Tension, Safety, and the Nervous System

Tension

Muscle contraction and relaxation

As a topic this is really complicated, with calcium ions, ATP, tropomyosin and all sorts of other fancy words that don't help us in a practical sense.

But essentially, there are times when a muscle may contract, and then it may hold that tension and "forget" to let go.

We have all felt it.

Maybe it was a cramp, a pulled muscle, an ongoing ache that wouldn't go away for weeks or months.

Reducing this tension is a large part of my injury management work.

More often than not I explain it to clients as I'm reminding the nervous system that it is safe and capable, that it can allow these muscles to relax.

I've no idea if that's right or not, it's what I call a "nice lie"

A "white lie"

It's a story that is plausible enough for a person to understand and lean into without any risk of harm.

It doesn't fall into the nocebo (opposite of placebo) type language that the internet is full of and even used by a lot of (not all) medical professionals.

The truth is, we don't really and honestly know why the body will hold tension in some muscles more than others.

Vladimir Janda back in the 60's talked about Tonic and Phasic muscles, giving us the Upper and Lower Crossed Syndromes, all of which research has since told us is incorrect

But in practice, is still a model that helps a lot of people (not by calling it a "syndrome" that makes it nocebic)

We have manual therapies telling us we can "release" a muscle, what "release" actually means, no one knows, it probably is just allowing the nervous system to tone down and the muscle to relax.

We currently have a slew of internet experts telling us it's the "missing 20lbs" of fascia in the body that is causing the pain.

But as we do not have a single unifying theory.

And I'm OK with that.

And I'm OK with telling my clients that we do not actually know, we have stories, narratives, but very few certainties.

My favourite story is to talk about safety and security. I'm a martial arts dude, an former bouncer with a load of training from the security field, so these words work for me.

When we talk about muscles holding tight to provide safety, then we can view the tension as a protective mechanism rather than a problem.

We can look through the lens of reducing the need for protection, for threat management, rather than simply trying to convince the muscle.

One thing we are clear on is how muscles respond to the nervous system, usually subconsciously, so that's where I like to try and work.

And what is one of the best ways to manage the nervous system and to down regulate that system towards parasympathetic?

Breath. Long exhales, how long? So long as they take more time than the inhale, you're on the right lines.

But that's not all.

Easy movement based stretching.

Hot showers

Hot water bottles

Massage (self or otherwise)

Laughing

Spending time in nature

Novel movement

Chi Gung

Meditations / Non Sleep Deep Rest

And more.

The commonality?

Safety.

And fun.

It's hard to have fun if you don't feel safe.

Training to develop attributes (strength/mobility/endurance etc) requires pushing towards limits, challenging safety to stimulate adaptation

Allowing the body recover, repair, make the adaptations, this is retreating into safety. Resting, laughing, gently moving.

It's not "Go Hard or Go Home"

It's "Go Hard, Then Go Home"

Up regulate to get shit done

Down regulate to recover and repair so you can get more shit done next time.

Simple

Not Easy