Just what is a Hypertonic Muscle ?
The tonicity of a muscle changes as demands are placed on it in
The Spindle cells are located in the belly of the muscle, and
Baseball players use this technique before batting, by swinging a
The same thing applies to someone who sits for long periods of
Also, a quick, unexpected movement, such as a sudden slip on a
The practitioner of Hypertonics is taught to locate and re-set
to be more accurate we would say that "a Hypertonic Muscle is a
muscle that is unnaturally in a restricted range of movement".
Some people feel pain, tightness and discomfort, others may not.
Muscles may become Hypertonic in many ways such as:
anticipation of future expected demands. That is, the muscle gets
tighter, and thus stronger in order to handle a bigger load. It can
also get weaker, or less tonified, in the expectation of a lesser load.
This is due to the function of the Proprioceptors (muscle memory)
located in the muscle and known as Spindle cells which are in the
belly of each muscle and Golgi tendon cells that are the tendon
reflex Proprioceptors.
function somewhat like a radar, monitoring the distance between
cells and regulate the rate and amount of change in distance (length
of the muscle). It is known that we can confuse the Spindle cells
by jamming the cells together, or spreading them apart. The first
will weaken, or de-tonify a muscle, while the latter will cause it to
become stronger.
weighted bat, thus stretching the muscle, which spreads the spindle
cells away from each other, and they react by contracting the
muscle, which makes it easier to swing the bat, giving a light
feeling temporarily. That is why one’s knee jerks when the doctor
taps the tendon just below the knee. The muscle was quickly
elongated, spreading out the spindle cells which interpreted the
information as they, the spindle cells, being too far apart.
Consequently, they want to get back to their proper distance as
quickly as possible, and they do. Lets compare this to someone
who wears high heeled shoes. This keeps some of the lower leg
muscles in a permanently contracted state. Gradually the spindle
cells accept this jammed position as the norm, and the muscle
becomes hypertonic (restricted in its range of movement).
time, and don’t we all. This places the hamstrings in a contracted
position, and it becomes hypertonic. When a muscle, or group of muscles
is placed in a contracted or over-extended position for a length of time
(usually 20 minutes or longer), muscle proprioceptors will begin to change
to accept the new position as the norm. Thus, when we stand up and place the
body in straight alignment, stiffness or soreness can be experienced. Our
body tries to reset these muscles by us feeling the need to stretch and
extend our limbs and trunk.
wet surface, can cause pain, as well as a Hypertonic condition,
even though no injury may exist. This is because there are two
kinds of spindle cells; one which regulates the amount of change,
and another which regulates the rate, or speed of change.
Unfortunately, these cells transmit their information at different
speeds, and the suddeness of the unexpected move causes the
signals to be out of sync, thus an erroneous injury is recorded, and
the muscle goes hypertonic. The situation will remain until
corrected, or until the body kills the pain itself. This may be why
we are able to achieve those "miracle" pain cures through soft
tissue manipulation. We have properly re-set the spindle cells and
erroneous pain turns off.
hypertonic muscles and through gentle, non invasive techniques,
re-set the spindle cells.
