Can you relate?

One of the ways tissues are feed and drained is by what has been called the “muscle pump.” The contraction of a muscle helps to move the blood and lymph out of that muscle, and when it relaxes new blood flows in. Also, the harder the muscle works and pumps the faster the blood is expelled and the more that will be drawn in to feed that muscle. 

The opposite is also true. The less a muscle works the lower the rate of blood flow through that tissue. If almost no movement occurs for hours the tissue barely gets enough to sustain its health. If you add on top of that a general tension or high tone in the muscle, well then even less gets in and little gets out or recycled. Now imagine the upper back and neck muscles of someone sitting at a computer for hours. They need to be contracting those muscle to hold themselves up-right, but they never really pump – they do not relax and contract rhythmically – they just hold and hold still, choking the tissue causing it to slowly become depleted of energy and nutrients. 

Many of the waste products from cells if left too long in the tissue become “toxic.” They become irritants to the cells around them, interfering with proper cell function. They will also call for an inflammatory response. Further they break down into substances that can directly irritate nerve endings, creating pain and discomfort. 

Now, muscles are a bit dumb. If irritated they tend to just tighten up. When this occurs you can see how everything just goes from bad to worse. The person then feels all of this poor tissue health as aches and pains accompanied by tension and stiffness.