What is the “knot” in your muscle that gets “worked out” during a massage?
In: Biology
There isn’t one single type of “knot”, but there are a couple:
You can have a spasm in a muscle that causes it to “bunch up” and form a knot, which you then work out. The act of massage helps to stimulate blood flow, helps to relax the spasm and the knot “dissolves”.
A more typical knot is often just a very sensitive point on an overworked of strained muscle, and/or the surrounding fascia (connective tissue) that you break up with massage. Again the stimulation of blood flow is the key here.
Mostly a knot is just a part of a muscle that, for reasons of spasm, “sticking” to fascia or mild inflammation, is less flexible and pliable than usual.
A muscle knot is just a patch of inflamed/swollen muscle, or the fibres/layers of tissue around it, such as the fascia.
It is not clear exactly how or why they form, other than that it happens when the area is irritated by repetitive or strenuous movements.
Massages and stretches can help ‘work these out’ by increasing blood flow and fluid around the muscle (lymph), which helps the body deal with damage and reduce swelling. It also stretches out and relaxes the muscle, and stimulates the fascia, which eases pain and tension.
The knots will not disappear immediately after a massage, but will probably be less noticeable when the muscle is relaxed and stretched.
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