Muscle contracture: 10 quick stretches for pain

Working on the computer you feel a discomfort between the neck and right shoulder. With your hand you look for a point to press. You find momentary relief, but the pain persists. Hours go by and the discomfort, following a trajectory that may be familiar to you, goes up towards the neck until it reaches the back of the ear.

“If I had gone to the masseuse last week…”, you say to yourself. But you were too busy to allow it. In the shower, the jet of hot water relaxes you. The knot of tension, however, persists. After considering whether or not to take a pain reliever, you go to sleep hoping to wake up better.

In this article we will see what a contracture is and what exercises to do to relieve it. If you want to complete it with a massage, you can see in this video how to make an aromatic oil that will help you relieve them:

What is a contracture and types of contractures

The description of the previous complaints corresponds to the symptoms associated with a tension contracture. It happens when one of the muscles in the body loses its elastic capacity and is more reminiscent of a rope than a rubber band. From there the pain ensues.

Also exist contractures linked to overexertion or exhaustion or a lack of strength.

Tensional contractures. These are usually contractures linked toemotions of an emotional nature. They are expressed in different ways and in different parts of the body.Contractures due to overexertion. In this case, the exhausted muscle does not have enough food to respond to what is being demanded of it. And, to protect itself, its fibers are transformed into a ball. It is the famous hardened button that we find on the surface and that is annoying when pressed.Ccontractures due to exhaustion or lack of strength. They can be favored by a poorly nutritious diet or by the physical decline associated with age. In this case, it is a slow-onset and chronic nature nuisance. The kidney area is usually the first to warn that it no longer gives for more. In this extreme state, any external agent –a gust of wind, a cold day…– can trigger the pain.

an alarm signal

In all cases, the contracture constitutes an alarm signal: it is a message from the body that warns us that we are passing and that the consequences can be worse. In fact, it is convenient to understand this discomfort as a manifestation that something can happen, not as an injury in itself.

For example, sometimes low back pain acts as a defense by immobilizing the vertebrae and thus prevent a pinching of the sciatic nerve. Many sciatica start with this pattern: stiffness of the lumbar vertebrae; if the contracture is relieved with a massage, a very sharp pain can occur in a few hours that goes down the leg.

If the cause of the contracture is physical overexertion, with sudden onset and acute pain, the solution is simple: eliminate the contracture with an adequate massage.

What to do when a contracture appears

As first aid, heat is a good ally: a hot water bottle or heating pad they are enough.

You can also do some stretching of contracted muscles. The massage, if the technique is not mastered, it is preferable to leave it to a professional.

In addition, assess what we have gone through or where we have gone wrong will be useful to avoid repeating the mistake. The cause can be as simple as bad sitting postureworn or inadequate running shoes, or trying to play sports despite accumulated fatigue.

Apart from the massage, it is necessary to check when this contracture could have been born, what emotion affected us. The advice is the same if the trigger for the injury was anger, a family disagreement or a labor conflict. The sharp and novel limitation of movement focuses on something that has happened recently.

Mentally rigid people tend to be the ones who suffer the most from this type of problem.

10 exercises that relieve contractures

Also, these stretches can help you.