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This article mentions several problems caused by stiff muscles and strategies for coping and preventing them. It may be useful to understand the mechanisms tha

This article mentions several problems caused by stiff muscles and strategies for coping and preventing them. It may be useful to understand the mechanisms that cause and perpetuate this problem. There's the muscle sheaths that have stiffened by the lack of use of the full range of motion and the constant deposition of collagen, which literally glues the sheath to itself. This tight sheath can impair blood flow to a muscle, especially when the muscle is contracted for a long time. The contracting muscle presses out against a tight sheath. Blood takes the path of least resistance. That lack of healthy blood flow can cause the sarcomeres, the contractile unit of muscle, to get stuck in their contracted position. This is how a muscle gets tight and actually shorter. When a muscle gets very stiff, a trigger point can develop. A trigger point is just an area where many sarcomeres are tight. We certainly notice trigger points, but the muscle gradually hardens for a while before a trigger point develops. The hard muscles are shorter and thicker and this makes manipulating the sheath to break up the collagen much harder. But if the muscle is softened first, it can be done. Massage is how you soften the muscle and get the sarcomeres in it functioning again. Massage pushes depleted blood out and then new blood is pulled in from the capillaries. But there's still one other factor and that is the way muscles communicate with each other to accomplish work. When one muscle is engaged, other muscles receive nerve signals to help. And if there is a trigger point in one muscle, other muscles are engaged via the nerves. So you may have a tense muscles but it may be another muscle that is the root cause. All of the muscles need to considered and massaged in a systematic way.

AgentConundrum 16y ago
All of the muscles need to considered and massaged in a systematic way. I wish I had realized this years ago. I developed RSI symptoms, or at least they became severe enough that I took note of them, about two months ago. I did a lot of research after that and ended up booking my first ever massage. When the therapist started working on my forearms, she explained that I was very tight, and she wasn't surprised it was causing me pain. Oddly, my left arm ended up being the worse off of the two. After the massage, I felt great and could type relatively normally again without pain. She also told me that my neck muscles were essentially made of stone, and asked me if I regularly got headaches (I did). I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't underestimate the value of regular massages. It would probably cost around $1k/year to go once a month, but I think it's worth it to keep yourself at the top of your game. Therapeutic massage is often used to manage chronic pain, so I see no reason why it couldn't also be used to prevent it (or cure it if you're in the early stages).
- stretchwithme 16y ago
  Massage addresses one piece of the puzzle and to me is primarily a coping mechanism. It does not necessarily addresses the underlying problem. It depends on the therapist; some are really good and some approaches work much better than others. But this problem is clearly not addressed properly for most people. Many suffer for years with it and a quick trip to a nursing home will confirm that.
  - AgentConundrum 16y ago
    I didn't mean to imply that massage, and only massage, would rid you of pain permanently. You need to take good care of yourself in general in order to stay healthy - eat right, sleep well, keep yourself hydrated, and sit/work comfortably. It just seems to me that a lot of programmers already take care of some of these items - the fact that I've even heard of Herman Miller chairs is evidence that at least some programmers take these things seriously - but RSI is still a huge concern in the industry. I think if you're already sitting right and taking care of yourself, you could still be slowly damaging yourself because you're still locked in a static position for large portions of the day. Your muscles get used to working together as a single muscle, and they start locking together and essentially becoming that single muscle. Massage helps relieve muscles in spasm, and deeper massages will help break the "supermuscles" apart so they act individually again. RSI is an issue every programmer (or any other person sitting at a computer all day) needs to be aware of, and the more preventions and cures we can throw at it, the longer we'll be able to stay healthy and productive.
    - stretchwithme 16y ago
      sorry, didn't mean to say you implied. just reiterating something. Sitting all day is just an aggravating cause, not the underlying cause. A muscle gets stiff under a light load only when circulation is impaired. A muscle with good circulation will not get stiff. So it isn't that we sit for long periods. Its that we haven't fully exercised our full range of motion on a regular basis. We haven't kept the normal deposition of collagen from essentially gluing our muscle sheaths into something stiff enough to impair blood flow to the muscles inside them. That's my theory anyway. And part of my understanding is that this situation is totally reversible.
jz 16y ago
A little late to the party, but I went through a bout with wrist/arm pain for over a year. I did physical therapy for more than 6 months, saw a doctor that said I needed to have surgery on my arms, neither helped (did not have surgery BTW). I then finally saw a myofascial specialist. She identified the cause of my pain from trigger points in my upper back and shoulders. After just one visit and a follow up visit a year later, I've been relatively pian free. She basically taught me how to address the trigger points my self using a tennis ball and 'The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook' http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281369743&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Tr... I'd definitely give this book a try since it clearly identifies which trigger points are causing the referred pain/numbness along with the ways to treat them. Also if you are in the Chicago area, check out http://www.myopain.com/ http://www.myopain.com/. Like I said, they were able to help me with only 2 visits.
joe_the_user 16y ago
Generally very interesting discussion. The point that multiple muscles need to be addressed is important. I've read The Trigger Point Handbook and had some training in a form of trigger point therapy but I hadn't heard that exact discussion of the origin of trigger points - some references would great. Trigger points themselves also can and should be massaged - ideally by someone who knows what they're doing it. I suspect the narrative is simplifying a bit. In my experience, trigger points develop in a variety of situations following a variety of physical, genetic and psychological factors. I stretch at least daily and I'm probably more limber than 90% of people but I can certain develop trigger points after some intense exercise - stretching isn't necessarily enough.

