What Causes Muscle Tightness And How To Fix It
We’ve all been there. Tight hamstrings, tight back, standing up from a seat to find tight hip flexors keeping us hunched over for a few minutes before being able to stand upright again. What causes all of this muscle tightness and what’s the best way to improve it?
Muscles are fascinating. They contract and relax to shorten and lengthen. They move our skeleton, keep our joints together with the help of ligaments and tendons, and can also experience strains, tears, cramps, and more. When we experience muscle tightness, what we are feeling is the muscle staying in a more shortened, or contracted position. There are a couple of main reasons our bodies want particular muscles to remain shortened, or tight:
The first main reason we experience muscle tightness is due to injury. When we have an injury somewhere in our body, our brain wants to protect that area. Protection in this case involves reducing the range of motion in the area to prevent further injury. For example, if I hurt my rotator cuff in my shoulder joint, my brain is going to send a signal to that area to have all of the muscles contract to limit any possible future damage. Similarly, if I have surgery in my knee, my brain tells all of the muscles responsible for knee movement to tighten up so I don’t end up re-injuring myself.
A second reason we experience muscle tightness is due to a lack of stability in end ranges of motion. This is most commonly experienced in our hamstrings, although it’s true of many muscles supporting our hips. If my brain does not believe that I have enough strength in my hamstrings to support me when those hamstrings are stretched out, it won’t let me easily reach that end range. My brain doesn’t want me to hurt myself, after all. This end-range tightness worsens as we age and as we spend less and less time strengthening our muscles in that position, or even being in end-range positions at all. If I never reach overhead for a long period of time and then all of a sudden try, I’m going to feel significant tightness in my shoulders as all those muscles have shortened from lack of use.
With both of these, there are various strategies for overcoming these scenarios, and very little of it involves static stretching. The key to remember is that your brain is in charge. It’s the one sending the signals to the muscles of what position to be in and how far you can stretch it. What your brain wants to know is that you have the stability in your muscles to safely stretch the muscles and that you aren’t going to get injured. Ultimately, gaining flexibility in your muscles is all about strengthening them into those positions. If you experience low back stiffness, there’s likely somewhere in your hips that your brain thinks is too unstable, so it limits your low back into certain positions. If your hamstrings are tight, you likely need to strengthen them in lengthened positions so your brain learns to trust that the lengthening is safe. Deadlifts are a perfect option for this.
Lastly, if you do go the route of static stretching, make sure to stay relaxed with deep breathing. You’re trying to relax the brain more than the muscle, so if you’re tense while you stretch, you won’t get anywhere. This can be a good option when done in conjunction with strengthening end ranges of motion but should not be the only way you try to improve flexibility.