Muscles that aren't getting enough nutrients are more prone to knotting up and staying constricted. Be sure to get your B Vitamins, potassium, magnesium and calcium.
Potassium. Potassium is an ideal vitamin or mineral for preventing muscle cramps and spasms. You often see runners, athletes, and people working out eating bananas before, during, or after expending energy to help reduce the risks of painful cramps or spasms.
Discussion. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency can cause or worsen neck and back pain and muscle spasm.
Those with muscle cramps may want to try eating more leafy greens such as broccoli, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, or get a supplement that has both magnesium and calcium, as they should be taken together. Please note that too much magnesium can cause diarrhea.
Turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger all contain curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Some research has shown that curcumin may decrease inflammatory markers after exercise. Taking a curcumin supplement or incorporating turmeric, cinnamon, or ginger into a healthful diet may help relax the muscles.
Magnesium is essential for proper muscle function and acts to relieve tight, sore and cramped muscles. It controls muscle contraction and acts as a muscle relaxant. It can therefore be vital in the treatment of back pain and cramps by relaxing back muscles, kidney stress and muscular tension.
Benefits of Magnesium for Muscle Knots
By increasing magnesium levels, you can help alleviate muscle knots and experience relief. Pain Relief: Magnesium has been shown to have analgesic properties, meaning it can help reduce pain associated with muscle knots.
Eat to Beat Them
One way to stop cramps is to stretch or massage your muscles and to eat enough of these key nutrients: potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium.
Since magnesium plays a role in neuromuscular transmission and muscle contraction, it has been hypothesised that magnesium deficiency may predispose to muscle cramps. Thus magnesium supplements are often recommended to prevent cramps.
Overuse, poor posture, and other lifestyle factors may cause muscle knots.
Injuries from overuse, heavy lifting or repetitive motions. Poor posture, which often results from a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise. Tension from mental and emotional stress. Direct injury such as a break, strain, tear, twist or strain.
Trigger points (or knots) are areas of muscle that develop tight bands of muscle fibers and fascia that shorten and cannot lengthen back out. This creates a buildup of waste products in the area, such as lactic acid, which causes pain and soreness.
It's best to eat electrolyte-rich foods that help with muscle cramps and drink fluids infused with electrolytes, particularly sodium, potassium, and chloride.
Massage therapy techniques can help to relieve, reduce or even prevent muscle knots. Deep tissue massage or sports massage techniques work on the muscles that are tight or have the knots. Trigger point massage can be firm and specific pressure to the areas of restriction or “knots” and cause release of that knot.
The result of magnesium deficiency is excessive muscle tension (which can then lead to muscle weakness), muscles spasms, cramps, tics, restlessness, anxiety and irritation. Stress has been known to further decrease magnesium levels, so a vicious cycle begins.
Symptoms of mild Magnesium deficiency are chronically tight muscles, muscle cramps, muscle weakness, fatigue, and irritability. Severe deficiency symptoms are nausea, nervousness, loss of appetite, low potassium, and abnormal heart rhythm.
The time of day doesn't matter so much—it's the consistency of taking magnesium daily that matters most. While some recommend taking magnesium supplements right before bed (to calm your mind and nervous system, setting the stage for sleep), do what works best for you to ensure that it becomes a daily healthy habit.
Generally speaking, you will find that magnesium supplements start to work after one week of using them. After one week of regular magnesium supplementation, individuals may experience benefits such as improved energy levels, reduced muscle cramps, better sleep quality, and reduced anxiety.
People with diabetes, intestinal disease, heart disease or kidney disease should not take magnesium before speaking with their health care provider. Overdose. Signs of a magnesium overdose can include nausea, diarrhea, low blood pressure, muscle weakness, and fatigue. At very high doses, magnesium can be fatal.