AgentConundrum 16y ago

All of the muscles need to considered and massaged in a systematic way. I wish I had realized this years ago. I developed RSI symptoms, or at least they became severe enough that I took note of them, about two months ago. I did a lot of research after that and ended up booking my first ever massage. When the therapist started working on my forearms, she explained that I was very tight, and she wasn't surprised it was causing me pain. Oddly, my left arm ended up being the worse off of the two. After the massage, I felt great and could type relatively normally again without pain. She also told me that my neck muscles were essentially made of stone, and asked me if I regularly got headaches (I did). I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't underestimate the value of regular massages. It would probably cost around $1k/year to go once a month, but I think it's worth it to keep yourself at the top of your game. Therapeutic massage is often used to manage chronic pain, so I see no reason why it couldn't also be used to prevent it (or cure it if you're in the early stages).

stretchwithme 16y ago
Massage addresses one piece of the puzzle and to me is primarily a coping mechanism. It does not necessarily addresses the underlying problem. It depends on the therapist; some are really good and some approaches work much better than others. But this problem is clearly not addressed properly for most people. Many suffer for years with it and a quick trip to a nursing home will confirm that.
- AgentConundrum 16y ago
  I didn't mean to imply that massage, and only massage, would rid you of pain permanently. You need to take good care of yourself in general in order to stay healthy - eat right, sleep well, keep yourself hydrated, and sit/work comfortably. It just seems to me that a lot of programmers already take care of some of these items - the fact that I've even heard of Herman Miller chairs is evidence that at least some programmers take these things seriously - but RSI is still a huge concern in the industry. I think if you're already sitting right and taking care of yourself, you could still be slowly damaging yourself because you're still locked in a static position for large portions of the day. Your muscles get used to working together as a single muscle, and they start locking together and essentially becoming that single muscle. Massage helps relieve muscles in spasm, and deeper massages will help break the "supermuscles" apart so they act individually again. RSI is an issue every programmer (or any other person sitting at a computer all day) needs to be aware of, and the more preventions and cures we can throw at it, the longer we'll be able to stay healthy and productive.
  - stretchwithme 16y ago
    sorry, didn't mean to say you implied. just reiterating something. Sitting all day is just an aggravating cause, not the underlying cause. A muscle gets stiff under a light load only when circulation is impaired. A muscle with good circulation will not get stiff. So it isn't that we sit for long periods. Its that we haven't fully exercised our full range of motion on a regular basis. We haven't kept the normal deposition of collagen from essentially gluing our muscle sheaths into something stiff enough to impair blood flow to the muscles inside them. That's my theory anyway. And part of my understanding is that this situation is totally reversible.

jz 16y ago

A little late to the party, but I went through a bout with wrist/arm pain for over a year. I did physical therapy for more than 6 months, saw a doctor that said I needed to have surgery on my arms, neither helped (did not have surgery BTW). I then finally saw a myofascial specialist. She identified the cause of my pain from trigger points in my upper back and shoulders. After just one visit and a follow up visit a year later, I've been relatively pian free. She basically taught me how to address the trigger points my self using a tennis ball and 'The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook' http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281369743&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Tr... I'd definitely give this book a try since it clearly identifies which trigger points are causing the referred pain/numbness along with the ways to treat them. Also if you are in the Chicago area, check out http://www.myopain.com/ http://www.myopain.com/. Like I said, they were able to help me with only 2 visits.

joe_the_user 16y ago

Generally very interesting discussion. The point that multiple muscles need to be addressed is important. I've read The Trigger Point Handbook and had some training in a form of trigger point therapy but I hadn't heard that exact discussion of the origin of trigger points - some references would great. Trigger points themselves also can and should be massaged - ideally by someone who knows what they're doing it. I suspect the narrative is simplifying a bit. In my experience, trigger points develop in a variety of situations following a variety of physical, genetic and psychological factors. I stretch at least daily and I'm probably more limber than 90% of people but I can certain develop trigger points after some intense exercise - stretching isn't necessarily enough.