Muscle clamps (spasms) are chronic muscle tension. What provokes this disease? Clamps can be caused by injury, poor posture, or bad posture. But often the pathology has deeper causes.
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. Thus, a prolonged experience of anxiety leads to tension in the muscles of the neck. Such people will be unnatural and tense, they will quickly get tired, have difficulty communicating, and they will be uncomfortable in their own body.
The very concept of muscle clamps and blocks owes its appearance to W. Reich, who was a follower of Freud. He supplemented his views and for the first time drew the attention of psychoanalysts to the human body.
Reich noted that character traits can be reflected in certain postures and muscle tension. Hebegan to interact with the relaxation of such a “muscular shell” (as he called muscle clamps). The doctor has found that releasing the clamp releases a large amount of energy along with repressed emotions, as well as memories of various events that triggered these emotions.
He found that chronic muscle contraction blocks three basic emotions, namely anger, fear and sexual arousal. The scientist came to the conclusion that the psychological and muscular shell 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 believe that if the muscles are constantly in good shape, this means that they are trained and strong. But in fact, the clamped tissues are very weak muscles. Thus, we are talking about an unhe althy type of tension that contributes to the development of problems in the form of headaches, tension, mandibular joint syndrome, back and neck discomfort, breathing disorders, vascular dystonia, problems with the heart and vascular system, and more.
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 muscle shell, as a rule, people spend a lot of energy. In this regard, a person regularly lacks strength and vigor.
Tense muscles can also block circulation. Because of this, absolutely all internal organs, along with muscles and the spine, receive less nutrients and oxygen, at the same time a stagnant and degenerative process occurs, all kinds of chronic diseases develop, and the like.
Besides, muscle clamps are a sign that a person is not coping well with his emotions. This greatly disrupts the relationship of the individual with other people, causing increased sensitivity to stress and any conflict.
How can you find the clamp?
In the event that there are no obvious symptoms such as chronic pain, then you need to examine your own body yourself or with the help of a relative. To do this, you need to walk through all muscle groups with your fingers, pressing hard on them. In the event that pressing is accompanied by severe pain or tickling sensations, then, most likely, it was possible to find a muscle clamp.
How dangerous is this pathology?
In the event that the muscle clamp is not de alt with in time, then as a result of many years of stress, the tissues become stony, blood practically stops flowing to them along with nutrients. Thus, over time, the muscle begins to break down.
Let's find out how to remove muscle clamps and blocks.
Treatment: how can the clamp be loosened?
It seems that you can treat clamps with the help of sports. But not always sports training can eliminate them. Active loads for tense muscles are even contraindicated. To relieve muscle tension, you needload with low intensity.
The same applies to sports yoga. Performing all kinds of yoga asanas in a mechanical and normal mode does not contribute to the elimination of clamps. So many people who have been doing 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 the muscular shell, you first need to be aware of its presence. This is facilitated by alternate relaxation and muscle tension along with special gymnastics for certain parts of the body and the practice of body awareness. Next, you need to relax tense muscles. In this case, static exercises help, which are aimed at tension, followed by stretching and relaxation (for example, post-isometric relaxation). It is advisable to carry out deep work with breathing, mudras and bandhas.
It is important to reduce 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 meditation and deep relaxation techniques (we are talking, for example, about shavasana, yoga nidra, auto-training, visualization, and so on). It should also be remembered that this ailment is associated with emotional problems. In this regard, relaxing muscle clamps is required in combination with careful internal work on emotions.
Sometimes, after deep work with the clamp, one or another person may experience an attack of extremely negative emotions in the form of fear, anger or longing. Among other things,relaxed muscles can quickly tighten up again. This means that a person's psychological problems are much deeper than it seems at first glance. They form new spasms, as a person is still not able to show his emotions and continues to clamp them in the body. An experienced psychotherapist will certainly help the patient cope with the internal causes of such clamps.
The body, free from muscle clamps, is plastic and attractive. Energy ceases to be spent on maintaining tension, and the person again becomes completely relaxed, he althy, energetic and naturally shows his emotions. Now let's move on to exercises that help relieve muscle clamps.
Basic exercises to help you relax
To perform these exercises, a person should lie on his back (in shavasana).
- Performance of the exercise "Relaxation-tension". Focus their attention on the right hand and clench their fist. Stretch your arm to the limit. After five to ten seconds, they relieve tension and relax the hand as much as possible. Recognize the difference between relaxation and tension. Then 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". Stretch your right hand to the limit. Gradually relax it, and then completely transfer the tension to the other hand. Then gradually relax the left hand, completely transferring the tension to the right leg. Canrepeat this exercise to relieve muscle clamps several times.
- Performance of the exercise "Habitual clamp". Listen to the sensations of your body. Next, they recall the standard voltage for themselves (we are talking about their usual clamp). Gradually tighten the body in this area, bringing the clamp to the absolute limit, and reset it after five to ten seconds, while trying to achieve the greatest possible relaxation. It is required to realize the difference between relaxation and tension. You can repeat this exercise several times.
Massage
In addition to exercises, you can self-massage the muscles of the neck. The main thing is not to rush and not to push too hard. Hands before the procedure should be warmed and lubricated 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 knead them and push through 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 on his body. In the event that any situation causes fear reactions in the soul, this means that muscle tension appears somewhere in the human body. Often, in response to fears, muscle tension appears in the collar zone (at the same time, the head, as it were, is pressed intoshoulders), it can also occur in the area of the diaphragm (then people stop breathing). Sometimes tension forms in the muscles around the eyes (in this case, one can say that the eyes of a person are glazed). Tension is also not uncommon in the hands (in this case, people's hands tremble).
Psychosomatics of muscle clamps is incomprehensible to many, but you should not ignore it.
Storage of Panic Emotions
When fear reactions are repeated or last (sometimes it can stretch for hours, years and days), then muscle tension can turn into a clamp, which becomes like a repository of panic emotions. When muscle clamps form in a pattern of fear in a person, people begin to feel panic even when absolutely nothing like this is happening around.
Body Memory
Against the background of all this, the memory of the body seems to work in people, forming a general feeling of anxiety and fear when something similar to a dangerous situation arises nearby. And in a situation in which a person with a he althy body will not be scared (or the feeling of fear will be weak, but at the same time easily overcome), a person with a heavy clamp will be really scared, sometimes even to the point of nausea and absolute paralysis of the body.
Muscular neck and back clamps
The most common causes of neck and back pain are chronically tense muscles. Against this background, chronic tension, as a rule, is a direct consequence of displaced vertebrae, which infringe on the nerves. When the muscles remain tense,several events that lead to chronic pain. Firstly, the muscles can begin to work much harder than normal. People notice this when they clench a previously relaxed hand 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 a while, you can find that he simply bleeds. The thing is that with a muscle clamp in the neck, the blood is squeezed out of the capillaries and arteries of the muscle area. Thus, the following pattern of formation of such pains is noted: tense muscles are directly related to the formation of toxins, and the blood flow is not enough to remove them.
The accumulation of toxins can begin to irritate the muscles, causing pain. When pain signals are received by the brain, it increases muscle tension in this area. All this can further reduce blood flow and increase pain. In the event that this situation continues, then this area of \u200b\u200bthe body will hurt constantly.
Sometimes people lead themselves to the formation of such constricted zones in their body, but as long as it is not too pronounced, no discomfort arises. And then a person develops stress, which creates additional muscle tension, which itself causes pain. It is worth relaxing, as such pain immediately stops, but this area of \u200b\u200bthe body will still remain tense and clamped. Thus, with each subsequent stress, new pain will come.
