Muscle tension - muscle tone causes, symptoms and therapy

Muscle tone: causes, complaints and therapy

Muscle tension, also called muscle tone, describes the state of tension or the residual stress of a muscle or a muscle group - at rest, in motion, during exertion or even during stress.

contents

• Muscle tone: causes, complaints and therapy
• Muscle tone - basic tension
• Active and passive muscle tone
• Striated Muscles - Smooth Musculature
• Nothing works without energy
• Muscular dystonia
• Muscle relaxants
• Examination of muscle tone

Muscle tone - basic tension

When a person sleeps, the muscles are relaxed. This is not the case during the day. In the awake human, even when he is at rest, there is always muscle tension, even if only a few muscle fibers are tense. In addition, a muscle tension does not always have to cause a movement, but is called a basic tension without it. It is necessary for man to be able to stand or stand upright, which usually does not cause any effort. Even holding the head is part of this basic tension. Without muscle tension man can not move. Especially for coordinated movements and fine motor skills, a certain muscle tone is required.

A prolonged muscle tension, which is also painful, is called muscle tension. This is caused by stereotypical, one-sided or wrong posture, stress, trauma and much more. Most people know the discomfort, for example, if the neck hurts after a long sitting on the PC or if the back hurts after a long drive.

The muscle tension is in the form of a basic tension also in rest position. Movement increases the tension of each muscle. (Image: taa22 / fotolia.com)

Active and passive muscle tone

In medicine, a distinction is made between active and passive muscle tone. Passive muscle tone or passive muscle tension depends on the nature of the tissue structure, the composition of the muscle fibers, the anatomical position of the muscle, the blood circulation and the oxygen supply. An active muscle tone is noticeable through its contraction - the contraction of the muscle.

Striated Muscles - Smooth Musculature

The skeletal musculature consists of striated muscle. This is subject to the will. The muscle tension arises here through the successive contractions of individual muscle fibers. In contrast, the smooth muscle, which is located for example in the intestine, not arbitrarily responsive. The smooth muscle cells are permanently contracted, resulting in the corresponding muscle tension.

Nothing works without energy

To create a muscle tension, energy is needed. Already a quarter of the energy requirement consumes the basic tension of the muscles. Active muscle movements then consume even more energy. This is especially true in athletes: the more muscles there are, the more calories are burned, even at rest. If someone wants to lose weight, then he does well to build muscle mass. Wherever energy is consumed, heat is also generated, as in the energy turnover of the muscles. This is important for your own body heat.

A sustained high muscle tension can also cause discomfort, as too low a muscle tension. (Image: glisic_albina / fotolia.com)

Muscular dystonia

A muscular dystonia is a disturbed muscle tension. This can mean a reduced as well as an increased tension of the muscles. If there is no muscle tension at all, there is talk of paralysis, also known as flaccid paralysis. The motor nerves of the affected body part are out of action here. Another disorder is the paresis. The motor nerves have partially failed, but often remains the basic voltage. Paralysis is associated with a massive reduction or even total loss of muscle power in the affected area. This can be temporary, but also permanent.

Muscular hypotension also belongs to the muscular dystonia. In this case the muscle tone is reduced. The basic voltage decreases slightly, but is not completely disturbed. The causes for this are a stroke, a trauma-related hemorrhage in the cerebellum or multiple sclerosis. This hypotonia is manifested, for example, by an abnormally strong dangling of the arms.

Furthermore, an increased muscle tension is possible - in the form of spasticity or rigidity. In spasticity, the increased muscle tone is such that the affected limbs get into an unnatural posture. The rigidity on the other hand, the muscle tension is so high that this leads to a stiffening.

Muscle relaxants

Muscle relaxants are medications that lower muscle tension. Peripheral relaxants are used, for example, during anesthesia or during surgery. Central-acting muscle relaxants act in the central nervous system. Their field of application is tensions or spasms in the area of ​​the striated musculature, for example in the presence of a cervical spine syndrome (symptoms: pain, abnormal sensations in the neck and shoulder area). These medications are often prescribed along with analgesics in case of massive muscle tension.

Examination of muscle tone

At night, when we sleep, the muscles are relaxed. During the daytime, even at rest, some muscle fibers are always in tension. These small contractions do not lead to a movement. In order to examine the muscle tension, the movement of individual joints is passively checked on a relaxed patient. Passive means that the patient does not move and only the doctor performs certain movements with the joints.
For example, in the presence of spasticity, in which the muscle tone is increased, the symptoms become more massive the faster the movement is performed by the practitioner. If the muscle tension is reduced, this becomes visible through slack swinging with passive movement. (Sw)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)