Muscle clamps (cramping) are chronic muscle tension. What provokes this ailment? Clips can be caused by injuries, uncomfortable posture or poor posture. But often pathology has deeper causes.
The causes of this pathology
Many people cannot express anger, heartache and fear. Any emotional problems are reflected in the body in the form of muscle blocks. So, a prolonged experience of anxiety leads to neck muscle tension. Such people will be unnatural and tense, they will quickly get tired, experiencing difficulties in communication, and they are uncomfortable in their own bodies.
The very concept of muscle clamps and blocks itself owes a lot to W. Reich, who was a follower of Freud. He supplemented his views and first drew the attention of psychoanalysts to the human body.
Reich noted that character traits can be reflected in certain postures and muscle tension. He began to interact with the relaxation of such a “muscular carapace” (as he called muscle clamps). The doctor found that clamp relaxation releases a large amount of energy along with suppressed emotions, and in addition, memories of various events that triggered these emotions.
He found that chronic muscle clamping blocks three basic emotions, namely anger, fear, and sexual arousal. The scientist came to the conclusion that the psychological and muscular carapace are simply the same thing.
People get used to living in such a shell and do not even notice that their muscles are constantly tense. Many people think that if the muscles are constantly in good shape, it means that they are trained and strong. But actually the clamped tissues are very weak muscles. Thus, we are talking about an unhealthy type of stress that contributes to the development of problems in the form of headache, tension, mandibular joint syndrome, discomfort in the back and neck, respiratory disorders, vascular dystonia, problems with the heart and vascular system, etc.
Manifestations of clamps
How do muscle clamps manifest?
Staying in constant tension negatively affects the body, leading to very rapid fatigue, and, in addition, to depression, anxiety, depression and the like. To support the muscular carapace, as a rule, people spend a lot of energy. In this regard, a person regularly lacks strength and vigor.
Tense muscles can also block blood circulation. Because of this, absolutely all internal organs, along with the muscles and the spine, lack nutrients and oxygen, at the same time there is a stagnant and degenerative process, all kinds of chronic diseases and the like develop.
In addition, muscle clamps are a sign that a person is not coping well with his emotions. This largely violates the individual’s relationship with others, causing increased sensitivity to stress and any conflict.
How can a clip be detected?
In the event that there are no obvious symptoms like chronic pain, then you need to examine your own body yourself or with the help of a relative. To do this, use your fingers to walk through all muscle groups, pressing them with effort. In that case, if the pressing is accompanied by severe pain or tickling, then, most likely, it was possible to find a muscle clamp.
What is the danger of this pathology?
In the event that it is not possible to deal with the muscle clamp on time, as a result of many years of tension, the tissues become stony, blood, along with nutrients, practically ceases to flow to them. Thus, over time, the muscle begins to break down.
Find out how to remove muscle clamps and blocks.
Treatment: how can you relax the clamp?
It seems that clamps can be treated with sports. But far from always sports training can eliminate them. Active loads to tense muscles are even contraindicated. To remove the clamp, muscles need to be loaded with low intensity.
The same applies to sports yoga. Performing all kinds of yoga asanas in mechanical and normal mode does not contribute to the removal of clamps. Many people who have been practicing yoga for many years have not been able to get rid of muscle tension.
Awareness is the first step
In order to rid yourself of muscle carapace, you first need to realize its presence. This is facilitated by alternate relaxation and muscle tension along with special exercises for individual parts of the body and the practice of bodily awareness. Next, you need to relax the tense muscles. In this case, static exercises that are aimed at tension, followed by stretching and relaxation (for example, post-isometric relaxation) help. It is advisable to carry out deep work with breathing, mudras and bandhas.
It is important to lower the level of stress and anxiety, since it is the prohibitive amount of emotional stress that leads to the formation of clamps. This is facilitated by the techniques of meditation and deep relaxation (we are talking, for example, about shavasana, yoga nidra, auto-training, visualization, and so on). You should also remember that this ailment is associated with emotional problems. In this regard, relaxing muscle clamps is required in conjunction with careful internal work on emotions.
Sometimes, after deep work with a clamp, a person may experience an attack of extremely negative emotions in the form of fear, anger, or longing. Among other things, relaxed muscles can quickly heal again. This means that the psychological problems in a person are much deeper than it seems at first glance. They form new spasms, since a person is still not able to show his emotions and continues to pinch them in the body. An experienced psychotherapist will certainly help the patient cope with the internal causes of such clamps.
