- Aches and soreness
- Limited range of motion
- Muscle spasms
- Numbness and/or tingling sensation
- Tenderness
- Weakness
Why You Have Tight Muscles and Why Our Physiotherapy Clinic is Where to Come for Help
Common Causes of Tight Muscles
Removing medical conditions (requiring a physician) and dehydration (requiring more fluids) from the equation, the most common causes of chronic muscle tightness include the following:
- Acute injury: A muscle strain, sprain, and other acute injury can cause inflammation and tightness. And if not adequate rehabilitated (though physio) muscle tightness in the zone and surrounding area can become chronic.
- Overuse: Prolonged or excessive use of muscles can lead to micro-tears and inflammation and subsequent tightness. This is common to those who workout too often and/or intensely without taking adequate time to recover, and to those involved in certain occupations that require intense muscle contraction.
- Inactivity or sedentary lifestyle: On the flip side of the above (overuse), prolonged or excessive inactivity can lead to muscle atrophy and subsequent tightness.
- Muscle imbalances: If the muscles on one side of your body are stronger than the other, it can create an imbalance that leads to tightness.
- Nutritional deficiencies: Inadequate consumption (through diet or natural health supplements)of magnesium and potassium can affect muscle function and lead to tightness.
- Emotional dysregulation Regular bouts of anxiety and stress can trigger the release of hormones that cause muscles to tense up and feel tight.
How Physiotherapy Alleviates and Prevents Tight Muscles
A full service physiotherapy clinic, including Absolute PhysioCare, can treat current and prevent future instances of muscle tightness through a combination of techniques. These include massage therapy, stretching, prescribed exercises, and other treatments like TCM acupuncture and dry needling. On their own (and especially collectively) these methods can increase muscle length and flexibility, reduce discomfort, restore movement, and address the root cause of tightness.
What about issues that are not directly musculoskeletal in nature? Our full service clinic can also advise on nutritional deficiencies as we have a nutritionist on staff. Meanwhile, we also have a clinical counselor to assist with anxiety and stress related to traumatic events that may have caused the injury that led to muscle tightness, such as a motor vehicle accident or something that may have occurred when participating in action sports and the like.
Alleviate Muscle Tightness Through Physiotherapy
(Burnaby and Vancouver residents)