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How Does Tension Affect Muscles? A healthy muscle contracts when it is in use and relaxes when the work is done. Muscles that are affected by stress, however, contract and stay tensed up. After a time in this tense condition, the muscles go into spasm and are unable to relax at all. If you don’t exercise regularly, your body is probably more susceptible to the effects of stress than if you are active. Tension builds up faster in muscles that are weak and stiff from lack of exercise.
What
are trigger points?
When
a muscle is always knotted up, blood can’t circulate
through the tissue to nourish it.
Some of the tissue will eventually degenerate and
form little nodules called trigger points.
These little knots are a source of much of the severe
referred pain associated with muscle strain problems.
Once the pain reference pattern of muscle is known,
it can be used to locate the muscle that is the source of
the pain.
What
is referred pain? Trigger points can refer to other parts of the body far removed from its source. If you have a trigger point in your shoulders, for example, it could be the cause of the pain in your temple. As a matter of fact, in examining a trigger point in the muscle, you can press it and feel the pain shooting up in your temple.
How
serious are trigger points?
Trigger
points can occur anywhere in the body and can
make a diagnosis very difficult to make regarding a
pain process. Without proper treatment, these knots continue
to cause pain that, in turn, makes you more tense and causes
the muscle to contract more tightly, leading to more trigger
points and more pain.
What
is the treatment for trigger point?
Trigger
point can be treated effectively with a multidisciplinary
approach including, trigger point injections, aerobic
therapy, massage therapy, stress management and medications
such as antidepressants.
The earlier a trigger point is treated, the less
likely it is to become a chronic problem.
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