In part three of this series explaining the relationship between muscle function and pain we will focus on rules four and five as introduced to you in PART ONE of this blog series.
Rule no 4. Not all tight muscles are inherently weak but neither are they functionally fully strong.
Rule no 5. 'Strong' (hypertonic/up-regulated) and 'weak' (hypotonic, down-regulated or inhibited) reactions within muscle movements are both equally dysfunctional and likely to result in pain via inefficient balance of movement.
Now that we understand that muscle function is controlled by a fantastically smart nervous system, we are able to appreciate that tight muscles are in essence, ‘less efficient’ than they should be.
Don’t confuse decreased efficiency with weakness though, that isn't always the case.
As described in the last blog, when the central nervous system subconsciously interprets sensory/chemical/hormonal/nutritional/emotional (what we feel) data like the sensory information coming from receptors in the skin/muscles/ligaments etc as dangerous or likely to cause harm, it will protect you by altering how you move. The whole intention of this is to prevent you from stimulating this "danger" further or moving you away from the danger (or perceived danger).
Movement alterations result in the up or down-regulation of muscle contractile or lengthening ability. Think of one muscle increasing its contractile ability (becoming Hypertonic) and another decreasing it’s contractile ability (becoming Hypotonic).
So how do we know if a muscle is NORMAL, HYPERTONIC or HYPOTONIC and lets define those names.
Normal functioning muscle/connective tissue = Has the ability to fully shorten & contract and fully lengthen & relax in all ranges of motion.
Hypertonic functioning muscle/connective tissue = An increased level of neurological tone resulting in a state of increased contractibility and an reduction in ability to favour lengthening and relaxing. Hypertonic muscles can also be in a slightly lengthened state but a somewhat isometric (static), stuck position.
Hypotonic functioning muscle/connective tissue = A decreased level of neurological tone resulting in a state of decreased contractibility and in increase in ability to favour a state of lengthening and relaxing.
Hypertonic and hypotonic terms as described above are not to be confused with Hypertonia or Hypotonia. These describe larger, more complex neurological states of the whole nervous system affecting global tone of muscles.
Although these terms are not new or unheard of, the treatment for some of these situations doesn't always take these tissue states into account when treating the issue. Based on the understanding of neuroreceptor theory as researched by Dr Jose Palomar (http://pdtr-global.com/about-pdtr/neuroreceptor-therapy/Neuroreceptor_Therapy.pdf we can grasp that changes to muscle tone (among other systems) can occur as a result of increased stimulation and sensitivity to receptor information.
A muscle that has an increased potential to contract and become hypertonic is as much of a contributor towards movement dysfunction as a muscle that has less potential to contract and become hypotonic.
Those muscles that are inefficiently “short” or “long” are both problematic, just at the opposite ends of the spectrum. In exactly the same way that hyper and hypo glycaemia both have the potential to cause serious deleterious affects in the body via blood sugar values, changes to muscle tone both at the HYPER or HYPO end of the spectrum can cause serious and some not so serious changes.
So why is this useful to know?
Because when we analyse your movement or movements that cause you pain, you can understand that there is a complex system that is working in your subconscious to help you (or at least trying to help).
When we stop focusing on muscles as strong or weak and as black and white as that, we are able to realise that there is a lot of grey. Your central nervous system is doing all it can to protect you, even if that results in pain right now. This doesn’t mean your current state of muscular tone cannot change, even if it has been that way for a long time.
In the final blog in the Muscle Rules: Explaining Pain series, we will cover in more detail rules, six, seven and eight, ultimately culminating in my thoughts on how to most efficiently treat muscular hyper and hypotonicity and it’s link with pain.
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