The best advice I ever heard for a muscle spasm
Yup…… you definitely had this one.
Hey all!
This week I am going to be talking about the best advice I ever heard for a muscle spasm. The last in the series.
If you have ever had pain before, I am certain that you have experienced this once or many times.
That intense sharp pain that happens when it’s bad or the constant tension that you feel when it is a good day.
I am sure many of you had noticed how long these can last. Hours or days when it is bad and months when it’s mild but manageable.
I hope that you went to get help the first time it was bad as I know how disabling it can be when it is. When it is that bad often no pain killer or muscle relaxant medication seems to do anything to make it feel better.
What causes a muscle spasm you ask?
Muscle spasms happen in response to an injury. They happen as you get injured and help prevent a joint from excessively moving due to the injury. This is known as a protective muscle spasm. As you heal these often relax and release to where they no longer bother you.
What often happens with a muscle spasm is that they turn into a myofascial trigger point and this does not get better as the injury heals. These are the main cause of muscle spasms that persist long after the injury has healed.
They tend not to get better on their own by just resting and hoping they heal.
What should you do if you think your pain is caused by a muscle spasm?
The best advice I ever heard for a muscle spasm is two things heat and stretching.
Applying heat to the area does two things. It feels good and it relaxes the structures around the painful area.
The feels good part is why it seems to get better when you use it. The relaxing part of the structure is what can give you long term relief.
What is the best way to apply heat? A hot water bottle works the best as it can hold a good temperature for longer. I recommend you wrap it in a towel so that it does not burn you when it is hot. As the hot water bottle cools then unwrap it from the towel and keep applying it. You can wrap it so that there are many layers so as it cools you just remove one layer at a time. It lasts longer and is more comfortable that way.
IF you can rather get in the bath than using the hot water bottle. I think it works better at applying more consistent comfortable heat for longer.
NB: more heat is not better here. It should be comfortable and feel good. So hot it burns is bad!
The next part of the advice is the stretches.
When muscles spasms can appear in any muscle in the body, I cannot give you an exhaustive list of which to use and how.
If you want to use the stretches, I recommend downloading my free eBook that contains the ones I recommend.
If you are reading this article and you or someone close to you has a severe, disabling kind of muscle spasm. The best thing you need to do is not try and follow this advice and instead get some professional help.
Many people have come to me to address the severe pain that often involves muscles spasms.
IF you want to be a part of those many people I have helped,
Jason
