have muscle knots.
Although they can be annoying, muscle knots are not a cause for concern. Remember, being consistent with your exercise habits and moving throughout the day can help prevent knots from developing in your muscles in the first place.
If you notice muscle knots appearing, simply stretching at the end of the day or performing some myofascial release techniques are simple and effective ways to help alleviate this problem and prevent future problems.
Zachary GillenAssistant Professor of Exercise Physiology, Mississippi State University.
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
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