Introduction
Almost everyone has probably had muscle pain at some time or another. That comes once from the fact that one has over 650 muscles in the body, from which in principle naturally everyone can hurt. In addition, “muscle pain” (medical term: myalgia) is not only caused by pathological processes that actually take place in the muscle itself, but also by diseases of the joints, nerves, bones and in the context of various underlying diseases. Most muscle pains are relatively harmless, apart from the individual level of suffering, no great cause for concern and easy to treat. These common forms include, for example, muscle aches, muscle cramps, tension or pain following injuries to the musculature, as is often the case in sports.
Causes of muscle pain
Muscle pain, also known as myalgia in medical terminology, can have many different causes and occur in different forms. Muscle pain is usually transient and comparatively harmless, but some can indicate serious illness. Muscle pain, especially permanent pain, should therefore be clarified medically.
Possible causes of muscle pain include muscle tension due to poor posture or lack of exercise or the so-called “muscle ache” after overexertion. Muscle injuries such as pulled muscles, torn muscle fibres or bruises as a result of sports accidents can also trigger muscle pain. Painful cramps, on the other hand, can indicate a lack of nutrients.
Infections such as a simple flu-like infection can also be the cause of whole-body muscle pain. Serious causes of muscle pain include degenerative muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy or myotonia. Some rheumatic diseases can be associated with muscle pain, as can diseases of the nervous system.
Hormonal disorders can also lead to muscle pain. In addition, some drugs can also cause muscle pain, especially the so-called statins (e.g. simvastatin), which are used to treat high blood lipid levels. Penicillins (certain antibiotics), the anti-Parkinsonian drug levodopa, cardiovascular drugs and other drugs can also cause muscle pain as a side effect.
Substances such as alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin or methadone can also lead to so-called toxic myopathies. In addition, diseases of the central nervous system can trigger muscle pain. These include multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Muscle pain can therefore be the symptom of various diseases and should therefore be clarified. Muscle ache occurs one or two days after unusual or massive physical exertion, especially if there has been a long period without physical activity before. If the muscle is overstrained, the smallest tears in the muscle fibre occur, which are not serious, but can be very painful.
After another one or two days, the muscle ache usually subsides without any treatment. Muscle cramps can basically occur in any muscle, but are by far the most common in the calf muscles or the foot lifter muscles (at the front of the shin). The cramps are caused by an unbalanced metabolism in the muscles concerned, usually due to a lack of magnesium.
The pain here usually occurs very suddenly and is accompanied by a hardening and contraction of the corresponding muscle. Sometimes cramps are triggered by physical strain, but classically they tend to develop at night. In the case of a muscle cramp, it is usually enough to tense the affected muscle in order to get rid of it.
In the case of a calf cramp, for example, you should get up and walk a few steps. As a preventive measure, you can ensure a sufficient supply of magnesium. Chronic acidosis of the body can cause various complaints.
Muscle pain and muscle cramps are possible symptoms of acidosis. The altered pH-value reduces the absorption of nutrients from the blood into the muscles. As a result, the muscles lack important minerals for their function such as calcium and magnesium.
Deacidification of the body can be useful to eliminate the muscle pain caused by hyperacidity. Muscle tensions (myogeloses) are also known as muscle hard tension.This is due to the fact that when muscle tension occurs, the affected muscle or muscle group has increased muscle tension and therefore becomes shorter and very hard. This phenomenon can usually be felt as a knot and cannot be completely released even when massaging.
There are various reasons for muscle tension. First of all, there is a lack of movement and incorrect posture. This causes pain in the back muscles in particular, which can sometimes extend to the head or arm.
Other triggers for muscle tension are injuries, stress, incorrect movements, insufficient warm-up before sports activities or an imbalance between muscle groups that work antagonistically. Muscle injuries include contusions, strains and torn or torn muscle fibers.
- A contusion is caused by a short, violent external force, for example a blow, impact or fall.
The pain is acute and sometimes severe. In most cases it is accompanied by a bruise at the corresponding site. Fortunately, bruises almost always heal within a short period of time without treatment and without complications.
- Strained muscles are practically the preliminary stage of a torn muscle fibre.
A pulled muscle is caused by an overstretching of the musculature, for example when a muscle is overstretched by a sudden jerky movement. This is typically the case with starting and stopping movements, as they occur particularly in sports such as soccer, badminton or tennis. The pain is usually short and crampy.
If it persists longer, it must be adapted to a
- Muscle fiber rupture, in which the muscles were not only overstretched and thus irritated, but stretched to such an extent that some muscle fibers were actually torn off.
- If a muscle tears, the entire muscle tears apart. These are worse clinical pictures and should be treated by a doctor.
Muscle inflammation can be caused by different factors. Some viruses, such as coxsackie viruses or echoviruses, bacteria (for example borrelia) and parasites can be triggers for muscle inflammation.
Sometimes, however, it is not possible to isolate germs when an inflammation is present. Then either an autoimmune disease (i.e. a disease in which the own immune system turns against the muscles, for example in dermatomyositis) or a disease from the rheumatic form (for example polymyalgia rheumatica) comes into question. Sometimes muscle inflammations are also detected in vascular diseases (vasculitides).
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