What is a Muscle Knot?

Every day we use our muscles to carry on all tasks, whether big or small. Many of us don't know what our muscles are made out of and how they are structured. Although muscles are strong, they can wear with stress and overuse.

Muscles are made of strands of fibers which are made up of protein threads.  These threads, called sarcomeres, are responsible for muscle contraction. When the sarcomeres contract without relaxing, blood flow becomes restricted to the muscles. Without the lubrication from the blood flow the muscles fibers become dry and then entangled. This in turn irritates the sensory nerve endings and increases contraction. These complications can lead to nutrients and oxygen not getting into the fiber of the muscle, which results in waste not being properly removed.

Why does this happen?

Not much is known about why these knots form.  Possible causes are stress, injury, poor posture and general overuse.

What can you do about it?

Massage helps to separate the fibers and untangle the knot. Circulation is increased which brings more oxygen and nutrients to the muscle allowing it to heal.  Also, manually stretching the muscles will help the sarcomeres to slow down and become less inflamed.

Click here to book an appointment, or call 410.685.7428 to start working your knots out today.