What’s Causing My Pain?
Faulty biomechanics of the spine are due to a build up of tension in the supporting muscles and connective tissue, due to an increase in load to the spine. This is the case with trauma to the spine and repetitive postural and occupational stress. Typical traumas would be a whiplash injury to the neck, falling on an outstretched hand or falling onto the back or bottom. Postural stress can be due to sitting at a computer for many hours or manual handling heavy loads.
Emotional stress, depression and anxiety also cause a build up of tension in the muscles and connective tissue. They also cause the release of the steroid hormone cortisol which suppresses the bodies immune response and weakens the body and it’s systems. The muscle and skeletal system can be significantly weakened.
As tension builds in the muscles and connective tissue, micro tearing occurs which leads to bleeding and inflamation. Over time these tissues lose their ability to contract and their ability to relax develop scar tissue. This causes the tissues to become weak, stiff and very painful. Over time as the tissues become more stressed they develop what are called neuromyofascial trigger points. These are hyper-contracted bands of muscle and connective tissue, interwoven with hyper-sensitised pain receptors. Lets call them trigger points for short. These trigger points are responsible for much of the muscle and skeletal pain, stiffness and weakness, suffered. Overtime they lead to faulty movement patterns in the joints and degenerative changes in the joints. What is termed wear and tear or osteoarthritis.
