Logan Steele
Overactive and underactive muscles are a result of muscle imbalances, which can be caused by poor posture, stress, repetitive movement, or injury. Overactive muscles are shortened, tight, and strong, while underactive muscles are lengthened, inhibited, and weak. Correcting these imbalances is crucial to prevent further complications and to ensure efficient human movement and function. This can be achieved through a systematic process of identifying the imbalance, inhibiting the overactive muscles, lengthening shortened muscles, and activating the underactive muscles with strengthening exercises.
How to Inhibit Overactive Muscles
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Cause | Poor posture, stress, repetitive movement, injury, metabolic disorders, vitamin deficiency, excessive caffeine intake, neurogenic disorders |
| Identification | Overactive muscles are shortened, tight, and strong (hypertonic) |
| Correction | Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) using a foam roller or other tools, stretching techniques (PNF, contract/relax, static) |
| Correction | Corrective exercise programs to lengthen overactive muscles and strengthen underactive muscles |
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What You'll Learn
Causes of overactive muscles
Overactive muscles can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
Poor Posture
Poor posture can lead to muscle imbalances, causing some muscles to become overactive and others to become underactive. This can result in altered reciprocal inhibition, synergistic dominance, and eventual injury.
Stress
Stress can contribute to muscle imbalances and overactivity. It can cause muscles to tighten and become shortened and tight, leading to a state of hypertonicity.
Repetitive Movement or Injury
Repetitive movements or injuries can lead to muscle imbalances and overactivity. This can be due to the body finding the path of least resistance during movement, which can cause some muscles to become shortened and tight while others lengthen and weaken.
Sitting for Prolonged Periods
Excessive sitting can impact muscle balance and function, leading to overactive muscles in some areas and underactive muscles in others. Breaking up sedentary time with movement and stretching can help counteract this.
Protective Response
In response to pain or the threat of injury, muscles may tighten to provide protection. However, in some cases, this protective response may persist even when the threat has passed, leading to overactive and tightened muscles.
Spasticity
Spasticity is a condition where muscles stiffen or tighten, resisting stretching and affecting movement, speech, and gait. It is often caused by damage or disruption to the brain and spinal cord areas controlling muscle and stretch reflexes, resulting in imbalanced inhibitory and excitatory signals to the muscles.
Other Factors
Overactive muscles can also be caused by side effects of medication, metabolic disorders, vitamin deficiencies, excessive caffeine intake, or neurogenic disorders.
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Signs and symptoms of overactive muscles
Overactive muscles are shortened, tight, and strong, and they are also called hypertonic. They are caused by muscle imbalances resulting from repetitive movements, poor posture, injury, or stress. Overactive muscles can be identified by specific patterns of dysfunction, such as movement assessments, passive range of motion, and manual muscle testing.
One of the common signs of overactive muscles is the "tug-of-war" effect, where the overactive muscle wins and pulls a limb or body part into an altered, unwanted position. This can be observed in the case of an anterior pelvic tilt, where the hamstrings are overstretched and lengthened but feel tight due to the firing of the Golgi tendon organs and subsequent contraction. Another example is during a squat assessment, where the adductors are suspected to be overactive if the person's knees cave in.
Additionally, overactive muscles can cause decreased neural drive to their antagonist muscles, leading to synergistic dominance. For instance, tight hip flexors can inhibit the function of the gluteus maximus, causing the hamstrings to take over as synergists.
To restore proper length-tension relationships, overactive muscles should be inhibited and lengthened, while underactive muscles should be strengthened. This can be achieved through self-myofascial release (SMR) techniques, stretching, and targeted exercises.
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Corrective exercises
The NASM Corrective Exercise Continuum is a four-step process that involves:
- Inhibiting overactive muscles with self-myofascial release (SMR): This can be done using a foam roller, lacrosse ball, softball, or other tools to release tension and break up adhesions in the fascia.
- Lengthening shortened muscles: Stretching techniques such as PNF, contract/relax, and static stretches can help lengthen overactive, shortened muscles.
