Did you know whether it is a new injury, or a long history of chronic pain, that both are often accompanied by what is known as the pain-spasm-pain cycle. The word spasm here can be a bit misleading. Sometimes it is a true severe muscle spasm, however mostly pain is associated with an increase in muscle tone and muscle tension. This pain-tension-pain loop can have long-term consequences and can result in more strain and break down.
It is sometimes taught that the brain and nervous system are triggered by pain to splint and protect the area causing the neighboring muscles to tighten and guard the injury. Pain nerve signals known as type III and IV afferents increase firing rates to the gamma motor neurons which then induces increased tension in the spindle. This mechanoreceptor activity triggers firing of the Ia and II afferents with an increase in firing of the alpha motor neurons. This results in increased extrafusal fiber tone which increases muscle tension. The increased tension then causes irritation and metabolites and the loop continues. SAY WHAT?
Listen, the technical stuff does not matter, except to serve as an explanation of why pain lingers and how it can even can lead to further break down. Long term increase in muscle tone will overload the tendons and impair circulation which can lead to chronic tendonitis and soft tissue strains. Additionally, this increased neuro-muscular tightness limits the joints proper mobility and due to Wolff’s law this can result in joint degeneration.
What it means for us is that we need to find pain free ways to move the body and release the tension to stop the neural loop.
VCPT will combine advanced manual therapy with personalized exercise programs to give you pain free movement. Your home healing program will start with basic non-weight bearing movements designed to restore the mechanoreceptor permissions. Each movement or exercise is taught to be performed only with in a pain free range. (This is the opposite of no pain, no gain. Throw that theory out the door!)
In addition, most of the painful joints in our body are synovial fluid joints. Synovial fluid joints are dependent on movement for their health, not blood supply. This means that the joint nutrition and cellular responses depend on the joints moving properly in all three planes!
When the joint is limited in movement, then we have problems in its health…Think of the wizard of Oz, with the Tin Man unable to move and calling for his oil can. VCPT will be your oil can!
Hands-on stretching, massage and joint mobilizations combined with feel good stretches will free your joints in all 3 planes. By creating strategic pain free movements to lubricate joints we bathe the joints in synovial fluid, which is the oil can, and we also clear the joints of metabolites which are the waste products of injury. And guess what? These very metabolites are known to trigger the pain-tension-pain loop described above. So, this powerful combination will put an end to the vicious loop.
Let VCPT design your perfect program to address all the factors in pain and stop the injury cycle. Together we will create the right home routine to lubricate joints, decrease inflammation, break the pain-spasm-pain loop and restore the ideal tissue tension and mobility. Call now to get moving towards a pain free life.
