Muscle knots - What are they and How to Treat them.
The terms ‘Muscle knot’ and ‘Trigger Point’ are commonly used by people in pain that come to see me here at The Physio & Sports Injury Clinic in Rhos on Sea. We see these types of muscle issues on a daily basis here so we know how to deal with them well.
People constantly turn up for an appointment saying things like: “My back is all knotted up” and “My neck and shoulders feel all tight and knotty?”
So what does this all mean exactly? Can a muscle really just tie up in a knot??
Well, no not really…
So this blog is going to try and answer the question - What are muscle knots, and how to best treat them.
What is a muscle knot?
When you push or challenge your body way beyond what it can normally tolerate, then your muscle(s) will subconsciously have to adapt and compensate for the situation you’ve caused, otherwise your muscles may get damaged.
As a result of muscles getting seriously overloaded they can do 1 of two things:
The muscle can either go into spasm (i.e. it contracts and won’t relax off). This causes a reduction in blood flow into the muscle along with constant localised pain and tightness. This is a fairly short-term response and treatment can help reduce this well.
Otherwise if physical muscle damage occurs, then after a period of localised spasm the body starts producing scarring internally over time to ‘plug the gap’ and repair any tear. This will eventually give you the feeling of a solid lump / ‘knot’ within muscle tissue. Some of these lumps can reduce with treatment (if seen quick), but the longer it sits there untreated the more likely it will become permanent!
What causes muscles to knot up?
Repetitive strain injury
Poor strength
Dehydration / poor circulation
Lack of sleep
Stress!
Trauma (muscle tear).
Here are 4 ways to ease tight muscles:
Get it checked by a Physio first!
If you have a what appears to be a knot that’s causing pain then go see a Physio (or GP) to get it checked thoroughly first. A lump under the skin could be one of many things medically so you need to make sure it really is just a muscle knot and not something else. A physio will be able to establish whether a muscle is truly tight or weak and give you the appropriate treatment plan for it.
Get some Sports Massage?
Nothing beats a really good Sports Massage to ease tired, tight and sore muscles. This is probably the most common treatment modality we use for tight muscle ‘knots’ here at the clinic. If you’d like to try a Sports Massage session then get in touch.
Try Acupuncture (for pain relief).
Acupuncture is one of those treatments that you either love or hate, but it always seems to deliver for treating deep / tight muscle knots when nothing else will! The problem of hands-on therapies like massage is, it can’t always get in deep enough to reach a very tight muscle (e.g. like deep in the glutes). This is where a very fine needle works brilliantly and can sort the problem out much quicker.
Strengthen your muscles more!
There is a great phrase out there: “You can’t go wrong getting Strong” and it is pretty true for most injuries a physio deals with. The longer a muscle has been tight for, the more likely you need to get going with some good strengthening exercise for it. This will help get more circulation directly into the muscle, and longterm will make it more resilient to stress and strain.
So now you know what muscles knots are, why they happen and 4 simple ways to help ease them. If you are struggling with a muscular pain right now and would like some help, then click the link below to get in touch.
Thanks for reading.
Tel. 01492 545291