Comments by "clray123" (@clray123) on "Institute of Human Anatomy" channel.

  1. I'm pretty sure from my own experience that it's a mechanical issue caused by insufficiently released big, distant muscles fighting against groups of smaller muscles, causing pain in the process. The tension/connection occurs through fascia and bones, as muscles are basically glued to both bones and also to other muscles. Most movements thus affect an entire chain of muscles and also cause some friction of muscles against bones... much more friction than necessary when some parts of the tissue are stuck and forces are directed toward them rather than through them. The release by applying pressure works by signaling the muscles to stop activating, thereby resolving that "fight" into a different, more energy efficient equilibrium, in which both combatants are relaxed rather than both tensed up against each other. And the root cause is indeed poor posture and resulting imbalances in relative muscle strength, basically muscles/fascia getting stuck and wrapped around bones in unfortunate ways and others trying to counteract that. So it's a systemic problem with local manifestations. When you fix the system (e.g. by strengthening some muscles and weakening others, correcting posture), you resolve the problem and the "knots" stop getting created rather than you having to treat and "untie" them every time.
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  2. I call bs on this stretching theory. Because the thing which also plays a role is the muscles that cause contraction. It's like with flexibility: you can have excellent flexibility and strong muscles, or you can have excellent flexibility and weak muscles. There is not such a thing as "too much flexibility" if it is compensated by strength.
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