They’re painful. They’re sneaky. And they’re apt to strike when you least expect it, like when you’re simply reaching for a glass on the top shelf or otherwise engaging in normal movement throughout your day.
Instead of easily completing the movement or task, your back can instead wrench in pain, a pain so excruciating you can barely move.
The cause behind the agony can be those sneaky things called muscle spasms, and we here at Sandstone Chiropractic know them quite well. In fact, muscles spasms are a common reason people come to us for help.
Muscle Spasms Explained
Even though a muscle spasm may be triggered by reaching for the top shelf or other ordinary movement, it’s not the movement that strained the muscle. Muscle spasms occur on muscles that are already strained. The strain can have originated from any repetitive movement or habit, such as heavy lifting, swinging a baseball bat or chronic poor posture from sitting in front of a computer.
When a muscle is already strained, a single, sudden movement can cause it to spasm. When spasms occur, all the muscle fibers contract simultaneously. This contraction cuts off blood supply, causing even more muscle pain and an even deeper contraction of the muscle.
Recommended Action
Muscle spasms can take several weeks to subside, although you can take action to assist with the healing process:
- Rest
- Apply ice, heat or massage therapy to help with pain relief
- Increase your intake of magnesium, calcium and water, as the lack of these three elements is thought provoke muscle spasms
- Seek chiropractic care
We’ve helped many people with muscle spasms, by both alleviating the cause of an existing muscle spasm and preventing one from occurring in the first place. Proper nerve function is essential to proper muscle function, and our chiropractic adjustments can locate and correct areas of the spine where there is nerve dysfunction.
Call Sandstone or schedule your comprehensive exam with x-rays online.
