Are you wondering how to get rid of knots in back? Arriving at an answer to this question requires understanding what knots are and how they’re caused first.
Knots are a type of spasm that causes a small muscle area in your back to tense up. This tension comes with a mild to heavy dose of pain. Imagine pulling a loose string that hangs off an old sweater. What do you notice? The area turns into a hard lump. Something similar happens when a muscle knot appears in your back.
Let’s understand what causes these knots and decode the answer to “How to get a knot out of your back by yourself.”
What Causes Knots in the Back?
Muscle knots also go by the name “myofascial trigger points.” The pain is unsheathed either spontaneously (active) or when some pressure is applied to the trigger point (latent).
A muscle knot appears when a muscle gets irritated or pulled due to repetitive movements or muscle overuse. Athletes who train a single group of muscles for extended periods of time are often vulnerable to knots in the back. The muscles in your back could also “knot up” if you place yourself in awkward or difficult positions (driving a car for long hours, for instance) for prolonged hours. Other causes of knots in the back include:
- Dehydration
- Fatigue
- A sedentary lifestyle
- Unhealthy eating habits
- Poor posture
- Psychological stress
Healing At Home: How to Get Rid of a Knot in Your Back
When your back is attacked by a muscle knot, it’s best to seek immediate treatment. When left unattended for a long time, these knots can aid the formation of scar tissue. If you get them infrequently, or are looking for a way to relieve them in the meantime, however, here’s how to get a knot out of your back:
Self-Massage your Back Muscle Knot
How to get a knot out of your back by yourself? The process starts with determining the knot’s location by using your finger. Once you find the knots, gently massage them using firm, downward movements and making small circles with your fingers. If you can’t reach the pain site, try using a foam roller or a massage gun to extract the pain out.
Use Heating Pads
Infusing your “knotty” back with heat can help loosen the muscle and increase blood circulation in the problem area. You can perform heat therapy either by using a heating pad or taking a hot bath. When using heating pads, remember to apply the heat for no more than 15-20 minutes, 3-4 times a day.
Using a Massage Chair with Heat Therapy
One of the most powerful answers to “How to get rid of a knot in your back” is a massage chair. The high-end, feature-rich design of these chairs delivers the benefits of massage therapy at home without needing to spend time and money outside of it.
The airbags and rollers inside the chair help release tightness and knots in your back, alleviating discomfort and pain along the way. Working alongside the benefits of heat therapy, this will boost blood flow and erase soreness, inflammation, and swelling for faster recovery.
A massage chair also helps replace tension in your back with higher flexibility, so your range of motion improves. Once you set aside a regular healing time with your massage chair, your body not only gets rid of the pain but also shields itself from any future knots or strains in the back.
How to Get a Knot Out of Your Back With Yoga
Yoga relieves soreness in the back, boosts muscle flexibility, and strengthens the muscles. The best yoga poses to help relieve knots in the back include:
- The child’s pose extends your back muscles. Start by getting on all fours, sit back in a way that your heels touch your buttocks, get your arms stretched out in the front, and slowly lower your head to the floor.
- The downward-facing dog directly works on your back extenders, the muscles that aid you in lifting objects and even standing up. This pose helps your body form an arch by reducing tiredness in your back muscle, alleviating your pain, and unlocking flexibility.
- The pigeon pose helps extend your hip flexors and rotators. This pose helps with hip alignment, which is directly associated with keeping your back strain, stress, tension, and knot free.
How to Get Rid of a Knot in Your Back: Other Treatments
When it comes to figuring out how to get rid of knots in back, there are a few more treatment options than what we mentioned. However, it is best to consult with your doctor and understand what caused a knot in your back before taking any treatment.
Based on the type of pain, your doctor may recommend other treatments like:
- Physical Therapy - This is where your therapist can recommend certain techniques to help alleviate tension and pain in your back. Some therapists may also deploy techniques like dry needling to stimulate trigger points and reduce painful symptoms.
- Deep Tissue Massage - This is where your therapist would apply a combination of slow strokes and firm pressure on problem areas. This, in turn, would loosen up the knots and realign the deeper connective tissue and muscle layers.
- Acupuncture - a traditional healing practice that helps reduce pain by using thin needles on your trigger points.
- TENS or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Therapy - This is where a specialist unlocks low levels of electricity to aid muscle relaxation.
How to Prevent Knots in the Back
Now that you know how to get a knot out of your back, it’s time to ensure you don’t face the same issue in the future.
A great start would be to first work on your posture. Slouching, for example, puts a consistent amount of pressure on the same group of muscles. If you work at the desk all day, be sure to stand up, walk, and stretch every hour or so. If you’re about to hit the gym, be sure to perform a thorough warm-up and avoid putting weights down too quickly.
If you don’t wish to juggle countless confusing options and want an effortless (yet extremely efficient) solution when researching how to get a knot out of your back, investing in a massage chair would be your best bet. It includes a lifetime’s worth of massages, has the potential to understand exactly what your body needs, is accessible 24/7 in the comfort of your home, treats pain areas in most parts of your body, works as a stress reliever, and improves the overall quality of your life!
