5 Ways To Beat Muscle Tension
Stiff neck, aching shoulders, shooting pain in the lower back, tight ankles.
All these are common symptoms of muscle tension that I bet you have experienced at least once in your life?
So what exactly is muscle tension?
Whenever you move you are contracting (shortening) some muscles & simultaneously relaxing (lengthening) other muscles. Sometimes the muscles will contract but not fully relax, leaving the muscle in a semi-contracted state, when a muscle is in this semi-contracted state for a prolonged period of time it is referred to as muscle tension.
When you have muscle tension the muscle in question will feel hard & tense. Sometimes this leads to the developments of small, hard lumps within the tense muscle known as knots.
Muscle tension can be painful, restrict your range of motion & even keep you up at night. Here are 5 easy ways you can combat muscle tension.
Hydrate
Staying hydrated is a really easy way to avoid muscle tension.
When you are dehydrated your body loses electrolytes that are needed for proper muscle function such as Magnesium & Potassium, when this happens the muscles tend to tense up & feel sore.
Dehydration is also closely related to muscle cramps. Not only are muscle cramps extreme tension within muscles but can often leave lingering tension in the muscles after the cramp itself dissipates.
Drink 6-8 glasses of water daily & be mindful to rehydrate during & after exercise, or when the weather is hot.
Magnesium
Magnesium, as mentioned above, is essential for proper muscle function & directly impacts the amount of pain that is felt in the muscle.
It is essential to make sure that your body has enough Magnesium if you want to avoid muscle tension.
The best way to do this is to have a bath containing Epsom Salts, simple put some Epsom Salts into your bath & stay in there for at least 20 minutes.
Make sure the bath is nice & hot for some extra tension relief!
If you’re not a bath person you can always use Magnesium supplements, you can get them from most health shops.
Stretch
Doing some gentle stretches, or some Yoga is a great way to eliminate tension in the muscles.
If you are new to stretching I would recommend to follow a guide & make sure you know how to safely perform any stretches you do.
Here is a good stretching guide to get you started!
When stretching you should start gently & ease your body into it, focus on stretching the muscles that feel tense.
By stretching the muscles you are forcing them to elongate (relax) which releases the semi-contracted fibres.
Get A Massage
Massage is one of the best ways to relieve tense muscles.
A good Deep Tissue or Sports Massage will manipulate the layers of fibres within the muscles in such a way that they relax & release the tension they are holding.
Massage also releases chemicals in the brain that relax both the mind & the body, this in turn activates the parasympathetic nervous system which sends signals to your muscles to relax as well as de-stressing and relaxing the mind.
Click here if you would like to get yourself booked in for a massage
Ergonomics
Bad ergonomics is a leading cause of muscle tension.
Things like having a bad computer setup at work, using improper form when exercising, or sitting craning your neck to watch TV are all examples of bad ergonomics.
There are too many to list here, but bad ergonomics force you to use your muscles in ways they weren’t intended which leads to muscle tension, soreness & fatigue.
Always try to have proper posture when you are standing, sitting, or whatever you do in your day to day life. Small changes to problematic areas can have massive effects on muscle tension!
Give these tips a go if you are experiencing muscle tension. They are all pretty easy to implement & don’t require a great deal of effort to do
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