- Activating and strengthening underactive muscles: Isolated exercises that target specific weakened and elongated muscles can help activate and strengthen them.
- Integrating back into total body movement patterns: Once the previous steps have been completed, the focus shifts to reintegrating the corrected muscles into total body movements to restore proper length-tension relationships.
For example, in the case of an anterior pelvic tilt, the hip flexors are often overactive and shortened, so they would need to be foam rolled and statically stretched. The hamstrings, while also overactive, are not shortened, so they can be foam rolled but not stretched. To address the underactive gluteus maximus and core stabilizers, exercises such as floor bridges and planks can be incorporated.
Another common issue is overactive hip flexors, which can be caused by spending long hours in a seated position. Corrective exercises for this issue would involve inhibiting and lengthening the overactive hip flexors and activating the underactive hip extensors (gluteus maximus) and intrinsic core stabilizers through isolated strengthening and integrated movements.
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Muscle imbalances
To identify muscle imbalances, methods such as biometric testing, which uses a machine to measure muscular contractions, can be employed. Additionally, athletes may use photos taken from various angles to help identify size and strength imbalances. Once an imbalance is identified, it can be addressed through targeted exercises, such as flexibility exercises to enhance the range of motion, or by working with a trainer or physical therapist.
Correcting muscle imbalances is crucial to prevent physical issues and instability, as well as to reduce the risk of injuries. The corrective process involves inhibiting and lengthening overactive muscles, then activating and strengthening underactive muscles to restore proper length-tension relationships. This can be achieved through techniques like Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) and specific stretching techniques for overactive muscles, followed by isolated exercises for the underactive muscles.
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Overactive muscles and training programs
Overactive and underactive muscles are a result of muscle imbalances. These imbalances can be caused by poor posture, stress, repetitive movements, or injury. For example, a muscle imbalance at the shoulder involving a "tight" pectoralis minor will pull or shift the shoulder forward. This is an instance of synergistic dominance, where a mechanically lengthened muscle is overactive and performs the work of the prime mover.
To correct muscle imbalances, a corrective exercise program can be developed. This involves a systematic process of identifying a neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction, developing a plan of action, and implementing an integrated corrective strategy. The first step is to inhibit the overactive muscles with self-myofascial release (SMR) using a foam roller or other tools. This helps to lengthen the shortened muscle and break up any tension and adhesions in the fascia. The second step is to use stretching techniques on the overactive muscles. Finally, the underactive muscles need to be activated and strengthened by performing isolated exercises that target the specific muscles that are weakened and elongated.
For example, if a person's knees cave in during a squat assessment, the adductors are one of the suspected overactive muscles as they pull the legs and knees together. The glutes and abduction muscles would be suspected to be weak, which would counter the unwanted movement of the knees caving in. This is a common muscle imbalance that can be caused by poor training techniques, a lack of core strength, or a lack of neuromuscular efficiency.
Understanding the interplay between overactive and underactive muscles is crucial for trainers to craft effective and personalized training programs. By relating muscular imbalances to real-life scenarios and movements, trainers can enhance their coaching and create more impactful, customized training programs for their clients.
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Frequently asked questions
The primary causes of muscle imbalances that result in overactive and underactive muscles are repetitive movements, chronic static postures, poor posture, injury, or stress.
Overactive muscles are shortened, tight, and strong, whereas underactive muscles are lengthened, inhibited, and weak.
Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) is the first step in inhibiting overactive muscles. This can be done using a foam roller or other tools such as a lacrosse ball, softball, or back-buddy.
Overactive muscles are shortened and tight, while underactive muscles are lengthened and weak. This imbalance can lead to altered reciprocal inhibition, synergistic dominance, and eventual injury.
Positive muscle phenomena due to muscle overactivity include cramp, myalgia, and stiffness. These can be side-effects of medication, metabolic disorders, vitamin deficiency, excessive caffeine intake, or neurogenic disorders.
