So about two weeks ago, I broke my ankle in a car accident. And now I’m at the point where I am able to start doing physical therapy and moving it around. But I’ve noticed that my foot really just doesn’t want to go anywhere, and it’s painful to try and get my movement back. why does the body do this?
In: Biology
If you’re doing physical therapy, definitely mention this to the person helping you, because they can set your therapy up with certain methods to help those problems.
But it is essentially because maintaining muscle is very energy expensive for the body to do. It why people with insane amounts of muscle have to eat lots and lots of food. Muscle cells use up more energy than fat cells. The average human needs about 2000 calories a day to live normally, elite athletes and strongmen can eat 2 to 5 times that amount and not gain any weight because they just need that much energy to maintain their bodies.
So, when you stop using a muscle, you really do start to immediately lose it. If a muscle isn’t getting used, your body stops repairing it/maintaining it which lets it shrink. Which can then lead to the tightness/mobility/range of motion issues you experience.
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