How do we get them, and how do therapist massage them out?
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Knots are usually trigger points caused by waste left over in the muscles. Normally getting them out is as easy as constant pressure on the center of the knot. It’s usually the most painful point and refers pain to other places.
I wouldn’t say it was toxins or waste build up. I would say it’s a tiny part of the muscle cramping up.
There are 2 ways to release a muscle knot: either stimulatie blood flow, or cut off blood flow. A muscle needs a little bit of energy to move, but it also needs a little bit of energy to release too. Stimulating the blood flow is the less painful massage one. But also works slower. Think more along the lines of hours or even days, than minutes. Cutting of blood flow by putting pressure on the knot, is more painful, but works in about 30 seconds. The root problem might not be solved, could be that it’s knotting up, because you avoid pain somewhere else, or you have posture problems. So it might come back within a few minutes.
A knot takes up space, which lessens the blood flow to that particular part of the muscle. That’s why putting pressure on it, might make it go away. The knot releases and blood flow is restored. The sooner after you “catch” the knot, the more likely it is to work at once.
From what I understand reading “The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook”, muscle knots AKA trigger points are kind of like tiny muscle cramps. Your muscles are made up of bundles of “fascicles”. Those fascicles are made up of bundles of muscle fibers. And those muscle fibers are made up of bundles of “Myofibrils”. It goes down another level to “Sarcomeres” which are then made up of two different filaments. When a muscle is contracted, millions(?) of these filaments bind together and cause the muscle fibers to contract.
With cramps, the entire muscle typically gets forcibly contracted and usually releases itself fairly quickly. With a trigger point, two of the filaments get stuck together for some reason (bad posture, injury, etc.) and can’t release. When enough of these filaments get stuck together, an entire section of the muscle becomes contracted and stays that way for a while, sometimes indefinitely if it isn’t addressed. Supposedly blood flow is restricted to that part of the muscle and so massaging the area pushes blood back into it so it can release.
I’m sure I didn’t get that 100% right but that’s pretty much it. There’s alot of other things like supposed “toxin” build up in the muscles due to the by-products of muscle contraction not being able to be removed, what with the blood flow being cut off and all. I don’t know about all that.
I do know they hurt like a bitch and digging into them with a lacrosse ball fixes them, and there needs to be alot more research done. I’ve had too many clients complain that they have “bad knees” and then I have them lay with their quads on a foam roller for 5 minutes and suddenly there is no more knee pain. This goes for back, neck, hips, etc. as well.
Think of your various muscles as different parts of a tree. Now when a tree absorbs water it’s essentially just different parts of the tree “talking” to each other but the words are the water.
Now when you have a muscle knot, it’s basically as if one part of the tree has gone “deaf” and can’t hear or speak to the other parts of the tree (muscles). A massage is essentially as if you taught that deaf part of the tree “sign language” and allowed it to then communicate once again. Slowly the muscle begins to get more competent with this new form of communication and teaches it to others around him (biotransformation).
We have something called fascia running between and inside every muscle all through the body. It is all connected in lines spanning the whole body.
Grab a handful of your shirt and twist it. Notice how there is now tension on the whole shirt? Similarly that twist happens in the fascia when toxins build up. This happens naturally and accelerates with dehydration, bad posture and incorrect movements. That twist is caused by the fascia sticking together. It will hinder the mobility and strength in the whole line.
You can do a deep tissue massage or stretching to pull the layers of fascia apart, this releases toxins and tension. It can also release emotion.
Okay all of these people in the comments are full of shit. I’m a med student and I don’t know everything. BUT.. as far as I’m aware there is no such thing as a muscle knot. Muscles can however be sore, overworked and painful. This just means you need to let your body do it’s work and recover. Muscles can’t knot and waste products don’t accumulate in a localized area in a muscle. One of the thing the body is most specialized at is getting rid of waste, so no, a massage isn’t helping to get rid of waste.
Tl:dr muscles dont knot, don’t believe these comments spouting pseudo science
Oh, I can answer this one. I’m a physiotherapist specialised in Dry Needling (using needles to relieve knots).
To start; muscles are made of bundles of microscopic fibres that can slide in and out of each other, which is how muscles relax and contract.
A knot, or a triggerpoint, are parts of those fibres that have contracted fully and don’t relax anymore.
Triggerpoints form due to various things, most common is (postural) overexertion of the muscle, and others are trauma (getting hit in the muscle), and after surgery.
Because knots/triggerpoints are fully contracted parts of the muscle, blood flow to that part is lessened and waste materials can’t get carried away, which is why knots hurt.
Massage therapist put pressure on the triggerpoints to basically reset the muscle to its normal relaxed state. Part of that is increasing blood flow to the area the knot is in.
However, triggerpoints are still subject to research and some of the inner workings are still unknown. As you can tell by some of the other responses, there are a few theories, so I stuck to the known parts.
There is no such thing as a muscle knot, it doesn’t exist
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMhIw4yr5s8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMhIw4yr5s8)
EDIT: First version was too ELI5, my bad.
I’m an osteopathic medical student and we actually went over this recently:
Your brain tells your muscles to contract or relax through your nerves. A “knot” happens when your muscles don’t fully relax after contracting. This can happen if you damage your nerves or muscles, but most of the time it happens because of stress, dehydration or electrolyte imbalance.
Your body has a “fight or flight” response that happens when you’re in a dangerous situation. Among other things, this contracts muscles all over your body all at once. Chronic stress acts as a weaker version of this response and can make your muscles contract without you thinking about it. This can lead to partial contraction.
In order to contract and relax your muscles need sodium, potassium and calcium, these are called electrolytes. If your electrolytes are out of balance, then your muscles won’t contract or relax properly. This can also lead to partial contraction.
Your muscles have something called a Golgi tendon organ that protects them from stretching too far and tearing themselves. If you stretch your muscles, it forces the Golgi tendon organ to relax your muscles. This is one way you would relieve a a partially contracted muscle.
I worked in a sports medicine doctor’s office at a spa. “Knots” are muscle spasms (that you can see under ultrasound).
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