Tight muscles… it’s not always from exercise!

After spending decades training, racing, getting injured, recovering, and trying just about every way possible to deal with sore and tight muscles, I've learned one lesson that I wish I'd understood much earlier.

Sometimes the tight muscle isn't actually the problem.

It's the body's way of telling you that something else isn't quite right.

I used to deal with tight muscles in a very simple way. If something was tight, I'd stretch it. If that didn't work, I'd foam roll it. If it was still tight, I'd get a massage.

Problem solved. Or so I thought.

The problem was that the same muscles would often tighten up again a few days later.

At the time, I thought I just needed to stretch more or work harder on the problem area. Looking back, I was often treating the symptom rather than asking why it was happening in the first place.

Your muscles might actually be doing their job

One way I like to think about this is to imagine your skeleton as the frame of a building and your muscles as the cables holding everything stable.

If the structure isn't sitting quite right, some of those cables have to work harder than others to keep everything balanced.

Your muscles can do exactly the same thing.

If one part of your body isn't moving or contributing properly, another muscle may have to pick up the slack. It keeps doing its job, day after day, until eventually you notice that it's always tight.

That's why I don't automatically think a tight muscle is a bad muscle.

It may simply be an overworked muscle.

I've seen this quite often with people who spend most of their day sitting at a desk. They come in complaining about tight hips, a tight lower back or tight hamstrings. They stretch these areas regularly, but the problem keeps returning.

Sometimes the issue isn't that they aren't stretching enough.

It's that their body has become accustomed to moving and sitting in a particular way.

There's a short YouTube video called "Stop Squeezing Your Glutes To Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt, Do This Instead" that got me thinking about this subject.

If you've ever searched online for information about anterior pelvic tilt, you've probably come across the advice to squeeze your glutes more.

The idea makes sense on the surface. Strengthen the glutes and they'll help pull the pelvis into a better position.

But there's a difference between being able to squeeze a muscle and actually using it properly when you move.

You can spend all day consciously squeezing your glutes and still have the same movement habits.

In fact, constantly gripping your glutes can sometimes create even more tension around the hips and pelvis.

The body is a little more complicated than simply having one weak muscle that needs to be strengthened.

You need to look at how everything is working together.

How well do your hips move?

Are your core and glutes working together?

Are you relying too much on your lower back?

How do you stand, walk, squat or run?

Have you been sitting for eight hours a day for the last 10 years?

And perhaps most importantly, have you changed the way you move because of an old injury?

These things can all influence how your muscles behave.

What I've learned about sports massage

This is one of the reasons I believe sports massage can be useful, but I don't see it as the answer to everything.

At Bangkok Sports Massage, we see plenty of people who come in with the same tight area repeatedly.

They'll say, "my hip flexor is always tight," or "my lower back keeps getting tight."

Of course, we can work on the tight muscles. That's part of what we do.

But I also think it's important to ask why that muscle keeps getting tight.

If there is an underlying movement problem, an old injury, or a strength or mobility issue, massage alone isn't going to permanently change that.

What massage can do is help manage the tightness while you work on the underlying problem.

If a muscle has been tense for a long time, getting it to relax can make movement feel easier. It can also make it more comfortable to do the exercises your physiotherapist or trainer has given you.

That's where I see massage fitting into the bigger picture.

Physiotherapy can help identify and address movement problems.

Strength and mobility work can help your body become stronger and move better.

Sports massage can help manage the tightness and discomfort along the way.

They can all have a role.

Don't just ask, "How do I loosen this muscle?"

The next time you have a muscle that keeps getting tight in exactly the same place, try asking a different question.

Instead of just asking, "How do I loosen it?"

Ask, "Why does it keep getting tight?"

Sometimes the answer will be very simple.

Maybe you trained too hard.

Maybe you increased your running mileage too quickly.

Maybe you've spent too much time sitting.

Maybe you haven't recovered properly.

But sometimes there is a bigger reason.

The way you move, your posture, an old injury, your strength, your mobility, or the way different parts of your body work together could all be contributing.

And that's why I don't believe there is usually one magic exercise, one stretch, or one massage technique that fixes everything.

The body doesn't really work that way.

After all these years of training and working with people, I've become much more interested in the reason something keeps happening rather than simply trying to make the symptom disappear.

So yes, stretch the tight muscle.

Get a massage if it helps.

Strengthen the weak areas.

Work on your mobility.

But don't forget to ask the most important question.

Why is this muscle getting tight in the first place?

Sometimes the tight muscle isn't your enemy.

It might actually be the part of your body trying hardest to keep you moving.