Definition – What is muscle hardening?
A muscle hardening is a permanent tension of a certain muscle group or an individual muscle. The hardening can be acute and last only a few minutes to hours, but often it becomes chronic and lasts for several days to weeks or even months. The most common symptom of muscle hardening is pain in the affected area, but it can also spread to surrounding areas. For general information about muscle pain and what it can mean, please read the following article: Muscle pain – What you should consider!
Causes of muscle hardening
The causes of muscle hardening are manifold. They most frequently occur on the back, where poor posture is the most common cause. In particular, a frequently sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise lead to misregulation of the muscles and thus cause permanent tension.
Muscle hardening in the arms and legs usually occurs due to acute overloading. For example, muscle hardening in the legs is common in running. They mainly occur when the person concerned does not warm up sufficiently.
As a result, the muscles are not yet well supplied with blood, which means that they do not have sufficient nutrients available during a heavy load. Usually this step is enough to tense the muscles, but then the substances are missing to release this tension and the muscle remains tense. A lack of nutrients and poor electrolyte balance can also be the reason for muscle hardening.
In this case the muscle lacks the substances that could relieve the tension. Such a nutrient deficiency can also be caused locally by circulatory disorders. Then the nutrients do exist in the body, but they do not reach the affected muscles.
Serious nerve damage is another reason for muscle hardening. The muscles are permanently instructed to tense up.
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Associated symptoms of muscle hardening
Typically, muscle hardening is characterized by pain in the area of the affected muscle. Surrounding areas can also tense up reflexively so that the pain can spread. This is particularly common in the back.
The back can also be affected if the hardening originally started in the thigh and from there affected the hip and then the back. In the case of muscle hardening, it is also noticeable that the affected muscle group is virtually rock hard when pressure is applied. In most cases, the hardening is also accompanied by functional limitations such as reduced mobility.
If, for example, circulatory disorders are the reason for the hardening, a lack of blood circulation in the skin can be noticeable due to paleness. Nerve damage can become noticeable in areas without sensation. The numbness of an area of skin can be caused by numerous factors. The following article will show you which other reasons could be present in addition to a muscle weakness: Deafness – These diseases can be present
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