4 Factors of Muscle and Joint Pain

Whenever we experience the pain, we frequently rely on anti-inflammatory.  It can be helpful to relieve the pain for a while, however, if the cause is not taken care of the problem will occur again.   

There are 4 common issues that lead to noninjury related pain and stiffness, which can lead to injuries.

1. Inactivity

   My definition of inactivity is staying in one position for extended periods of time.  For example, the obvious inactivity is sitting on the chair and driving long distances.  Our body is designed to move.  That is why we have body parts like muscles and joints.  However, when the muscle stays in one position for a long time the muscles will get tight. 

   
   

   When you sit in the chair for too long, you may experience lower back tightness and behind the knee tightness as you stand up.  This is due to hip flexors getting shorter and getting tight while sitting and when standing hip is forced to open.  Some of the hip flexors do attach to the lumbar region of the spine so it does tug on it while being extended causing lower back irritation. 

   
   

   For the knee pain, it is more with calf and hamstring tightness.  When you look at the origin and insertion of the gastrocnemius (part of calf muscles) and hamstring you will see that they both cross over the knee joints in the posterior side.  Therefore, when these two muscles get tight the knee joints (especially femur and tibia) also get closer to each other and start creating friction.  This friction will eventually lead to arthritis in the knee.  This is the same for shoulders, wrists and elbows.

   
   

   From this stiffened muscle condition, imagine what body must go through during athletic performance such as running, basketball, baseball, soccer, skiing, wakeboarding, hiking, resistance training and so on.  It is just a matter of time for the joints and muscles to be inflamed and lead into injury that requires medical attention.

   
   

   If you already have a plan to get back into physical activity, spend 6-8 weeks prior to start moving your body gradually.  Walking for 15-30 minutes along with light resistance training and mobility work will help you condition your body so that the body will be ready for the activities.

   
   

2. High Activity without Recovery

   This is the opposite of the inactivity.  If you are into training on a regular basis, you need to understand that the recovery process is where the body adapts to your training.  Which means, if you are continuously stimulating your body without proper recovery, the body will gradually become exhausted and can lead to muscle stiffness and joint irritation.    

   
   

   If you want to be regular with training (at the gym or sports), give yourself at least 2 days per week of recovery sessions.  This may include low intensity conditioning, stretch and mobility work, and practicing exercise techniques with lighter load and volume. Term proper recovery also includes proper meal plan and sleep schedule.

   
   

3. Overweight

   Having more body weight than the muscles or joints can handle will put unnecessary stress.  Even when you are active, being overweight may lead to muscle stiffness, joint irritation, and place load over the organs such as liver, heart and so forth.

   
   

   When walking, we place 4 times our body weight to heal and 8 times our body weight on our forefoot.  When sitting, we place 2-3 times our body weight pressure to lower back.  Which means the more weight you have the more load you will be placing on those body parts.

   
   

   When I say overweight, I’m not referring to overweight because of muscle mass but because of body fat.  If you have more than 20% of body fat for male and over 25% of body fat for female, you may want to focus on reducing your body fat below those percentage.

   
   

4. Nutrition

   Nutrition can play a significant role in muscle stiffness and pain.  Consuming food and beverages such as cookies, chips, ice cream, sodas, latte, alcoholic beverages, in frequent bases can lead to muscle stiffness and joint pain.

   
   

   Choose whole food as frequently as you can and minimize the consumption of the above type of food and beverages on special occasion, meaning less than once a week.

   
   

Age

Age is not included as one of the factor for muscle and joint pain and stiffness for a reason. Age can be a factor in muscle stiffness and joint irritations, provided that 4 of the factors (1 or more) mentioned earlier are present.  Which means many of the conditions that people are experiencing are not because of the age.  Yes, our body does slow down on recovery and adaptation to the physical stress as we age but that does not mean the body cannot get better.

I usually ask my client if they get cut on forearm and bleed, does the wound heal?  Majority of the time the answer is yes.  If the answer is yes, the body can recover and the body can adapt despite their age. Which also means that age should not be a limiting factor for you to get healthier and active.

Stop using age as reason for your pain and stiffness and work on improve the 4 factors mentioned above for 8-12 weeks and see what happens.

Move!

To minimize the discomfort of muscle and joint pain, you can take medication to minimize the symptoms, however, moving such as walking, jogging, stretching, resistance training can all help reduce the stiffness of muscles and joints in long term. If you don't know what to do, start with 20-40 minutes of walking with longer stride for 4-5 days per week.

As mentioned earlier, our body is designed to move. Yet, I do realize many of the working environment requires you to stay in one position for extended period of time. If possible, try to move every 2 hours for 5-10 minutes to walk around and stretch. Not only it helps with your muscle and joint stiffness, it may help you organize your thoughts.

Keep moving!

Kota Shimada