To ask if anyone else has trouble with subconsciously tensing muscles?

Ooh bumping this thread too incase of a helpful resurrection!

I'm another shoulder tenser, likely due to long term trauma. I've been trying to be really mindful of it but can't seem to get out of the habit either. Trying to work overall on posture due to likely related back problems.

Noticing it in my feet/lower leg as well and get a lot of foot cramp, so wondering if that's related as well.

Not to be flippant, but I kind of wish I could have the issue with my pelvic floor because I seem to have the opposite trouble there! 😳

I never realised how frequently I tense my pelvic floor until I developed really painful piles in pregnancy and it killed every time I did it!

@horizontilting can you go into more detail about your muscles contracting and other symptoms pls? I seem to be getting more things that are pointing to this being a possibility x

Yep, I definitely do this! My shoulders do it when I’m cold or tense, I was standing at sink yesterday and realised I was clenching my glutes and I often find myself doing it with my jaw. Might have to look in magnesium!

Just to add, trauma can be ‘little t trauma’ - the kind that you wouldn’t even think to notice, it’s so ingrained into the fabric of our culture. Things like emotional neglect in childhood (utterly rife), living at capitalist/corporate/hustle culture pace, having an absent parent in childhood etc. (as opposed to ‘big T Trauma’ - overt, obviously traumatic things like a car crash, war, etc).

Somatic tracking exercises might help - look up Dr Alan T Gordon - www.instagram.com/p/Cn29q-gvAZj/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

exercise, yoga too.

Any somatic therapy too - it can be talk therapy, as long as the therapist draws your attention to the link between body and mind, eg you feel anger in a clenched jaw, anxiety when bracing yourself for flight/fight or in butterflies in the stomach etc. It’s incredible how much tension can be held in your body and can cause disease (dis-ease) from unprocessed emotions.

I'm another one of the tribe. Shoulder area worst of all, undoubtedly aided by desk work and the associated poor posture. But also get it in other areas.

What helps - most importantly vigorous workouts. On a general level, anything that works up a sweat. Shoulders specifically, a whole set of exercises mostly with dumbbells- I now have a set at home and use them in the evening.

Hot baths, yes, and counterintuitively also really cold showers, maybe because they increase blood flow.

A lot of relaxation techniques ime make me tense up even more, as does superficial massage - deep tissue is fine. What works better is techniques that start with consciously clenching - say 50 sec - then unclenching muscles one by one. Also, various autosuggestion techniques that really make you focus on muscle area after muscle area.

Yoga does very little for me, maybe I should have tried the more vigorous styles. Pilates great but for core strength more than relaxation. But what really does make me feel much better is martial arts. I've had many years practice in aikido and find it a great combi of work out and zen-type practice - it's paired work where you utilize the strength/speed/etc of your partner so you have to really focus on what happens in the moment. In contrast I think conventional meditation would send me bonkers.

I had no idea not everyone did this! But I have EDS so I'm guessing mine is from that. As someone mentioned dopamine up thread, I also had a quick Google and it looks like ADHD can cause it too, so it could be a bit of that.

Story of my life - find out that something I do/experience is weird, then find out its the EDS or ADHD or both 🙄

Yes i have this. Tense muscles are my default. I have a genetic condition called RYR1 Myopathy which means muscles are faulty. The calcium receptors on my cells don't work correctly. I take muscle relaxants, dantrolene if I can get it (it's out of stock at the moment) or baclofen, both prescribed by my neurologist.

Yes I do! Jaw wise my dentist is able to prescribe masseter muscle botox. Absolute dream when done correctly and slimmed my face so much. Didnt realise my former fuller face that made no sense on my skinny body was actually clenched and built facial muscles

I noticed myself clenching my legs and backside a few times the other week as I was sitting at my desk working. Undercurrent of work stress in my life at the moment so I'm putting it down to that. It's been suggested by osteopath that I am hypermobile too though.

I've been going to sleep listening to a deep relaxation/sleep meditation thingy which I think has been helping.

Oh and deep tissue/sports massage too.

I do this too. I think it is stress. Pilates and meditation have helped (I use the Headspace app forMeditation)

I do this constantly because I have hypermobile joints and my muscles work overtime trying to stabilise my body. Do you think this may be the case for you?

I'm afraid I don't have any easy solutions, except gentle heat (baths/showers/heat pads etc) and trying to stay active without overdoing things. Massage and self-massage can also help and I've had physio at the worst times. Be careful with stretching if you think you may be hypermobile, because that can make things worse.

Do you have hypermobility OP? I have hyper mobile joints and I find I do this a lot, apparently it's connected.

are you warm enough?
I find myself doing it if too cold.

It could be a tic disorder. We have tics in our family and my mum always moans about tensing her muscles. I think she just has tics too.

I have the same with my legs, but it's down to stress. I took 5 weeks off work recently and dropped my hours on return, and I'm not doing it any more.

I can't help op but hanging around to see if anyone else can help.
I've always done this. I will realise that my shoulders are touching my ears, force myself to relax but as soon as I stop concentrating on it the shoulders creep back up again.
Drives me nuts and I'm sure is partially connected to my insomnia

Yes I have this problem too. Had a physio who tried to help me with my pelvic floor issues but like you, I can relax when I concentrate but then it's straight back to tense again.
When I ran for a few years, I developed really bad shoulder pain because of me tensing them even more so when running.
I do take a magnesium supplement to try and help me sleep. I didn't know it was supposed to help your muscles relax.

Yup. Toes, facial muscles, neck/shoulders and teeth. I have to try to remember to unclench. I'm already taking sertraline for anxiety, but it seems to be triggered by stress. Took me ages to work out what was wrong with my toes, they're a more recent addition. I thought I'd done something/broken them at first.

I have sciatica and subconsciously tense the muscles in my left leg. I don’t realise I’m doing it until it starts to ache and then have trouble relaxing it.