less dependent on us over time;
harnessing your muscle memory
will optimize recovery from a
neck injury. Before you can understand
how muscle memory
works, we have to go back to
school for a quick muscle tutorial.
There Are Three Basic
Kinds of Muscle Contractions:
1. Reflexive (Isometric)
2. Active overuse (Concentric Isotonic)
3. Habitual (Eccentric Isotonic)
Reflexive contractions respond
and support something else that
is happening in your body, like
your opposite calf contracting
when you reach for something on
an high shelf.
Active overuse muscle contractions
occur with any physical activity
beyond your normal, such
as the tight back and sore legs
you feel after returning to a sport
after many years.
When a muscle is held at a certain
position for an extended period
of time, it slowly molds itself
to that new length (shorter or
longer)—this is often called muscle
memory and is due to habitual
contractions.
The good news is that this adaptation
to muscle length is a dual
trait, and muscles can habitually
remodel to support an increased
or reduced distance across joints;
it takes time, but it is predictable.
In the case of your NUCCA adjustment,
clinical experience of
the provider and training in muscle
physiology have helped us
understand that it typically takes
approximately 6-10 months for
your muscles to support your
new, more appropriate, postural
position. At this point, a switch
occurs in which muscles stop
tending to pull you towards
asymmetrical posture and instead
start pulling you towards symmetrical
posture. The only requirement
for effective muscular
remodeling is that the majority of
time is spent in your new, correctly
aligned position.
Ultimately, our current health
status is the sum total of the constructive
(adaptive) and destructive
(maladaptive) forces. A major
maladaptive stress that we can
influence is the muscle memory
that may be supporting your
joints in an incorrect position.
Unfortunately, when you’ve injured
your neck it will never return
to its uninjured state, as ligaments
have been damaged to various
degrees. Luckily, this
doesn’t mean this injury needs to
get in the way of doing the things
you want or having a full and enjoyable
life.
The better you hold your alignment,
the shorter time this recovery
takes — making muscle
memory work for you. Stretching
during the initial trial period of
care supports your alignment by
enhancing the elastic nature of
your muscles and thus mitigating
the negative influence of maladaptive
muscle memory.
When you begin care, we typically
check you weekly to minimize
the chances of a relapse to your
misaligned position. As you
make the transition from your
initial trial period of care to recovery
care, it is important to return
within a few days of losing
your alignment to optimize recovery
speed. After recovery is
complete (meaning muscle
memory has had a chance to become
adaptive), we recommend
giving your body a few days to
work towards reducing your imbalance
on its own before returning
for a check-up.
Internaonal Pain Foundaon—39