Warning Signs
July 4, 2016
Young woman suffer from neck pain
Many people use massage therapy regularly, which is fantastic for maintenance and catching problems before they turn into something acute or chronic. Not everyone is able to come as regularly as they’d want, however, so it’s important to know the signs that mean it’s time for a check in and get a treatment.
The body is fantastic at hiding a variety of problems so you can continue with your regular routine, often not even realizing anything is out of balance. That’s extremely convenient, except when you’re suddenly taken down by a spasm, or strain a muscle doing something that might not normally have any negative affect. The pain and dysfunction seems out of the blue, yet it’s probably been building for awhile without you realizing it. Recognizing these subtle warning signs can often save a lot of pain and temporary disability.
Things you want to pay attention to:
-Twinges in your back, muscles or joints. Twinges can be the first hint that an area may go into spasm if you don’t loosen the tight muscles associated with the twinge.
-Reduced range of motion is a general one, but very important. If you move your back, legs, arms, neck, anything really, and discover you don’t have as much range, or the muscles feels unusually tight, that’s also a good sign your muscles may be on the verge of spasming.
-Twitches aren’t usually as serious as the twinges or tightness, often indicating fatigue in a muscle, a trigger point (often referred to as a ‘knot’), or other things like a magnesium deficiency (check with your doctor for any potential nutrient deficiency), but they’re also an indication that the muscle isn’t working at its proper functioning level. These areas may get fatigued more easily, leaving the brunt of activity for other supporting muscles, thereby creating an imbalance. Trigger points can lead to extreme discomfort in its associated muscle and even though a twitch generally isn’t painful, if that ‘knot’ isn’t relieved, it can cause incredible tenderness and lead to other things, for example headaches.
It’s so easy to push through these initial warning signs, and often you can function just fine through and after them, but if you’re prone to spasm, or if your body has decided it’s simply had enough, you won’t regret looking into it and spending just a little more time with self care.
Tags: acute, chronic, fatigue, knot, Massage, massage therapy, mscle imbalance, muscles, range of motion, spasm, strain, tenderness, tight, trigger point, twinge
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