If a
muscle is asked to perform repeatedly any activity to which it is
unaccustomed, such as hill walking, painting a ceiling or digging the
garden it may respond by tightening.
Mental
and emotional stress can have the same effect, usually to the shoulders
or buttocks.
A
sudden unexpected movement - bending down, slipping or overstretching,
also very frequently damages muscles. This is particularly likely
to happen if the muscles are already tight, and even a slight muscle tear
can cause the muscle fibres around to tighten to protect the injury,
leading to further discomfort and restriction of movement.
Around
the site of the injury, the healing muscle fibres bind together to form
"scar tissue", which feels like a knot of muscle, which
prevents individual fibres moving freely. When a movement is made
the knotted fibres pull on the bone and joint and may make movement
painful.
Frequently tightness in a muscle will not produce pain at the site of the
problem, but on a joint or muscle, which is pulled by the action, or
where a tight tendon rubs across a bony prominence. This is
frequently the cause of knee or ankle pain.
The
remedial massage therapist will first identify the source of your problem
by looking at which movements are restricted or painful, and by massaging
gently around relevant area to feel where the muscles are tight or scar
tissue occurs. This also begins to loosen, warm and stretch the
tissues around the area. Gradually the therapist will focus in on
the area and massage more deeply into the fibres, stretching them and
breaking apart the "knotted, gummed up" tissue.
Margaret,
Chris and Gareth use various techniques derived from different schools of
massage practice: "trigger points" are tender spots which
usually coincide with the points used in acupuncture and which cause the
painful muscle to relax after a few seconds of focused sustained pressure.
Soft tissue manipulation and connective tissue massage stretch specific
parts of a muscle or tendon and works on the relaxation produced in a
muscle after it has contracted.
Margaret
also makes use of aspects of Chinese Medicine including Chinese massage
or tuina, which moves "Qi", or vital energy
away from areas of "stagnation"; moxa is a dried herb which is burnt over an injured
area and gives a deep penetrating healing warmth; cupping creates a
suction over an area of tight or injured muscle which draws out
impurities and loosens the muscle.
As
well as using the general massage techniques, Chris is also trained in
Myofascial Release, a method of freeing restricted myofascial tissue,
which may be the cause of pain or restriction. Myofascial tissue is the
binding material found throughout the body, which gives support to
muscles and ligament, and covers bone. It can go into spasm or tighten,
when an area of the body is injured. The technique is derived from
Rolfing and involves a flicking type movement, which can involve
momentary pain and subs sequent short-term soreness, to release the
spasm.
