Muscle Imbalance
Muscle ImbalanceBy Jeffrey Gordon Parker, NASM CPT
Do you often feel sluggish even after a good night’s sleep? Does your back continue to ache in spite of the fact that you’ve invested small fortune in a mattress? Even if you’re healthy and take good care of yourself, these may be the symptoms of a muscle imbalance.
What is muscle imbalance?
Put simply, muscle imbalance occurs when one muscle, or group of muscles, works harder than it should while other muscles don’t work hard enough. That’s it. It may not sound serious, but it can cause a wide range of problems, including sore shoulders, low energy, an aching back and even poor posture. And simply exercising harder doesn’t solve the problem!
The muscles in our bodies are designed to work in balanced symmetry, much like the wheels of a car. When some muscles get lazy and others have to take up the slack, this can’t happen. On a car, we might notice that the tires are beginning to wear unevenly, or that we’re getting poor gas mileage. But it’s different for our bodies. It may not cause obvious problems—we can run, walk, stand, sit, lift and twist without much difficulty. For those of us who do experience pain and discomfort, we may write off these aches and pains as just part of life, or perhaps attribute them to symptoms of aging. The truth is that very few of us have bodies without some form of muscle imbalance. But the good news is that with proper exercise you can fix it—and enjoy an unexpected benefit as well.
What causes muscle imbalance?
Perhaps a better question would be what doesn’t? Most of us have jobs that require us to stay seated or standing for long periods of time. If you use a computer, you’re probably sitting most of the day. That means some muscles don’t get exercised at all, while others do all the work. The ones that don’t work get weaker. The ones that do work get stronger, but not in the healthiest way. If we don’t give our bodies balanced exercise, our muscles can’t work together properly. Our bodies are designed to move throughout the day.
While you’re sitting at your desk, your hip flexors (hip muscles) and quadriceps (the muscles on the top of your thighs) remain for long periods in a relaxed, shortened position. At the end of the eight-hour day you stand up to walk and exercise your gluteus (butt) muscles. But aside from this simple act of standing and walking, your gluteus is not being worked. As it happens, the gluteus is the “antagonistic” (opposite) muscle to your hip flexors. This may be the extent of the exercise your gluteus receives in a typical day; you’ll walk to your car, drive home to sit in front of the television until it’s time to go to bed, than start the same cycle all over again the next day.
Over a period of years, your muscles begin to suffer from this neglect. Instead if lengthening when you stand, your hip flexors and quadriceps remain shortened even after you stand up. And when your hips and quads cannot lengthen all the way, your pelvis has no choice but to rotate forward as you stand, tipping your waist forward and making your butt stick out. Other things happen as well—since walking bent over isn’t an option, the muscles of your lower back work to tilt your chest and shoulders back to counterbalance the effect and help you stand upright. Since you are putting unnatural strain on your spine and lower back muscles, it’s no wonder your back hurts. As you can see, all of our muscles are connected, and the effects of muscle imbalance are felt throughout the body.
How can I determine if I have muscle imbalances?
As already mentioned, most people exhibit signs of at least some muscle imbalance. It’s hard to avoid for most people in the work force today, since so many occupations require postures and repetitive movements that contribute to imbalances. Even reading a book over long periods can contribute to the problem.
Go to the mirror and look at yourself in profile. Notice your shoulders. Does your head sit forwards in front of your shoulders, or does it sit squarely on top? Do the palms of your hands face the wall behind you, your hips, or somewhere in-between?
If your hands face the wall behind you, or are angled so your pinky is on the outside, you have what is called an “upper extremities postural” distortion, otherwise known as UEPD. When you wear pants with a belt, does the belt slant forwards or backwards? If it slants either way, you have what is called a “lumbo-pelvic-hip complex postural” distortion,” or LPHC.
Other signs of muscle imbalance
As mentioned earlier, muscle imbalances do not always cause pain or discomfort. In most cases, an individual will not even notice it. But they often do notice weak areas in their physical strength and performance. Muscle imbalances impair your ability to reap the benefits of your workout!
Most people join a gym to get in shape, diving into popular exercises such as the bench press, the lateral pull, leg extensions and leg presses. The irony is that when a person with muscle imbalances exercises the muscles that are doing all of the work already, they are only exacerbating the problem. For example, a person with a sore lower back may think that by exercising their lower back muscles, they are working to correct a problem when, in fact, they making it worse by increasing the muscular imbalance! Similarly, a person who works hunched over a computer all day has shortened chest muscles and elongated rhomboid (upper back) muscles. Doing bench presses to strengthen the chest muscles may make them stronger, but it also makes them shorter, and makes the person even more prone to bad working posture.
And yes, it may seem like a good idea to use a leg press machine to exercise those gluteus muscles. But leg press machines seat you in a position very similar to your posture at work, with your hip flexors and quadriceps shortened. So your hard work is largely wasted exercising your body in a position that caused the problem in the first place.
Correcting muscle imbalance
To correct the imbalance of the LPHC, one must exercise the muscles at the desired angle of the hips so the body will remember that angle, and keep it even when it’s not being exercised. That is good posture, and the concept behind corrective exercise training—creating flexibility in the tight muscles while increasing our range of motion by working the weak muscles with the desired mobility.
Because this type of training follows a new range of motion, most often no added weight is necessary for the first couple of weeks.
Then, when the desired range of motion is achieved, we add weight to further strengthen the newly established range of motion.
When a muscle becomes equally strong with its opposite (antagonistic muscle), then we have achieved what is called an “equal length tension relationship” between the two muscle groups, which is the length at which the muscles can produce the greatest force.
In order to alleviate the symptoms of muscle imbalance, you must take corrective strategies, which involves enlisting the services of a physical therapist or a fitness trainer with special education in correcting muscle imbalances. If you experience any of the symptoms that include pain, seek a proper physical therapist or doctor before beginning any fitness-related activities, including working with a personal trainer. And when you do get a personal trainer, I strongly suggest that your trainer talk with your therapist or doctor before starting your exercise routine, so your trainer will know your limitations and prevent any further injury. This also allows your therapist or physician to evaluate the quality of your trainer.
“Equal length tension relationship” in muscles…and why it matters!
At the cellular level of a muscle, there are two basic components—actin and myosin filaments. The two components act like the two parts of a zipper. There is an optimal muscle length at which the actin and myosin filaments have the optimal degree of overlap. When this is achieved, it maximizes the number of connections between the myosin and the actin, making the muscle strong and allowing it to exert its maximum force.
Lengthening a muscle beyond that point will reduce the overlap of the actin and myosin, which in turn lower the overall strength of the muscle. Conversely, shortening a muscle makes the actin and myosin overlap too much, crowding their connections and reducing movement among the muscle fibers. This, too, decreases the muscle’s ability to exert its maximum force. In other words, if your muscles are out of balance, your overall strength will suffer.
Source: The National Academy of Sports Medicine CPT Training Manual
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Blin … really beautifully written! All this is so familiar … and truthfully!
Your videos are very informative and helpful. I now understand why I have back pain and what I have to concentrate on to fix it. I havent been able to find the video showing the lower back exercises or the roll exercises.
Thanks for putting this all together for our use.