Why Do Muscles Stiffen?

Have you ever felt like your muscles are so stiff or tight, may even be uncomfortable to move? It is a very common complaint I get from clients seeking relief to better their range of motion, reduce pain and just overall function better.  

But why does it happen?

There are quite a few reasons why the tissues stiffen, so when I have a client that complains of a tight or stiff muscle, it's important to understand why it happened.  Because these are symptoms and in order to keep the symptoms under control it's vital to get to the root of the problem.

Over-Use Injuries: When you are training or performing an activity that may be too much for your body to handle, the tissues will become inflamed. This usually happens after the activity (shortly or even a day or two after). This added pressure may cause the muscles and surrounding structures to feel stiff as there is added fluid that will need to be addressed.

Muscle Knots/Trigger Points: You may have remembered these terms from a few of my posts, or even just from coming in for a treatment.  Trigger points (or muscle knots) are areas of muscle fibres that are hyper irritated.  They can cause the muscles to twitch/spasm and could cause discomfort when massaged.  This usually feels like the pain of pressure being released.

Illness:  When your body is fighting off an infection, inflammation will be present to help flush out the source.  This can leave the body feeing fatigued and tight, like other sources of inflammation.

Medical Conditions: certain conditions can cause muscles to stiffen.  Fibromyalgia, meaning muscle fibre pain can cause a sensation of being tight as the muscles are chronically irritated and inflamed. People who have anxiety disorders may experience similar symptoms as the body will be tensed up in the "fight or flight" mode of your nervous system is active.  

Muscle Weakness and Hypermobility: if muscles are weak and cannot properly support the joint, or if a joint is hyper mobile, the muscles may tense up to protect the body from damage.  When tissues are over stretched it could put the joint at risk for dislocations.  The body will make the muscles stiffen to protect this from happening.

Depending on the source of the stiffness, there are many possible treatment options to help:

If the source is inflammation NOT caused by infection, treatment may be geared towards reducing the inflammation and soothing the muscles.  If the inflammation IS caused by infection, or by medications, massage therapy may not be indicated.  Your body will need time to heal properly and a massage may interfere with that natural process.

Tightness caused by muscle irritation can be addressed by releasing trigger points and spasms (if appropriate) to help the tissues settle.  Tissues that are weak or hyper mobile can be stimulated with massage techniques to wake the muscles up, or a referral to a physical therapist may help.

Massage therapy can help with stiffness caused by chronic medical conditions by helping the body as a whole relax and calm the mind which can help the tissues to release, even if only temporarily.

There you have it!  If hope that clears up a few things, and that can leave you feeling limber!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Reference:

Why Do Muscles Feel Stiff and Tight? (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.painscience.com/articles/stiffness-and-rom.php