When talking about our bodies, we tend to use particular words to define an ailment.  Some words describe fairly well what is occurring in the body, while others don’t.  The terms that don’t can be misleading and one we hear commonly is the word ‘knot’. People use this term to describe points of tension or tightness that they may feel with or without applying pressure to a certain area.  These areas may feel tender or sore and they may cause issues with mobility.  When left untreated, they can cause chronic pain.  So, what are these knots exactly?

Muscle ‘knots’ are areas of muscle fiber groupings that have a lot of tension and are very irritable in nature.  This can occur in muscle and fascial tissue.  These areas of tense muscle or fascial tissue are known medically as myofascial trigger points.  There are two types of these trigger points or knots: latent and active.  Latent trigger points are those in which you only feel pain when contact is made with them.  Pressing firmly on these trigger points can result in sensitivity or tenderness to the area.  Active trigger points on the other hand, produce pain in the body without contact being made. For more information on myofascial trigger points, check out the Living Better Newsletter by Piedmont.org linked here:  

Living Better Newsletter- Piedmont 

Trigger points can have various causes. Typically, trigger points may form with overuse of muscles, where repetitive motion or intense strain can cause injury. Direct injury— muscle tears, strain, breaking fibers— lead to the formation of trigger points where the damaged muscle fiber contracts together to form a tangibly thick lump underneath the skin.  Tension caused from stress and emotional duress can contribute to trigger point formation as the nervous system responds to stress by creating high blood pressure within the circulatory system.  This increase in blood pressure causes plaque (fatty deposits that accumulate in the walls of the arteries) to build up, ultimately causing vessels to constrict which restricts blood flow.  The reduced blood flow to muscles creates a dearth of oxygen and nutrients reaching muscle tissue, subsequently causing pain, stiffness, and damage.  Other potential causes can include sitting for long periods of time and poor posture as they relate to restricted blood flow as well. You can read more about the detriments of sitting and sedentary life style here:  

San Jacinto Chiropractic Blog Post: How Can Sitting Be Detrimental to My Health 

Trigger points may develop essentially anywhere there is muscular or fascial tissue.  That said, here at San Jacinto Chiropractic we see trigger points commonly develop in the lower back and around the neck and shoulders.  We like to treat these areas with myofascial release, as this can physically decompress contracted muscle fibers causing them to loosen and alleviate the stress and strain upon the area.  Additionally, misalignment in the spine can interact with the muscles in a way that increases trigger point formation.  When the spine and related skeletal formations are out of alignment, it can irritate nerve fibers which impacts neuromuscular signals between the nerve and muscle tissue.  This is turn causes muscles to react via constriction and the strain encourages knot formation.  Essentially, chiropractic treatment is used to put the spine back into proper alignment as well as maintain proper alignment.  In this way, chiropractic treatment can be a very useful tool in helping to relieve tension that causes trigger points to form.  Left untreated, the tearing of muscle can induce scarring which can cause tissue to lose elasticity.  

All in all, you should definitely not ignore those knots that you have been complaining about.  Go get a massage, see a chiropractor, and/or try some stretches.  But, by no means should you ignore your body and its needs.  Please take care of yourselves!

For more interesting blog posts and discussions, check out our website at www.sanjacchiro.com or you can come to our office and ask our chiropractor in person!