PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH MUSCLE IMBALANCE.
As
a general rule, I have found that the people who suffer from the worst pain
and recurring injury problems caused by muscle imbalances are those who exercise
the most but don't support that exercise with the
right nutrition . Especially those who have hyper mobile joints that can
be put out of place more easily when put under pressure, people genetically
predisposed to the hyper mobility or from constant long term stretching.
It is important to realise that everyone has muscle imbalances but the further
your body gets from being strong and supple the more likely you are to experience
pain from them.
As you have heard, I am not a fan of stretching because stretching changes the delicate relationship between the ligaments and muscles as they combine to provide strength and support for the joints. The pressure from stretching invariably ends up in the joint stretching the ligament and connective tissue rather than the muscle so it might make you feel supple but in the joint rather than restoring length and function to the muscle.
Stretching the ligaments is not a good idea because they stay stretched resulting in the joint becoming looser, less strong and stable and thereby more susceptible to injury. This weaker joint that is put under pressure, overloads the muscles that are supporting it causing them to tighten to compensate. So in reality stretching can end up causing tighter muscles, the very thing you stretch for in the first place.
I much prefer to see warm ups for sports involve exercises that oxygenate the body, get the blood circulation going and slowly take the muscles through a full range of movement.
From a therapist's perspective, a person that stretches a lot over a long period of time has a very loose feel to their joints and a contracted belly of the muscles.
(I cover this in much more detail in the self treatment program .)
Stretching will do nothing to correct muscle imbalances rather it forces the body to compensate for them which can in some cases help starve off pain for a short time but eventually leads to worse pain that is more deep seated and chronic
When our body gets 'out of balance' it can have a big influence on the stress that builds up in our soft tissue. This is because muscles work a lot harder to carry the weight of gravity around when it's not centered. Whenever we are sitting or standing, and especially when running around and exercising, carrying a weight that is 'off balance' is a lot more tiring on the muscles than it is when the same weight is 'balanced'.
You can feel the effect of this yourself. Support a weight like a brick with both hands, arms raised above your head, then start to move the weight off centre as you lean it out to one side. You will feel certain muscles have to tighten up to provide more support for the weight as it moves to the side then they relax again as you bring the weight back into the centre. When weight is carried more evenly throughout your whole muscle system it feels lighter.
When our body is out of balance, certain muscles carry more of your weight than they should and become overworked, fatigued and tight and other muscles carry less of the weight than they should and become weak. Such as with a short right leg for example. This results in the muscles on the outside or lateral side of the short leg becoming overworked, tighter and stronger and the muscles on the inside or medial side of the leg becoming under utilised and weaker.
It's a situation that sets up an imbalance and causes a problem that gets diagnosed as 'runner's knee'. In reality it shouldn't be around long enough for it to get a name because if treated correctly by balancing the body and removing the compensations around the knee it clears up very quickly.
An imbalance in the body is visible to the trained eye, because it changes the shape, size and tension level in the muscles and can cause the body to look twisted in some way. ( see below )
BEFORE AFTER
The two photographs above show the same patient before and after a one hour SLM treatment. He was complaining of pain in his lower back on the right hand side.
In the BEFORE picture, you can see his hip and head drops down a bit on the left side and the muscles in his back appear bunched up on the right side. His whole back looks tight and heavy. In the AFTER photo, his whole back looks much more balanced and upright and his pelvis appears more level, putting less stress on his lower vertebrae. When he came in he had only been in pain for a couple of days and this one treatment was enough to take away the pain.
..... continues
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