You may be intimately familiar with muscle knots in your body.

Practitioners sometimes refer to these knots as “trigger points”.

It’s the painful feeling of a tight muscle that just won’t release. It’s often felt when you aren’t doing a thing…it just keeps grabbing at you and sticks around when you wish it would go away.

Muscle knots occur when surrounding muscle tissue contracts around a hyper-irritable or stressed spot within the muscle.  It causes hard nodules or bands to form along with tenderness, stiffness, and pain.

These muscle knots/trigger points may be the source of what’s called referred pain. This is the pain felt in one part of the body that is actually being caused by a trigger point elsewhere.  Often, because of this, the trigger point and the pain do not appear related.

While the exact cause is not yet known, the following are leading reasons that muscle knots occur:

• Stress – either physical or psychological
• Chronic or sudden muscle strain, injuries, or accidents
• Infections
• A sedentary lifestyle
• Smoking

Usually our muscle knots involve a small area of muscle tissue that continually contracts. They can be deceiving because while the area is small, the pain can radiate to larger areas or even areas that contain no muscle tissue such as your joints.

As your tight, contracting muscle pulls on tendons and ligaments around a joint, it may feel like the pain is actually coming from within the joint itself when it is not.  This can lead to a lot of unnecessary treatment that won’t solve the real issue.

Muscle knots often appear after a muscle spasm. Those knots then create additional muscle spasms elsewhere, leading to more knots in a sort of endless loop. A tightened muscle reduces the blood supply to the area creating an even greater problem since muscles deprived of oxygen-rich blood create lactic acid, which irritates the nerves and adds to the increased feeling of soreness in the muscle.

You will probably find that your particular trigger points are frequently located in the same places, such as a point in your shoulder that always seems to be knotted when you are under stress. However, this can change if efforts are made to get your body properly balanced.

The reason you should take these muscle knots seriously is because they can be a key cause of your headaches, neck, and back pain.

To help avoid the formation of knotted muscles, here are 7 ways to get rid of them:

• Relaxation is important.  Learn to identify when you are holding muscles in a tightened position and then allow them to release.
• Use meditation, breathing techniques and exercise to handle stress.
• Be mindful of how you’re holding your body so you are not sitting awkwardly, lifting poorly, or holding your head turned during a presentation or movie for too long.  Holding your shoulders high can also lead to strain.
• Be sure to drink enough water as it will flush out the toxins that tend to accumulate in the muscles that cause the vicious loop of muscle spasms.
• Get the proper nutrition — including sufficient amounts of potassium and calcium in your diet is essential for the health of your muscles.  Bananas provide a good supply of potassium and green leafy vegetables are good sources of calcium.
• Stop smoking.
• Release painfully knotted muscles by breaking the cycle of spasms and knots.  With a variety of proven techniques we can help prevent the same pain from returning again and again.

Life’s stresses will continue on as they do.  You can however be released from the cycling grasp of painful muscle spasms. We even have experience helping those athletes who stress their bodies the hardest, finally get relief from pain.  Put your whole body at rest and allow yourself to proceed through the day with ease. Contact us for an easy, no obligation consultation.

Everyone has experienced the sensation of “pins and needles” in their body at one point or another. It is a very common occurrence characterized by a sensation of tingling, pricking, burning, numbness or heaviness usually in the extremities. It is commonly referred to as having a limb that has “fallen asleep.”

In most people, it is a temporary condition. However, if you experience this feeling on a regular basis, it is uncomfortable and leaves you weak with less mobility. This can be an indicator of several underlying medical conditions, some serious and some less so.

To begin a treatment to get rid of the pins and needles, it’s important that the cause of the underlying problem is identified. Without this, the pain will stick around or come and go indefinitely. We’ve helped many people who experience regular pins and needles finally stop the problem and get to the root of what’s going on so they feel pain-free and strong.

It’s time to learn why some areas of your body are constantly plagued with the uncomfortable pins and needles sensation.

This condition often happens when pressure is applied to the arms or legs such as when you are kneeling on a bent knee on the ground or sleeping on an arm for a prolonged period of time. This pressure reduces the blood flow to your limbs. The lack of blood stops the nerves from sending messages to the brain and therefore you don’t feel the limb, or in other words, it’s numb.

