Muscle Spasms Mimic Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Cause Repetitve Strain Injury by Zev M. Cohen MD and Julie Donnelly, LMT

Do you suffer from chronic low back pain? Do your knees hurt when you go up

the stairs, and your hands hurt when you try to open a jar? Do you

experience headaches that feel like a bomb going off in your head? Do you

get ringing in your ears? Have you been diagnosed as having carpal tunnel

syndrome?

These conditions can all be the end result of muscle spasms! While it seems

incredible that a simple thing like a spasm can cause so much trouble, it¹s

easy to understand when you take a close look at the body. There are 600

muscles in the body and 206 bones. The only reason that bones move is

because muscles pull on them (unless you have a traumatic accident), and

therein lies the problem. The muscle originates at a stationary point in

the body, it then crosses over a joint and inserts onto another bone. When

a muscle contracts it pulls the insertion point toward the origination

point, and the joint bends. For example, the biceps and triceps are

responsible for bending the elbow. If your arm is straight out and you

contract the biceps muscle the elbow begins to bend. At the same time, in

order for the arm to completely bend, the triceps muscle must fully stretch.

If you then want to straighten your arm again the triceps must contract and

the biceps must fully stretch. If you try this, slowly, with your own arm

you will understand the concept easily.

If, for example, the triceps muscle is contracted and shortened by a spasm,

you will only be able to bend your arm as far as the triceps will stretch.

Many people then think that they have a problem with the elbow, while the

problem is actually less serious than it appears.

We teach our clients an analogy that is very helpful in understanding the

root of the muscle spasm situation. Imagine a young child standing between

a deep well filled with water, and a big rain barrel. The child has an

eyedropper and is going from the well to the rain barrel putting tiny

amounts on water into the barrel, many times back and forth for hours

every day. Then, about 40 years later, the rain barrel overflows. The

child (who is now an adult) says "I don¹t understand, I¹ve been doing this

for years and it¹s never done this before!" Likewise, people say to us:

"I¹ve been doing this (exercise, etc.) for years and it never hurt before, I

must be getting old" No you¹re not getting old, you just never emptied

your "rain barrel" and now its overflowed!

The body is amazing. We have mechanisms for healing that are so incredible

that science still hasn¹t been able to fully understand how they work. Our

bodies mutate very slowly, but life is now changing rapidly. It wasn¹t such

a long time ago, before electricity was discovered, that people would work

very hard all day and then rest when the sun went down, going to bed

early. In the past, when people would rest at the end of the day, the body

would begin its process of removing the lactic acid that is the natural

by-product of muscle action. This is the body¹s method of emptying the rain

barrel. But, when electricity increased the hours in our days, we began to

stretch ourselves by working out in gyms, staying on the computer until late

at night, and even doing fun things like dancing until the wee hours. Our

bodies weren¹t able to keep up with the increased lactic acid production,

and we began to pile up spasms one on top of the other. This continued day

after day, and our muscles started getting tighter and tighter.

This situation leads to the next analogy that we share with our patients.

Remember that muscles originate in one place, cross over the joint and then

insert in another place. Muscles always pull on the insertion point. Now,

Go to Page 2

BIO:

Zev M. Cohen MD, is Medical Director of the Carpal Tunnel Treatment
Center. Dr. Cohen,an expert on carpal tunnel syndrome may be reached at www.aboutcts.com
Julie Donnelly LMT is the Principal Therapist Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center.She has authored "How To Be Pain-less…A Beginner's Guide to the Self Treatment of Muscle Spasms". She may be contacted at julie@aboutcts.com

Some Aditional Articles you may enjoy

PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM FOOD POISONING by Patty Avey

Vitamins and Minerals Good or Bad by Martin Davison

Flu Prevention and the Gym Member by Jon Gestl, CSCS

Weight Loss Diets with Negative Calorie Foods by www.NegativeCalorieFoods.com

Why is America Overweight? by Renee Kennedy

Click a Number to go to an article index page
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39