# Knots in muscles

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 1, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433 "2002-10-01T18:04:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433/1 "2002-10-01T18:04:14Z")

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Every time I get a massage, the person doing it tells me that I have huge knots in the muscles of my upper back & neck. (And that I really should do something about it.)

What exactly does that mean? What is a knot in a muscle? My back and neck don’t feel “tight” or anything. Before the massage, everything seems fine - during, I can feel them doing something (not sure what) and afterwards I’m sore, but I don’t really understand what the condition of the muscles supposedly is in the first place.

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![angstrom91](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@angstrom91](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angstrom91)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433/2 "2002-10-01T18:55:50Z")

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A quick Google search for muscle knots turned up the following. This page discusses what “knots” are, how they form, and how to get rid of them.

[http://www.rosenbaumrehab.com/spasm.htm](http://www.rosenbaumrehab.com/spasm.htm)

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**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433/3 "2002-10-02T14:26:01Z")

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Umm… silly question perhaps, but why do you keep getting massages if they make you sore? I’ve never been to a professional, but every massage I’ve had felt _good_. During _and_ after. Isn’t that the whole point?

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433/4 "2002-10-02T19:10:42Z")

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Sore & bad are two different things (to me anyway).

90% of the massage feels great. Around my upper back and neck, it feels like they’re doing something necessary and it doesn’t feel _bad_ but it isn’t just about calming and relaxing the way it feels on, say my legs or arms. It is as though I can feel them pushing against something (I’m just not sure what they’re pushing against - hence the question). The “sore” that I feel the next day is much like the “sore” I feel the day after I’ve done a really good workout session - which is not pain, but the feeling that something was done to the muscle. I’m just not sure what something is in the case of the massage.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knots-in-muscles/130433/5 "2002-10-02T22:55:14Z")

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My guess is that if you had a real “knot” or spasm (wherein the muscle is in constant contraction) you would have felt it. I think this is massage lingo for “here is an imaginary knot, which I have found (in my imagination), but I’ll tell you it’s real so you’ll think I’m really doing something for you and you will continue to seek my expert services.”