When you change positions the pressure on the blood vessels is released and after a period of time the blood flow returns to normal. After this, the messages from the nerves flood the brain all at once causing the pricking and tingling sensation we’re all familiar with.

Chronic pins and needles sensations are due to a problem with nerve function. There can be many causes for this, ranging from a vitamin deficiency to an autoimmune disease. It can also be caused by a pinched nerve or an injury to the nerves from disease or an accident. Pins and needles are common in the elderly, who often have reduced circulation in conjunction with a tendency toward vitamin B12 deficiency. As B12 must be absorbed by the gut, its absorption becomes more difficult as our digestive enzymes are not as strong as they once were.

Other conditions that pins and needles sensations may indicate are: diabetes, alcoholism, compressed nerves, carpal tunnel syndrome, spinal disc herniation, menopause, heavy metal poisoning, anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, chemotherapy, multiple sclerosis, a transient ischemic attack (TIA) and lupus.

The sensation of pins and needles usually goes away by itself, but if you find yourself experiencing this or numbness on a regular basis or you think you need help with some of the problems listed above, come in for an exam or consultation. We can help you get your problem straightened out or direct you to the next step or referral that you may need. Also, by checking your body structure and alignment we start you out with the first easy step in diagnosing why the pins and needles may be present.

We can help a pinched nerve that you feel from your shoulders, in your back, or down your leg and from many other areas.  You don’t have to suffer with the pain of a pinched nerve that slows you down and drains your energy. Together, we can decide upon the best course of treatment based on the specifics of your situation.

It is common for people with chronic joint pain to feel more pain and stiffness when the weather turns damp or cold. Unfortunately it can make getting up and getting active hard to bear.

While it’s easy to be skeptical when an elderly relative says his or her joints are predicting that it will rain tomorrow, it turns out they may be right. Essentially, our joints sometimes act as human barometers.

The pain you feel when the weather changes can decrease your regularly planned exercise or activity and starts throwing off your plan towards weight loss or keeping fit so you look and feel great and keep a high level of energy.

Researchers believe it’s not actually the cold, snow or rain that causes an increase in joint pain, but rather it’s the change in the outside barometric pressure that causes pain in your joints. Robert Jamison, PhD, a professor at Harvard Medical School along with several colleagues, performed experiments with chronic pain sufferers to investigate this phenomenon. The resulting study reported that “67.9 percent of the people surveyed reported that they can feel a change in their pain before rain or cold weather occurs.”

Does the pain you experience with weather changes mean that your joints are wearing down and getting arthritic?

Not always. If you’re feeling the same achiness for an extended period of time, it’s not just the weather affecting your joints. But it’s important to realize how your joints work. They have some fluctuation in the pressure and quantity of fluid that they hold. Jamison likens the joints to a balloon. “When a balloon is inflated, it has the maximum inside and outside pressure. High pressure that pushes against the body from the outside keeps tissues from expanding”…essentially keeping your joints in check. But when the weather changes and it gets cold, cloudy and rainy, as a very loose rule, the atmosphere is at a low-pressure which takes the pressure off of your joints which actually allows them to swell. This can put increased pressure on the nerves that are abundant in your joints and you feel pain as well as lack of motion (stiffness) from the swollen joints. “It doesn’t take much expansion or contraction of your tissue to affect a pain trigger,” Jamison adds.

Do you have to move to a warmer climate to get out of pain?

Moving to a warmer climate unfortunately will not help the problem in most cases.  Jamison says “There’s no heaven on earth. If you have awful back or neck pain … there’s a good chance that that pain will travel with you.” According to Jamison’s research, there is no area of the country where people experience less pain. The patients with chronic pain who lived in San Diego reported just as much pain as their counterparts in Boston.  Jamison says, “I think as mammals, we kind of adjust to our climate.”

