Ratchets and a Crying Baby: Chronic stretching part 3
This is part 3 of a 4-part series on chronic stretching. Part one discussed chronic stretching as a sign of an underlying dysfunction (root cause) leading to a sense of muscle tension (symptom) that can be temporarily alleviated by stretching. Part two explored the difference between neurogenically short and adaptively short muscles and how each must be addressed differently if true gains are to be made. This post will cover causes and implications of a neurogenically shortened muscle.
Your body contains a special type of nerve called a motor neuron. When a motor neuron sends sufficient messages to a muscle, components within the muscle act like ratchet-straps, causing parts of the muscle (motor units) to shorten (learn more here). As more messages are sent, the number and size of motor units ratcheting tight increases.
One way to increase the number of messages being sent is through conscious control, like flexing your biceps muscle or lifting a glass of… water. The motor neuron can also be subconsciously activated, as when a doctor taps a tendon/ligament in your knee and your foot kicks out without your voluntary input.
Another way to subconsciously activate a nerve is to physically or chemically irritate it. An example of this includes - and I do not recommend this - striking your funny bone (ulnar nerve). This physical irritation to the ulnar nerve causes the nerve to send more messages, often resulting in uncomfortable sensations in the forearm and hand as well as causing some muscles to tighten uncontrollably. One classification of sub-conscious nerve irritation is called facilitation.
Facilitation happens when a nerve is experiencing slight degrees of irritation. This causes it to over-communicate. My pictorially inclined mind imagines a baby crying because of a dirty diaper (chemical irritation) or because of a sibling poking it (physical irritation). Not only does the facilitated nerve over-communicate, but that communication is also disorganized and chaotic. Again, the idea of a baby crying works, but another apt illustration would be static on the radio as opposed to a crystal-clear transmission.
When a motor neuron is facilitated, the muscle receiving the messages gets tight (ratchets), tender (complaining from working too hard), and weak (maximum conscious force output reduced because the nerve has been working on overtime). Again, think of a baby crying - the baby (nerve) is expending all this energy and so doesn’t have as much in it’s reserve, but also the parent(s) are agitated from all the noise (more info here).
In this case, swaddling or rocking the baby may calm it down, but until the diaper is changed, or the sibling leans not to poke, it’s only a matter of time before the baby starts crying again. The same is true in your body. If you have neurogenically shortened muscles, stretching may calm them down by hushing (down-regulating) the nerve, but until the irritant is addressed, it’s only a matter of time before the chaotic and disorganized messages return - and the muscle tension with it.
If you find yourself regularly stretching the same muscles over, and over, and over again, you are likely failing to address the root cause. If you wish to succeed in addressing this chronic irritation, we highly suggest you schedule a FREE Health & Goals Strategy Session.
Also, we encourage you to check out our next blog post in which we will discuss dysfunctionally tight and long muscles, which is often associated with tension in the neck and shoulders that is alleviated - temporarily - by stretching. This is one my favorite problems to address because clients will usually gain the ability to significantly and reliably reduce their pain and tension within 10-20 minutes of their first session.