subject: Chiropractor Bolingbrook Il | Muscle Tension Has Unpleasant Side Effects [print this page] Muscle tension is not given the credit, or lack thereof, that it deserves. It sounds fairly simple and innocuous, not really worth treating as an actual medical issue. If only that were truly the case...
Long-term Effects -
This is not to say that the first twinge of muscle pain should send a sufferer racing down to the chiropractor - some value judgments are required. However, the best thing someone can do is listen to their pain and let it tell them what they need to do.
Too often today, we refuse to listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us. We are too busy, too rushed, and we have too little time to get treatment for the things that are bothering us. We are afraid that if we take time away, time to take care of ourselves, we will miss valuable time that can be better spent racing around like hamsters on a wheel, trying to meet expectations.
And then we suffer the consequences. This is where muscle tension comes to mean far more than a simple ache. Long-term tension means that muscles are in positions and at angles they should not be. If all was right with the world, the pain would not be signaling us with problems. Sitting at your desk in the wrong position one day will give you a stiff neck, over-working and over-stressing your body - and doing so day after day after day can put your entire body out of alignment, leading to constant pain and possibly even injuries from muscles pulling the wrong way for too long.
Prevention and Cure -
The first and best thing to do, of course, is to take steps to avoid muscle tension. Regardless of whether you spend your day at a desk, stocking shelves or working a construction site, the basic process is the same. Listen to your body. If you start feeling tense or stiff, switch your positions, stretch, roll your head around your neck and so forth.
Even the smallest movement can provide relief - it doesn't require doing jumping jacks at your station. Ideally, your breaks should involve at least a few minutes of some sort of movement that is different than what you do all day. Just as in exercise, changing up which muscles are moved will increase blood flow and help to maintain muscle tone.
Of course, most of the time when we really notice the muscle tension, we're well beyond that stage where simple movement can help. Most of us are so accustomed to living with low-level pain as the cost of keeping up with the world, that we don't notice until we're already perilously close to doing ourselves a mischief. When that time comes, a chiropractor can be your best friend.
Trained in treating muscle and bone problems that result from poor alignment, stress or strain, a chiropractor can help work out the knots and put everything back into the right place. They are also skilled at providing concrete suggestions as to exercise, diet - both for improved nutrition and weight loss if need be - and other ways to work to keep the muscle tension a momentary, temporary problem, rather than something that takes your entire body down.
