Hello! I’m happy to be able to share things I’ve learned about Massage Therapy with you through my first blog ever. I thought a good place to start would be some of the most common questions I get asked by clients. So here we go!

What is a knot in a muscle?

A knot is defined as “a bundle or cluster of muscle fibers or sarcomeres that are contracted and will not release their contraction.”

A sarcomere is the smallest unit of a muscle and is where the “contraction” happens. Clusters (they look like a honeycomb or a hexagonal structure) of these make myofibrils, which make muscle fibers, which make fascicles, which make a muscle “belly”. These bundles or clusters seal themselves off from blood and oxygen in your circulation system and prevents them from releasing.

So why won’t they release their contraction?

The area that has become the knot has used up all the oxygen and energy (ATP) in that region. The pH (acid to base scale 1-14) drops from a neutral pH of 7 or 7.5 to 4 or 4.5 (more acidic) in the surrounding fluid. This acidic state dismantles the neurotransmitter called Acetylcholinesterase which would stop Acetylcholine from stimulating the muscle.

In a less wordy way to explain it - the muscle doesn’t release because it is being told not to. It is being told the opposite and the instructions to stop that command do not arrive.

I’m going to keep these short and digestible for modern day attention spans. I hope you like these and I would love to hear feedback from you. Peace!