Seemly redundant question on soft tissue injuries

[Tones]

Hi. This may be an extremely redundant question but I am curious...

Over the last 6 weeks I have been extremely consistant with my training (stretching hips and material from Overcoming Next and Back Pain, martial arts, strength work). So last night I lightly agitaded my left QL while doing extremely light kettle bell windmills. It was 4 reps of 2x8kg bells because I was testing out my articulation after mobility and flexibility work, purposely choosing light weight just to feel it out and I was super conscious of my body during training. Sleep, hydration and nutrition have been super on point as well.

This has gotten me thinking about how people tak about how the body “locks onto” emotions, which is essentially a collects of hormones in the fascia that gets dislodged thus a rush of emotions come.

Another thing the body does as well store other nasties away or processes them through by attaching them to lipids (fat) or water. So maybe there was a blast of inflammation from disloging toxins?

So the question is have you exprienced personally or through your students, light soft tissue injuries happen for no apparent good reason after all factors considered and go away just as easy without re appearing or starting a chain of issues? And if you have, what are you thought as to why that happens?

 

[dannyg]

Interesting perspective. I prefer to view things like sensations through the eye of the nervous system. The nervous system is the only way we can feel things - and sometimes it can get sensitive (for various reasons). So when dealing with 'injuries' I commonly like to think about the difference between injured and hurt. 

I frequently experience 'hurts', but all are very short lived. Most recently: Crazy medial epicondyle pain (bilaterally) from doing work with Rolling Thunder, COC Grippers, heavy wrist curls, and levering work (pronation, supination, Ulnar & Radial Deviation) - 2 days in a row at a high intensity after a 6 month grip strength absence. Only lasted a day - but was hilariously tender to palpate. 

An injury is a real clinical issue. Often with obvious signs of tissue damage and trauma. Being hurt is very common for me (and many other people who train) - it's a discomfort, a weird muscle pain that lasts 3 days, a temporary ache in a strange place. Sometimes for  a known reason - sometimes for an unknown reason. 

I feel that minor pain and things are probably nociceptors getting protectively sensitive - I doubt there's much in the way of 'damage' occurring. 

Pain does not always mean damage. Pain is a neurological event, that could be considered a warning signal. Perhaps the receptors and the pathways are sensitive - protectively - rather than in response. So my nervous system is experiencing something that is triggering a nociceptive response that my central nervous system interprets as pain. But that doesn't mean any damage has occurred. (In fact, in much of the problems in treating chronic pain are educating people that often there is no tissue damage occurring - but a highly sensitive nervous system that has adapted to be more and more sensitive)

 

To my knowledge fascia doesn't store hormones - but always interested in things I might have to learn. I'd love to hear more about hormones and fascia - if you have more information.

 

Hopefully that all makes sense - it's late here. 

[dannyg]

Sorry to reply to an old post, but there was an interesting article in BJSM that made me think about your post:

Quote

This has gotten me thinking about how people tak about how the body “locks onto” emotions, which is essentially a collects of hormones in the fascia that gets dislodged thus a rush of emotions come.

"The ECM also works as a molecular store, catching and releasing biologically active molecules to regulate tissue and organ function, growth and regeneration. Molecules stored in the ECM network can be cleaved to release biologically active cleavage products.5 Mechanical stress can induce the release and activation of ECM-stored molecules, inducing the cleavage prod- ucts of collagen XVIII and other basement membrane components."

 

Where ECM is the extra-cellular matrix, which is a part of the fascia. I though this was relevant to the conversation, while it doesn't state the presence of any hormones that regulate mood or emotion - it does suggest that mechanical loading can release bioactive compounds that can have an impact on homeostasis, growth and/or repair. Which I thought was cool. 

 

Link here: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2018/08/14/bjsports-2018-099308