Tight muscles are often mistaken for a sign of strength, but could they indicate underlying weakness? Let’s explore the connection between muscle tightness and weakness and how proper assessment and targeted physotherapy exercises can help restore balance, improve postural awareness, flexibility, and enhance overall muscle function.
What Do Tight Muscles Feel Like?
The sensation of tight muscles can often mean different things to different people. Descriptions can vary and sometimes sound very different to one another. At APC Sports & Physio Clinic, we hear descriptions such as:
- clients are unable to stretch very far
- a sensation of muscles contracting uncomfortably when they stretch for exercises
- a vague sense of muscle ache or discomfort
- muscle stiffness
- difficulty moving after sitting for some time due to pain
- Pain at rest
What Is Muscle Tightness?
Muscle tightness is a feeling of stiffness or reduced flexibility in the muscles, often making it harder to move comfortably. It can occur when muscles contract and stay tense for too long, usually due to overuse, poor postural awareness, lack of stretching or stress which in turn can impact breathing patterns that can have knock on effects on the pelvic floor and ultimately core stability. This tightness can lead to discomfort, restricted movement, and and often can progress from lower levels of discomfort to more severe pain that impacts your day to day.
Tight muscles can be placed into two groups. Muscles or a group of muscles that:
- have a reduced range of movement and flexibility due to their short length
- are in an ongoing state of contraction/spasm known as hypertonic
Although many people have reduced flexibility, most complaints of tightness fall into the second category.
What Do Weak Muscles Feel Like?
Weak muscles often feel fatigued, shaky, or unable to perform tasks that require strength. You might notice a lack of endurance, making it difficult to sustain physical activity.
Muscles can also feel soft or less firm to the touch than stronger muscles, and you may experience a sense of instability or reduced control during movement.
When muscles are weak, they often compensate by staying in a contracted or tense state, which can lead to a sensation of tightness. This is the body’s way of stabilising and supporting movement despite the lack of strength, resulting in stiffness and reduced flexibility.
What Is Muscle Weakness?
Muscle weakness refers to the experience of muscles being unable to produce the usual amount of force, making it harder to perform everyday tasks like lifting objects or moving around. Various factors, such as injury, illness, altered breathing patterns or lack of use can cause muscle weakness.
Why Do Muscles Spasm?
The answer to ‘Why do muscles spasm?‘ Muscles spasm when they are over worked – so their endurance capacity does not match the demands placed on it
When muscles are unable to handle much load, they are easily overloaded and will react by remaining in a constant state of contraction or spasm.
What Does A Muscle Spasm Feel Like?
A muscle spasm feels like a sudden, tight, and painful contraction of a muscle. It might feel like the muscle is hardening or twitching uncontrollably, and it can cause sharp or throbbing pain. This often happens suddenly and can make it hard to move the affected area.
Do You Have Tight Muscles & Stiffness From Sitting At Your Desk or Computer?
Many people experience muscle tightness after sitting at their work desk or computer for hours on end.
Sitting for prolonged periods means that you are constantly loading your neck and shoulder muscles whilst they work to keep you upright. This is why office workers often experience a vague sense of discomfort and tightness. This tightness can be very frustrating and generally lasts for a long time unless you do something about it.
Sitting at a desk all day is an example of how constant low loads (non-weight bearing loads) can cause a feeling of tightness and even ongoing pain from muscle spasms. Any form of sedentary lifestyle can cause similar symptoms.
To prevent muscle stiffness and tightness after a day at the office, it’s important to:
- understand good postural awareness specific to your body
- take regular breaks to move around and incorporate stretching and strengthening exercises for the neck and shoulders
- work with your physio to improve your muscle strength
Do You Have Tight Muscles & Stiffness After Gardening or Housework?
Gardening and housework are both good examples of this post exercise muscle soreness we refer to as delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. DOMS are well experienced sensation in your regular gym goers where people increase the weight on their leg workout routine or introduce a new activity. Either way the body’s normal response to the ‘acute event’ or change is physical stress from the new exercise is muscle soreness. Typically this can last for one to five days and resolves naturally If it takes a lot longer than this and lasts for days or weeks and stops you from engaging in normal activity, then you should seek guidance from a reputable physiotherapist
You possibly experience this when you finally get around to doing that large chuck of housework or gardening you’ve been meaning to do for a while. Do your shoulders, or your back feel tight the next day? You might even find that this tightness continues for days or weeks and stops you from engaging in activities you enjoy doing or simply put you off your gardening.
These are typical examples of muscles being overloaded. Our muscles can only tolerate the load they’re trained for. How many of us train our muscles for the daily load of office work or physical requirements of gardening?
How To Alleviate Muscle Tightness Through Strengthening
So, how do we alleviate this issue in all of these cases?
The key is to gradually increase the load tolerance of your muscles by improving their strength.
Pain can often cause muscle spasms or weakness, as your body might go into a protective state, leading to muscle tightness.
For example, if you’re experiencing tight traps and stretching hasn’t helped, it might be because the muscle is in a constant state of contraction. Instead of relying solely on stretching, a progressive strengthening program could provide better results in a shorter time.
Reduced muscle flexibility often results from muscles being in a contracted state, but it can also be influenced by complex factors such as muscle length and biomechanical issues.
Incorporating specific flexibility and mobility exercises can address these issues. While some strengthening exercises might initially worsen the problem, targeted strengthening exercises can also enhance flexibility and improve overall muscle function.
Muscles That Often Feel Tight But Are Actually Weak
Tightness in the back of the thighs (hamstrings) is common, especially in people who sit for long periods, but the hamstrings are often weak, contributing to lower back and knee issues. This can be related to reduced neural mobility or nerve senstivisation . No amount of stretching or massage will resolve this tightness unless you get specific exercises to free up the nerve tension.
Hip Flexors, located at the front of the hips, can feel tight from prolonged sitting, yet they are frequently weak, leading to imbalances and lower back pain.
The muscles around the lower back often feel tight, particularly in those with poor posture, but they are typically weak, which can contribute to lower back pain and instability.
Tightness in the shoulders and neck is common, especially with stress or poor posture, but it could actually be weak muscles causing discomfort and restricted movement.
Calves can feel tight, especially after exercise, but they may also be weak, leading to issues with foot and ankle stability
Breathing Patterns are so often overlooked but can impact the diaphragm and pelvic floor. This in turn can result in persistent low back or surrounding muscle tightness.
Why? Good question. If the pelvic floor isn’t working properly due to a breathing pattern that is below par then the body will try and compensate by tightening muscles thinking it’s doing a great job.
Re-establishing good breathing patterns ensures everything is working as it should. The final challenge here is to be able to do these when doing higher level activities such as running, jumping or whatever task is before you.
Next Steps
So what is the take home? If your muscles feel tight it can be due to weakness, pain and/or reduced flexibility, so stretching them may not be the right answer.
Each situation is individual and needs to be assessed independently.
At APC Physio and Sports Clinic, we will check your joint mobility, flexibility, your breathing patterns, core function, nerve mobility and explain it to you in normal English. We will also treat you to make some fast gains where possible and promise to give you a few specific exercise that are guaranteed to help.
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