Here’s what you can do to manage joint pain that comes and goes with the weather:

• Support your joints – Use joint supports (such as elastic knee bandages or support gloves for your hands) to keep tissues from expanding with the change in weather.
• Keep warm – Dressing warmly and applying a heating pad or hot water bottle to painful areas will help to relax your muscles and ease pain.
• Keep moving – Much as you may long to stay curled up under the duvet in bad weather, moving around will help keep your joints from stiffening. Our chiropractic treatments make sure your joints aren’t getting stuck and your body is moving well so your muscles and tendons don’t pull painfully during activities or even while resting. Once your joints are straightened out, you can continue making your body happy in motion by walking, running and doing some gentle yoga and stretching exercises.

Movement is a great way to keep pain at bay. So make sure that you don’t give up on the physical activities you’ve got planned just because the weather is bad. If you’re feeling the same achiness for an extended period of time, it’s not just the weather affecting your joints. Our treatment has helped many people experience pain relief sometimes as soon as the day we see them; within one visit.

If you want to gain long-term enjoyment in running, there are certain rules you need to follow to prevent injury or getting burnt out.

As a chiropractor, I often see patients come in with injuries that could have been prevented if the following rules were adhered to. Though some injuries are unavoidable, more often than not you can prepare yourself for a race or a fun run where you come away pain and injury-free. A long, rewarding running history can be yours by doing the following:

1. Do What Fits You

Running is supposed to be an activity characterized by freedom. There are no hard-knock rules in running if you stick to your own goals and not others’. You can simply stride off when you run, overrunning all others in your group, or simply take things slow, setting your own space and pace. The best thing to keep in mind is to focus on your endurance and previous training goals and not push yourself harder based on somebody else’s level.

2. Focus on Your Targeted Pace

Almost all fun runs or marathon races have crowded starting lines, so you can just imagine the competition. The important thing is to aim for a pace that fits you, and one that you’ve already worked with. This way, you are meeting the goal you set for yourself in the race. Often, you’ll find on race day that the endorphins kick your pace up a notch. To avoid overdoing it and burning out, or getting injured, ensure you stay near your set pace – sometimes allowing yourself to go a little over, but always staying in competition with yourself only.

3. Avoid Distractions While Running

There are many things that can distract a runner, especially on race day – other people or runners chatting, music from your iPod, or just spectator and scenery-watching while you run. Distractions can quickly lead to injury. Be aware of this for any race or new running terrain you’re on. Pay extra attention to your environment and always take notice of cracks or changing surfaces on your path.

4. No Pets While Running

Pets can be a hazard when running, especially during a large race or a fun run event. It is in fact discouraged by many event organizers, because it’s likely that they will block the way of the other runners and might even give them a trip or two. You can’t predict if a dog will get distracted or react differently to new people or a new environment. Keep your pet at home to avoid injury to yourself or others.

5. Take Extra Precautions

Several aid stations are located on both sides of the road during many races; however, it would be best to have an extra ounce of prevention to avoid possible accidents and injuries while running. If you feel like your body is hurting, not feeling like it usually does, or your energy is particularly low, adjust your pace down and know that this is the best thing you can do for yourself. While you love the feeling of beating your old time or reaching a record time, it’s not worth injuring yourself. There will be plenty of opportunities to run another day. You can’t always predict when your body will be “off” of normal, so it’s best to just roll with it and take it easy when your body tells you it hurts or is exhausted.

6. Stretch and then stretch again

Many people have come to resent the sometimes stagnant-feeling of stretching; however this one task can help prevent pain and injury tremendously. Make sure you stretch the large muscle groups such as your: calves, thighs, hamstrings (back of legs) and even your arms, before and after running. This can be as quick as taking 5 minutes to do; just do it and you’ll be better off than most.

7. Just Make it to the Finish Line

While a new record time looks like a bright, shiny reward that you want so badly, just appreciate that you’re doing what most people cannot or will not ever do. Learn to love yourself and all of the work and dedication you’ve made towards your sport and your health. You can do this by appreciating the finish line at any pace/time you arrive. Finish off what you began and still have your strong, healthy body, and injury-free at the end of the race. You’ll be so happy you did it this way and will be inspired to keep up at your sport, because of your success. Just make it to the finish line your way!

Many people find themselves getting hurt during race day. Don’t find yourself with injuries at the end of what could be a great day. Take these tips and stay true to your body and the reachable goals you set for yourself, and you’ll be at a great pace.