What causes muscle knots?

What are Muscle Knots? How did I get these Muscles Knots?  Why do they hurt so much? and how do I get rid of Muscle Knots?    TheraStrap!

If you look at the anatomy of a muscle fiber in the picture you can see the white connective tissue that surrounds each muscle fiber. you can also see the bigger white bands of white connective tissue that surround individual bundles of muscle fibers and then even bigger sections of connective tissue that surround groups of these muscle bundles. Eventually the entire muscle is surrounded by connective tissue. These connective tissues are made of collagen fibers and extend from one end of the muscle to the other. They are responsible for holding the muscles together and for the contraction of the muscle making it shorter, in effect causing joint movement. These fibers have a striated pattern making them pliable and flexible.

Everyday we put our bodies though activities that involve multiple joints and multiple muscles that cause micro tearing to these connective tissues.  The tearing triggers the inflammatory response by our immune system. Inflammation causes swelling, pain and the process of healing. unfortunately the healing process cause the new collagen fibers to have a cross hatched pattern instead of the striated pattern.  This cross hatched pattern of collagen fibers is referred to as scar tissue.

When scar tissue forms inside the muscle we often refer to it as knots or trigger points. These knots hold a section of the muscle in a spasm state 24/7 so it is like that part of the muscle is working out all day and all night. It can’t relax even when you are asleep.  This spasm state repeatedly produces lactic acid which causes that constant burning achy pain that we feel.

People try all kinds of therapy to get rid of muscle knots. The most common is massage, weight training, and injections. The truth is that only stretching will rehab these cross hatched fibers back into flexible striated fibers. TheraStrap makes that possible.