Muscle Knots

Muscle Knots (also known as "myofascial trigger points") are taut, ropey bans of the muscle (facia). The pain can be local or referred. There are different types of trigger points; active (that are tender and painful when touched), latent (do not cause pain when touched and can be dormant for years and become active under stress or trauma), as well as secondary trigger points, that become active when you stress another muscle and satellite myofascial points that become painful because it's located near another trigger point.

Muscle knots can be acute or chronic and cause intense local or referred pain. The presence of multiple myofascial trigger points is called Myofascial Pain Syndrome. The exact pathogenesis is currently not clear, but hypotheses include; injury or repetitive use causes excessive release of calcium from sarcoplasmic reticulum, which produces contraction of focal sarcomeric units, causing a knot. Another hypothesis is increases acetycholine release from muscle cell end plates.
Myofascial trigger points mostly come from muscle overuse, muscle trauma or psychological stress, but can also be from poor posture, nutritional deficiencies, fatigue, hormonal changes, obesity, smoking, other pain/inflammatory conditions.

Some common home treatments include; massage therapy, gua sha massage, stretching, foam rolling, heat packs, ice packs, yoga, personal massager or vibrating device (such as a theragun), maintaining proper posture, exercising, medications, dry needling, acupuncture, trigger point injections, ultrasound therapy, spray and stretch therapy.

Proper posture, stretching pre and post workout and throughout the day (especially if sitting and working on a computer all day) can go a long way!

**This is not medical advice, and muscle pain can be due to other conditions, any concerns you have should be brought up with your healthcare provider.