A muscle free body is pliable and attractive. Energy ceases to be spent on supporting tension, and the person again becomes completely relaxed, healthy, energetic and naturally expresses his emotions. Now let's move on to exercises that help remove muscle clamps.
Basic exercises to help relax
To perform such exercises, a person should lie on his back (shavasana).
- Performing the relaxation-stress exercise. Focus on the right hand and clench your fist. Tighten the arm to the limit. After five to ten seconds, they release tension and relax the hand as much as possible. Recognize the difference between relaxation and stress. Then they do the same with the other hand. This exercise is also performed with the legs, lower back and neck. What else needs to be done to relax muscle clamps?
- Performing the exercise "Tension in a circle." Straining the right hand to the limit. Gradually relax it, and then completely transfer the tension to the other hand. Then they gradually relax the left arm, completely transferring tension to the right leg. You can repeat this exercise to remove muscle clamps several times.
- Performing the exercise "Habitual clamp." Listen to the sensations of your body. Then they recall the standard voltage for themselves (we are talking about our usual clamp). Gradually strain the body in this area, bringing the clamp to its absolute limit, and reset it after five to ten seconds, while trying to achieve the greatest possible relaxation. A distinction must be made between relaxation and tension. You can repeat this exercise several times.
Massage
In addition to exercises, you can carry out self-massage of the neck muscles. The main thing is not to rush or push too hard. Hands before the procedure should be warmed and greased with any massage oil, so as not to rub the skin.
You need to start with light stroking movements with your hands from top to bottom, from the back of the head to the back and from the middle of the back to the shoulders. When the muscles are warmed up, you can slowly crush them and push them with your fingers, moving from top to bottom and from the center to the periphery.
You can also entrust the massage to a professional. Only 10 sessions will relieve muscle tension.
Psychosomatics of muscle clamps
Modern psychologists believe that all experiences along with emotions and fears affect not only the human psyche, but also his body. In the event that any situation causes fear reactions in the soul, this means that somewhere in the human body muscle tension appears. Often, in response to fears, muscle tension appears in the collar zone (while the head is squeezed into the shoulders, as it were), it can also occur in the area of the diaphragm (then breathing stops in people). Sometimes tension forms in the muscles around the eyes (it can be said that the person’s eyes are glazed). Also, tension is often found in the hands (in this case, people have trembling hands).
The psychosomatics of muscle clamps is incomprehensible to many, but it should not be ignored.
Repository of panic emotions
When the reactions of fear are repeated or lasting (sometimes it can stretch for hours, years and days), then muscle tension can turn into a clamp, which becomes a kind of repository of panic emotions. When muscle clamps according to the pattern of fear are formed in a person, people begin to feel panic even when absolutely nothing of the kind happens around.
Body memory
Against the background of all this, the memory of the body seems to be triggered in people, forming a general sense of anxiety and a sense of fear, when something similar to a dangerous situation arises nearby. And in a situation in which a person with a healthy body will not be scared (or the feeling of fear will be weak, and at the same time easily overcome), a person with a severe clamp will be really scared, sometimes even to nausea and complete paralysis of the body.
Muscle clamps on the neck and back
The most common causes of pain in the neck and back are chronically tense muscles. Against this background, chronic stress, as a rule, is a direct result of displaced vertebrae that infringe on the nerves. When the muscles remain tense, several events occur that lead to chronic pain. Firstly, muscles can begin to work much stronger than normal. People notice this when they squeeze a previously relaxed brush into a fist. All such extra efforts lead to the process of washing out useful chemical elements from the muscles.
In the event that a person holds his fist tightly clenched for some time, then you can find that he is simply bleeding. The fact is that with muscle clamping in the neck, blood is squeezed from the capillaries and arteries of the muscle area. Thus, the following pattern of the formation of such pains is noted: tense muscles are directly related to the formation of toxins, and blood flow is insufficient to remove them.
Accumulation of toxins can begin to irritate the muscles, causing pain. When the brain receives pain signals, it enhances muscle tension in this area. All this can further reduce blood flow and increase pain. In the event that a similar situation continues, then this area of the body will constantly hurt.
Sometimes people lead themselves to the formation of such constricted zones in their body, but until this is too pronounced, no discomfort arises. And then a person has stress, creating additional muscle tension, which itself causes pain. It is worth relaxing, as such pain immediately stops, but this part of the body will still remain tense and clamped. Thus, with each subsequent stress, a new pain will go.