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The Dry Needling Therapist • Sep 18, 2019

When should I get treatment for a muscle ache or pain?

When to get treatment for a muscle pain? If you've typed into to google (other search engines available) that statement or are in pain, then now is the time! Being proactive is much better than being reactive in the musculoskeletal world. 

Continue reading to learn more.
The majority of aches and pains in the human body or the musculoskeletal system are usually down to an aggravated muscle referring pain - crazy right? 

We all take our body for granted in our life and at some stage, you will no doubt have an ache or a pain as if its come out of nowhere.

Being proactive before we get an ache or pain is the best preventative action you can take for your body and general well being. Going to the gym is great, having yoga or Pilates lessons are fantastic too, however having a therapist get stuck into the muscles on a regular basis should also be part of our monthly schedule. 

You're probably reading this thinking ok, I live a healthy lifestyle, I stretch daily, I do yogo, I go to the gym and live an active lifestyle so why am I now being told that a regular treatment session is the answer? I hear you!

Here's the thing, not one of those single activities is the answer! It's all about a combination of activities to better your general health and well being. I get asked lots of questions in clinic and have patients come out with statements which I'm going to try and help you understand by listing a few below. These may already be question which you are thinking of or can relate to. Lets see how we get on! 
Anyone can benefit from treatment. Think of our bodies as well oiled machines, we all need maintenance on our musculoskeletal system and soft tissue to keep us moving and help prevent injury!
Cant I just stretch my muscles to get them better? 

Of course you can stretch your muscles, stretching is great however we can stretch a tight muscle all day long but what's that going to achieve? I'll tell you what it will achieve. It will pull on the insertion and attachment site (where the muscle goes to and from), as the muscle is already in a state of dysfunction so we need to release the muscle first before stretching it! My work is to release the tension, your work as a patient is to keep the tension as free as you can by stretching!

I go to the gym 6 days a week, I'm strong so why have I got this pain? 

Simple answer would be, you're training too hard and not giving your body time to repair and recover. Why do you think athletes have daily treatment on top of the best nutrition and a number of specialists in their team? 
The science behind it which i'll explain simply to all my patients is muscles have thousands of muscles in them, these muscle fibres work as a team to create a movement. Muscle fibres are made of cells, we all know our cells repair on a daily basis. So what happens if a cell doesn't repair correctly and a muscle fibre is affected? Not a great deal to be honest. HOWEVER, this muscle fibre is now degenerate or redundant so it no longer helps the 'team' of muscle fibres, this then makes it harder and less efficient for the same muscle to perform that movement. If a movement is performed over and over again, that 1 muscle fibre will affect the surrounding muscle fibres, 1 fibre becomes 2 fibres, 2 becomes 4, 4 becomes 8, do you get the drift? Soon we have a percentage of the muscle fibres degenerate and redundant. Lets imagine 25% of a team of football players are missing. That team is going to perform so poorly. This is the same for muscles, if 25% of the muscle fibres are degenerate and not performing correctly, this will have a negative affect on the performance of the muscle as a whole. This increase in tension and degeneration leads to faster fatigue of the muscle tissues, decreased joint range, increased wear and tear of the joint and pain.

I'm NOT in pain so why do I need treatment?

As stated above, think of our bodies as well oiled machines which need maintaining. Repetitive movements lead to repetitive stress on the soft tissues including muscles which can limit joint range and function, this puts the biomechanics of the joint out which increases wear and tear on the joint therefore increased damage & rate of osteoarthritis. Its a really good idea to build a regular treatment into your life. It all depends on your own activities however I see anyone from elite athletes on a weekly basis training hard, to office workers and manual labourers to help with all kinds of muscle related tension.
Think of your body as a car or a piece of machinery, the cars and machines that are regularly serviced last longer before they wear out, its the same with our musculoskeletal system; decreased soft tissue tension and increased joint function decreases the rate on wear and tear of our joints.

BE PROACTIVE 👍

Being proactive rather than reactive to any aches and pains, pulls or loss of function in the human body is much more advantageous for recover and limited wear and tear on our soft tissues and joints rather than leaving it weeks, months or even years in lots of cases I've seen! Seeking a regular treatment when not in pain is essential to keeping your soft tissues and joints at their optimal ranges and function to decrease the rate of wear and tear on the musculoskeletal system.

Get in touch for friendly advice and check out our treatment options Here

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