A muscle knot (myofacial trigger point) is a contracted muscle, which is thickened and shortened. The muscle is not longer able to relax. In fact, it is an energy crisis in the muscle. A shortened and thickened muscle will stretch at an another location. So, the entire area near the muscle will be under tension. This often leads to apainful experience.
The main symptoms of muscle knots are:
- Pain: often it is a nagging or pressing pain. Also, it is possible you have a very severe and stabbing pain. Furthermore, the pain will spread further to other parts of your body.
- Loss of strength: for example, less strength in your fingers.
- Stiffness and movement restrictions.
- Fatigue faster
- Sweating and shivering, but also feeling dizzy are possible symptoms.
There are various causes for the development of muscle knots, such as:
- Stress and anxiety.
- Unhealthy eating habits.
- Overloading of your muscles, such as frequent heavy work.
- Sport injuries.
- Frequent a wrong posture for a long time.
- Limited blood circulation, so insufficient oxygen transport to muscles and organs.
- Accumulation of waste products in your body.
Due a lack of oxygen and nutrients (limited blood circulation), the muscle fibre will recover poorly. The result is that the number of muscle knots increases. This consequience is that the blood circulation deteriorates even further with a greater accumulation of waste products.
The muscle (dis)knotting
Often muscle knots originate and develop over a longer period of time. So releasing muscle knots will often takes a long time.
More exercise and sports can reduce the pain caused by muscle knots. If exercise and sports do not reduce the number of muscle knots and pain, a massage can offer a solution.
At Bua Sawan – Traditional Thai massage 2 types of massages can be used for this problem, namely:
- The classic relaxation massage
This is a mild body massage, where the whole body is massaged with a muscle oil. By regularly undergoing this massage, the existing muscle knots can be remedied, but new muscle knots can also be avoided.
- Trigger point massage
This massage is specifically intended for releasing muscle knots, where the masseuse presses her finger on the painful area. The muscle knots are massaged.
After one or more massage sessions, the following effects can occur, such as:
- Improved blood flow
- The pain will diminish or even disappear
- More freedom of movement
- The cramped muscles are stretched.
In case of serious complaints, several massage sessions may be necessary to release the muscle knots.