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

[Gingernuttie]

Sorry to post in AIBU but have tried in Health before with no response. Think it must be a bit niche!

I tense muscles all the time. Specifically back, core, and pelvic floor. I realise I'm doing it, relax them, and then within twenty seconds they've all tensed up again without me noticing.

How do I stop? I've had pelvic floor therapy (the tensing caused issues in my last pregnancy) and I CAN relax when I concentrate, but it's like the default is set to tense.

I don't have a psychological explanation. No trauma, and I'm not stressed or unhappy. I'm fit, healthy and eat well and well hydrated. I do relaxation yoga every day. I relax before sleep (but immediately tense up again).

It's more that I need to change a subconscious habit. What about something like hypnosis? Has anyone else had success with changing subconscious habits like this?

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.

@GrumpyPanda that's really interesting. I've found that exercising heavily does help with the back and core muscles in that it relieves some of the pain associated, but I hadn't noticed that it had any long-term impact on the actual cause (the tensing). Does it for you? I'm really interested in your idea that it works better to actively focus on using the muscles thoroughly and consciously rather than trying to spend ages on relaxation techniques. I think I need to experiment with that.

@Littlemountainhum I get you about the trauma. I really don't think there's anything in my life which could have triggered this though. There's certainly nothing at the moment. I'm genuinely so happy, and naturally a very chilled out unstressy person. My childhood was very happy too. But I guess there could be something which doesn't seem big, who knows! I will look at somatic tracking/therapy (never heard of it!) Thank you.

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!

@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

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!

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! 😳