Correcting Muscle Imbalances

A common cause of joint issues and injury is from having muscle imbalances.

Usually we want to lose weight, get stronger or look better as our main goals for taking on an exercise program. Very seldom is correcting muscle imbalances one of our goals but it should be!

Every joint is surrounded by muscles that create the movement in that joint. If one of those muscle groups on one side of the joint becomes too tight from overuse, it will tend to cause the muscle group on the opposite side to become weaker and lengthened. This is the cause of a muscle imbalance.

The good news is a proper exercise program can correct these issues to relieve joint pain and help to reduce the chance of injury to that joint.

The most common cause of these imbalances is repetitive motions or repetitively being in sedentary positions for long periods of time. For example, someone who sits at work and has a desk job is prone to imbalances in the hips and hamstrings as well as in the shoulders if they have poor posture while sitting all day. Same type of issues with someone who does a lot driving.

We can also develop imbalances in the shoulders from being on our devices too much. Always hunched forward looking at a screen, whether that is a computer, tablet, smartphone, or all of the above.

These types of things are part of our life, and in most cases other then maybe being a little bit more conscious of our posture while doing these things and limiting them as much as we can, we won’t be drastically eliminating these things from our day to day lifestyles.

So, the next best thing is to use exercise to combat these imbalances and keep our joints strong, healthy and functioning optimally.

The way to do this is to lengthen, or stretch the tight areas and do exercises to strengthen the weaker opposing muscle groups, bringing stability and balance back to the joint.

For most of us this means stretching the front of the hips, the hamstrings, chest and front of shoulders and strengthening the glutes, core, your back and back of the shoulders.

When your car gets out of alignment you take it to a mechanic and get it fixed, when your joints get out of alignment, get yourself to the gym and get it fixed! And once it’s fixed, keep up the regular maintenance of consistent exercise to keep those joints healthy, strong and pain free!