A lot of good stuff here. I do think it’s important to differentiate between tightness and stiffness. The neuromuscular tightness you are talking about is a frequently misunderstood and mis-approached condition as you describe here. Myofascial stiffness, also a frequently misunderstood and mis-approached condition, is a separate but related issue as is (joint) capsular stiffness. You mentioned trigger points, and these are the intersection of neuromuscular and myofascial dysfunction. Also, the term stretching gets thrown around a lot, but the reality is, there are various ways to restore normal mobility to tissues and the colloquial “stretching tight muscles” misses the complexity of differential diagnosis.
Yes I mainly wanted to address the crowd who turns to 30 minute static stretching routines from youtube when trying to solve issues with chronic muscle tightness. There are usually multiple reasons why a muscle is perpetually tight and just stretching them can make it worse in my experience.
How does arthritis fit in? I have it in my left hip, and it seems like it triggers a very tight knot in my hip flexor. Even if I’m lying in bed watching TV, that hip flexor will, a propos of (seemingly) nothing, knot up tight as can be. I’ve stopped doing weighted leg exercises (squats & lunges) and now just do horse stances, and I wear a 40 lb vest when walking my dog on the trail. The weighted leg work always seemed to exacerbate my hip arthritis, which in turn caused the hip flexor to cramp up.
Thanks for you great article! I look forward to reading more.
A lot of good stuff here. I do think it’s important to differentiate between tightness and stiffness. The neuromuscular tightness you are talking about is a frequently misunderstood and mis-approached condition as you describe here. Myofascial stiffness, also a frequently misunderstood and mis-approached condition, is a separate but related issue as is (joint) capsular stiffness. You mentioned trigger points, and these are the intersection of neuromuscular and myofascial dysfunction. Also, the term stretching gets thrown around a lot, but the reality is, there are various ways to restore normal mobility to tissues and the colloquial “stretching tight muscles” misses the complexity of differential diagnosis.
Yes I mainly wanted to address the crowd who turns to 30 minute static stretching routines from youtube when trying to solve issues with chronic muscle tightness. There are usually multiple reasons why a muscle is perpetually tight and just stretching them can make it worse in my experience.
Curious about your thoughts on chiropractic
I’m an osteopath and wondered if you would allow me to help promote your work on my company website ..
Any thoughts on neural therapy for tightness?
Very useful.
…. would like to hear more about the joint capsule dysfunction from the tensegrity viewpoint.
Do you have an article on that?
Subscribed.
Take bio available calcium. Most cramps and twitches come from calcium deficiency I heard somewhere... I forget where!
How does arthritis fit in? I have it in my left hip, and it seems like it triggers a very tight knot in my hip flexor. Even if I’m lying in bed watching TV, that hip flexor will, a propos of (seemingly) nothing, knot up tight as can be. I’ve stopped doing weighted leg exercises (squats & lunges) and now just do horse stances, and I wear a 40 lb vest when walking my dog on the trail. The weighted leg work always seemed to exacerbate my hip arthritis, which in turn caused the hip flexor to cramp up.
Thanks for you great article! I look forward to reading more.