Bumpy Muscle Knots

Running Too Fast Can Cause Overexertion & Muscle Knot Formation 

It’s not rare to feel small protrusion or bumps anywhere in our body. On touching, some of them cause immediate pain. Muscle knots are small bump-like areas of muscle that can pain when touched. They are hard, sensitive areas of muscles that contract and tighten anytime even at rest. It happens each time the muscle fibers or band of tissue called fascia tighten.

Muscle knots can cause pain in other parts of the body when touched and these are known as trigger points. Trigger points for pain can be active or latent. In case of latent points, they are painful only when touched but with active points they stay painful even without touching them. These myofascial trigger points can cause pain and impact mobility, and timely intervention can help in treatment.

Symptoms

Muscle knots have the ability to erupt anywhere in the body where fascia or muscle is present. While some knots are painful even without touching them there are a few others in whose case the affected person must press deep inside the connective tissue to feel it. Trigger points are present everywhere and when a person presses on the trigger point the pain navigates to other muscles that are close to it. One can commonly find a muscle knot in places such as your neck, shin, shoulders, calf muscle, lower neck and lower back. A very common muscle knot is of the trapezium muscle where the muscle forms a triangular shape from the neck to the middle of the back and the shoulder. Muscle knots here are common owing to stress and poor posture. Symptoms of a muscle knot include:

• Jaw pain
• A ringing sound in the ear
• Lower back pain
• Tension headache

Causes

Common causes of a muscle knot include:

• Bad posture
• Prolonged bed rest or sitting continuously for a long time without stretching
• Stress/tension
• Repeated action/lifting causes injuries
• Doing desk job continuously without getting up

Risk Factors

There are several risk factors that can cause a muscle knot:

• Sleeping difficulty or insomnia
• Poor posture
• Sedentary lifestyle
• A long history of joint problems and injuries
• An imbalanced diet that doesn’t satisfy nutrient requirements (vitamin and minerals)
• Individuals playing a sport
• Those who use their hands while working performing some action repeatedly 

Treatment

Muscle knots take time to go away. One must break up the knotted tissue and calm inflamed nerves. Try the following actions to get rid of muscle knots:

• Stretch: Gently stretch the part of the body that has the muscle knot and release tension. Do it slowly and be sure that you don’t force the body part into any position that causes pain. Hold stretches for 30 seconds and release them to reduce any side effects.
  
• Rest: Rest is mandatory when someone suffers from muscle knots. Relax more, avoid any activities that might aggravate your pain, lie down in a comfortable position and sleep longer than usual.
  
• Exercise: Aerobic exercises such as jumping, swimming and cycling loosen tight muscles. It also increases blood supply which in turn filters out toxins. Exercise at least for 30 minutes daily.
  
• Hot/cold therapy: Cold compress reduces swelling while heat relaxes muscles and relieves pain. It increases blood flow and promotes healing. Its better to switch between hot and cold therapies for best results. This must be done along with other therapies.
  
• Apply external medication:  You can rub the knot by applying steady pressure to the pressure point. With reasonable pressure the knot begins to feel softer and might even release. Use a muscle rub to soften and relax muscle knots. It is recommended to use a massage rub on the knot twice a day for best results.
  
• Others: Sometimes applying pressure to the trigger points softens the knot and releases it. When none of the treatments work physical therapy might be pursued where the therapist understands the problem and finds out the underlying cause of the knot. Then appropriate treatments are pursued and techniques to reduce pain are also followed.

Do’s & Don’ts

1. Maintain a good posture always

2. Never sit in one position for a long period. Take a quick break every hour or so

3. Do simple stretches whenever possible. It might be during your TV time or when you simply sit to talk

4. Eat a healthy diet rich in nutrients and drink plenty of water. Get a list of foods available in different nutrients from the website www.firsteatright.com.

5. Do physical activity daily and take enough rest

6. Warm up and cool down when exercising and don’t run too fast or lift too heavy weights that can cause overexertion and injury