Chronic pain|lower back |
Chronic pain patients often start initially with lower back pain or discomfort. Many others will also have similar symptoms in the mid back, upper back and neck. Have you figured out why pain and discomfort does not start with the muscles in the front of the body and why there is a predilection for pain to occur in muscles at the back of the body?
The muscles in the front of the body are stronger because they are strengthened every day. Because most of our daily work, chores, recreational and self-care activities are performed by muscles in the front of the body, these muscles are strengthened every day. Shortening contractions will make the muscles stronger.
For example, when we lift a barbell and bring it toward the chest, the muscles in the front of the shoulder, arm, forearm and hand contract and they shorten. The muscles in the back of these joints including the entire spine undergo a lengthening contraction in order to stabilize these joints so that the movement of the barbell toward the chest is smooth and continuous. Lengthening contractions however are injurious to the muscles. Significant forces have to be generated by the muscles of the entire spine as well as muscles at the back of the shoulder, arm, forearm and hand to prevent the weight lifted from suddenly hitting the chest. Therefore these muscles that have to undergo lengthening contraction are subjected to injury which increases in proportion to the amount of weight lifted. The most vulnerable time for these muscles that are performing lengthening contractions to get injured and to undergo spasm is when they are made to perform a shortening contraction in an abrupt manner.
Opening a heavy door or performing a throwing movement are typical examples of how the triceps and the latissimus dorsi muscles can get injured. In these motions, the triceps and latissimus dorsi muscles are made to perform lengthening contractions first and the shortening contraction occurs immediately and abruptly without a transition for the muscle to prepare itself for the shortening contraction. Many of the other muscles including those in the spine, shoulder and pelvic and hip muscles can be similarly injured.
On a daily basis,the muscles that perform lengthening contractions become weakened since they do not also have a chance to perform shortening contractions that strengthen them as we rarely do any significant activities of daily living using muscles behind our back.
The weaker these back muscles become, the more prone they are to injury leading to pain and discomfort. Therefore strengthening programs should begin with strengthening the muscles of the back before you try to strengthen the muscles in the front. However, if there is pain and or tightness in the muscles that are subjected to lengthening contractions, relieving muscle pain and tightness are the first priorities before starting strengthening exercises.
Strengthening exercises in the presence of pain and tightness of muscles will cause more reduced blood flow to these muscles aggravating the underlying pain. In patients with chronic pain, all strengthening exercises should be done without joint movement and these exercises are known as setting exercises or isometric contractions. The exercises should be perform at a pace that the patient is able to tolerate rather than by set time or number of repetitions. Progressive resistive exercises must be avoided for patients with chronic pain.
The upper body muscles that should be strengthened with isometric exercises include the latissimus dorsi, deltoid, triceps and trapezius. For the lower body, strengthen the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, tensor fascia lata, adductor magnus and quadriceps muscles. Although the quadriceps muscle is in the front of the thigh, it is a group of muscles that are always subjected to lengthening contractions during walking or descending steps.
© 2007 copyright www.stopmusclepain.com Chronic pain|lower backAbout the Author:
Jennifer Chu, M.D., founder of eToims Soft Tissue Comfort Center® is also President and CEO of eToims Medical Technology LLC, a medical device company with training programs in eToims® Twitch Relief Method. She is an Emeritus Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania, where has been on faculty for more than 30 years. www.stopmusclepain.com Submitted at: marketplace4writers.com - WebSite Content and Article Directory "...
The muscles in the front of the body are stronger because they are strengthened every day. Because most of our daily work, chores, recreational and self-care activities a..." |
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