What are muscle hardenings in the back?
Muscle hardenings are nothing more than tense muscle fibers. In other words, hardened muscles are contracted muscles, with the difference that the muscle is unintentionally tensed. They are usually caused by overstrain.
If there is no supply of energy during an extraordinary strain, the muscle lacks the substrate for active relaxation of its fibers. The consequence is that the muscle remains tense. They are therefore also noticeable as a hardened structure and are sometimes even visible as a bulge.
Causes of muscle hardening
The causes of muscle hardening can be many and varied, the most common trigger being physical overuse of a muscle. It does not matter whether the person affected has done sports or has just taken up an unusual posture for a longer period of time. The cause of muscle hardening is almost always a previously unknown strain.
If the body cannot transport enough oxygen and energy via the vessels to the muscle, the muscle tires metaphorically speaking and can no longer perform its required work. The energy substrate for the relaxation of the muscle fibers can no longer reach its point of action and the muscle freezes in its tension. If a resting period follows, a successive increase in blood circulation can loosen the hardening again.
Similar to the principle of irrigation, however, it takes time until all layers of the muscle are replenished. Very rarely, the cause of muscle hardening is a genetic defect, such as in the clinical picture of fibromyalgia or other neuromuscular diseases. In this case, clarification by a specialist is required. Symptomatically, however, these rare clinical pictures express themselves through chronic pain and a persistence of multiple muscle hardenings despite an initially adequate therapy.
Accompanying symptoms of muscle hardening in the back
The most common accompanying symptom of muscle hardening is pain. Pain is often motion-dependent and can have a sharp to dull pain character depending on the muscle affected. However, functional limitations are also not uncommon with hardened muscles.
They are caused by the fact that the movement of a joint can no longer be carried out as usual due to muscle hardening. If a muscle is shortened due to hardening, it is possible that it blocks an oppositely functioning muscle (e.g. extensor and flexor). The result is a reduced range of motion.
Here, however, it depends entirely on the affected muscle and the degree of hardening. If muscle hardenings are found in the neck and shoulder area, headaches are also quite common. They can be explained by the irritation of sensitive nerve endings due to the hardening.
The term “myogelosis” is a medical term and stands for nothing more than hardened muscles. With the help of this nomenclature, a muscle hardening can be coded in the diagnostic catalog of a practice and the treatment can be invoiced accordingly. For the layman, the use of this term has no further meaning.
However, if a referral to a specialist is necessary, the latter will know from the technical term that it is an unspecific, local hardening of one or more muscles. Almost every hardening of a muscle causes pain. If these are located in the back, back pain is not surprising.
Pain that occurs after sitting for a long time – i.e. phases of minimal movement – is typical of hardened back muscles. If the tension of the muscles is not varied for a longer period of time, specific muscle groups are overstrained by the strain and remain tense. Affected persons notice this mainly in an unpleasant pulling in the neck or cross area.
The reason for the typical localization of the pain can be explained anatomically. The supporting muscles of the spinal column are located directly next to the spinal column and bear the greatest weight in the neck and lower back due to the physiological curvature of the spinal column. If this musculature is in an unchanged state for a long time, it hardens and those affected notice that it hurts when there are small changes in the position of the spinal column. In contrast to herniated disks, however, affected persons cannot notice neurological deficits such as tingling, paralysis or loss of sensitivity.The symptoms are limited to pain with slight restrictions in movement.
