Tight Muscles Are Not All the Same

Most of my clients (or should I say most Americans?) have tight muscles. While tightness is certainly uncomfortable and a request for attention, it’s not a useful adjective for diagnosis, because tightness is caused by different factors. Treatment for one type of tight muscle can actually make another worse. I'll explain six types of tightness so you can respond to your muscles’ complaints more effectively.

#1 – Short and overused
After a long hike or 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
When in an unbalanced posture, some muscles will be short and contracted and others will be long for counterbalance, which creates stiffness that feels like tightness. Computer posture is a great example, as shown in the illustration. 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. They need to be shortened and strengthened. Isometric exercise like squeezing the shoulder blades together is effective. (As a matter of fact, half the benefit of a doorway stretch is stretching the front, the other benefit is shortening the muscles in the upper back.) Follow this link for shoulder blade squeeze instructions http://gwinnettmedicalcenter.kramesonline.com/3,S,89941.

#3 – Underused and weak
If a muscle isn’t used, it will atrophy and the surrounding connective tissue and fascia gets sticky and dense. In computer posture, several of the 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. Multiple muscle exercises like mini push-ups or bench press is better than single muscle exercises on a machine. Here are instructions for a wall push-up: http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Wall-Push-Up.

#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. You can read more about injury treatment here: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/rehab/a/rice.htm.

#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. Sometimes stretching helps, but overstretching creates even more scar tissue.

You can’t lump all tight muscles together and treat them the same way. For example, lengthening or stretching a long and overused muscle or muscles with internal scar tissue makes them even more stiff. Become aware of what underlies your internal feelings and you’ll improve your muscle health, prevent injuries, and discover new insights about yourself.

However, there are some types of exercises that are good for your muscles, ligaments, and joints at any time. You can read more about why here: http://undulationexercise.blogspot.com/2008/10/cure-for-stubborn-inflexible-muscles.html.

Also, download a free copy of 7 Undulatiosn to Relieve Office Tension and try seven exercises that relieve tight muscles in the neck, shoulders, hands, and back.

New Year's Resolution: Don't Get Hurt

Are you picking up the pace, because it’s a New Year and you’ve set exercise goals? Physical activity is an important part of health, so good for you! However, be careful to avoid injury as you increase the intensity of your activity, especially if you’re transitioning from couch potato to svelte swimsuit model. After all, if you twist a knee, pull a muscle, or strain a ligament, your activity will probably drop back to zero, and you’ll spend more time on the couch or physical therapists’ office and even less in the gym or on the mat. What’s more, it’ll hurt!

According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons website, http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/menus/sports.cfm, sprains, strains, tendonitis, and bursitis are common sports and fitness injuries. Here are three strategies you can use to avoid them.

Pay Attention
In your fervor to attain a slimmer frame, lower blood pressure, and (my favorite advertising slogan) a strong, sexy core, remember to listen to your body’s messages. Chances are that twinge is a warning signal, not just a random fluctuation. It doesn’t hurt to stop for a moment and evaluate what’s going on inside. Then make adjustments before you keep going—or decide to do something else.

Multi-tasking carries risks. If you’re watching TV or reading a magazine while on the treadmill, you’re zoned out and will miss important signals. Listening to the iPod or MP3 player carries the same risk. To compromise, tune into your body between songs.

Good Form
In The New Rules of Posture, Mary Bond states: “Exercise without body awareness, however, can actually make poor posture worse.” Why? Because exercise reinforces your alignment. Activity done with poor posture strengthens some muscles and leaves others weak. What’s more, bad alignment leaves your joints vulnerable to injury.

Whether you’re on a treadmill, lifting weights, swinging a golf club, doing Pilates, Tai Chi, or yoga, using correct form will give you a better outcome (remember that strong, sexy core?) and reduce your risk of getting hurt. We’re fortunate to have so many fitness professionals to call on: personal trainers, yoga and Pilates teachers, even Structural Integrators and Physical Therapists can help you stay on the right track. An investment of one private session will pay the dividends of increased enjoyment and fewer injuries.

Patience
Being in a hurry is the number one cause of my injuries, because I don’t pay attention and avoid good form. But it goes farther than that. When we set unrealistic expectations like six-pack abs, being able to run a 10K, or increase our bench press by 50% in a month, the tendency is to push. Despite the conventional “wisdom” of no-pain, no-gain, more people push themselves into an injury than into superb fitness.

Just keep moving and trust your body to desire more weight, distance, or intensity when the time is right. After all, isn’t it possible that your body’s reluctance to move is related to having been mistreated?

One of my yoga teachers says, “Just show up and do the work without expectation of results.” Even though this goes contrary to all the advertising hype around exercise, it works. Stick to your routine with attention, good form, and patience and you will get stronger, leaner, and healthier.