So last time I talked about Upper and Lower cross syndromes and what causes these to prop up in modern society. Muscle fibers and connective tissue are the structural entities which allow our bodies to function, but when they get out of whack some bad things begin to happen. There's nothing wrong with tight muscles, muscles are meant to be tight, in order to lift heavy weights for long periods of time we need muscles with lots of muscle fibers that are healthy and full of energy. Connective tissue, along with some other nifty structures like the golgi tendon organs help to restrict the muscle from moving into a range that would be detrimental to the surrounding tissue.
As muscles grow from normal everyday use, or from body building connective tissue builds up between the fibers to help make life easier for you. They provide an extra resistance (especially at end range) to the opposing force of the motion, whether it be the glass of water you just picked up, or the barbell. However, when we perform a certain task over and over in a repetitive motion; the build up of connective tissue in certain areas, along with some more complex mechanisms that I won't go into, cause the muscle to signal pain back to it's owner. This pain is usually due to the muscle being damaged, or from some other issue due to the poor functionality of the muscle in question.
This is probably the most difficult part in this process to describe due to the complexity of the human body,, but i'll give it my best shot. When I think about a well functioning muscle, I conceptualize two main features: Flexibility and Stability. Unfortunately a single muscle group does not a movement make, so it's a bit easier to encapsulate the movement structure rather than a muscle ( a big part of Functional medicine). Let's take a single joint for example: the knee. As a hinge joint, the knee is one of the more basic joints in the body (although some might contest that point). There are 3 bones involved, but two make up the majority of the articular surface (where the bones meet) numerous muscles and ligaments, as well as supporting structures which supply direction and energy as well as others.
Every joint in the body has a certain amount of "play", aka wiggle room. If you grab your pointer finger and twist it and wrench it slightly you can feel this "play" as the slightly extra bit of movement that you can get by just pushing on it. The other ranges of motion are the standard movement routines that the joint normally undergoes. For the knee this is extension and flexion. There is another motion to the knee, but I won't go into that for now. Flexion is the lower leg moving towards your backside, and extension is the lower leg moving towards the front. While these movements are taking place the muscles in your upper and lower leg are contracting and relaxing in order to move the knee joint and consequently your entire body.
Okay, so what? Well, if your knee is being used improperly: like a new gym member incorrectly performing a weighted squat; The knee might start to hurt. And if this acolyte continues to press onwards towards their goal without addressing the knee pain, there is a good chance they're gonna have a bad time. Why exactly does this happen? It's not as simple a concept as it first seems. The weighted squat is a very complicated exercise that utilizes almost every muscle in the body to perform. The lack of proper form is the causative effect for the knee pain, obviously, but what part do the muscles play in this pattern?
The muscles in the leg, eg. the Semitendinosis ,rectus femoris, or any of the other muscles have a very specific role to play in the weighted squat. They engage at specific times and put a certain amount of force into the joints and bones of the body to achieve the required task. If one of these muscles is "too tight" or inhibited in some other type of way; the motion of the leg will be eratic or at the very least unstable. This in turn will put certain stresses on structures that may become damaged due to the improper movement of the leg. These structures range from cartilage to tendons, or nerves, or most commonly, other muscles.
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When the muscles in your body are unable to properly stabilize your joint in motion, the structures that are around that joint will suffer from this lack of stability. The interesting thing to note is that the poorly performed squat is still a successful squat. The body will always find a way. The structures that were not necessarily designed to take on the pressures of the movement at hand will step up and force the body to finish the intended motion. However, because they were not specifically designed for this, they deteriorate more quickly and are much less efficient.
Next post will be about strategies to avoid these issues...
Till next time!!