the extended version of the Bugle article: The most common complaint I came across in my practice so far is postural pain. Taking on a certain posture that has become habitual can result in muscle ache and general discomfort. Sitting in front of a computer screen bending forward (or driving your car or other vehicles) for long hours on end on a daily basis can result in chronic back, shoulder and neck pain. Doing the same action every day or simply adopting a bad posture can result in muscles which are chronically lengthened and exert too much of a pull upon the bones and joints. The forward bend position held for a long period and repetitively causes the back and neck muscles to become (over) stretched. When the latter happens then a physiologic mechanism ignites a type of muscle proprioceptor (muscle spindles = which are muscle fibers located in the belly of the muscle lying parallel to the regular muscle fibers) to send a signal alerting the central nervous system (CNS) that the muscle is being stretched and in the worst case overstretched. The CNS will command those proprioceptors to contract and shorten the muscle all to prevent the muscle of being excessively stretched and torn. This mechanism is called the muscle spindle reflex. Sitting in a chronically bad posture in front of your computer screen for example will keep on putting stress on the flexor muscles of your back and neck and make the muscle spindles sensitive for extra added stretch in course of time. As a reaction to that those proprioceptors will initiate contraction of the muscle again. The tone of the muscle spindles set by the gamma motor system (CNS), will eventually become the tone of the muscle itself. This results in a too tight resting tone of the muscles which gives the (postural) pain. The body in a resting position has a baseline tone of the musculature to maintain the proper posture of it’s joints. This baseline or resting tone of our musculature largely determines our posture, and is set by the gamma motor system via the muscle spindles. The gamma motor system is a part of the brainstem and functions without our conscious control. Furthermore the resting tone of our musculature is also referred to as the muscle memory because of the link with the function of the muscle spindles and the CNS. The muscle memory is not to be found in the muscle itself but is located in the CNS. In conclusion the goal of the massage therapist is to change the muscle memory of the resting tone of the tight muscle with massage and stretching (neuromuscular) techniques. This way the CNS gets the message that it can let go and relax through receiving repeated massage sessions.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 03:17:48 +0000
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