It’s the second day after an intense workout, and while you’ve been outpacing your fitness goals, now you’re feeling a nagging tension in your arm that won’t go away. Or maybe you slept weirdly, and your arm or shoulder has been stiff and sore all week. Sound familiar?

These symptoms, which people commonly call “muscle knots,” affect everyone from professional athletes to office workers. Muscle knots frequently arise in the back, shoulders, and legs, but can also affect the biceps and forearms, where they’re particularly annoying. Fortunately, a few simple but effective treatments exist to resolve these knots so they don’t interrupt your routine for too long.

What are muscle “knots”?

Muscle knots are small, tense areas of muscle that feel like a hard lump under the skin. These knots, called myofascial trigger points, form when muscle fibers tighten but fail to relax. This can restrict blood flow, creating pain and inflammation that may last for several days. Muscle knots often develop in muscles that are overworked, strained, or left in static positions for too long.

Symptoms of knots in the forearm

Knots commonly affect the muscles in the forearm and upper arms after strenuous activity like a targeted arm workout. Although discomfort in your forearm, biceps, or shoulders could be caused by any number of things, here’s how muscle knots usually feel:

• Tension or tightness in the muscle that feels like a dull ache
• Soreness that intensifies when you press on the area
• Stiffness that restricts your range of motion
• A lumpy or tight spot that feels hard to the touch
• Pain that might radiate or feel like it’s “traveling” to other areas (this is called “referred pain”)
• Temporary muscle weakness

These symptoms can vary in intensity—some folks might experience mild irritation, while others may find their active lifestyles completely disrupted. Most muscle knots usually arise and resolve within a few days, but if your tension, soreness, or other symptoms have lasted at least a week, it could be a sign of a more chronic underlying condition, such as myofascial pain syndrome.

Regardless of the severity, physical therapy treatments offer effective solutions to many types of muscle pain, including knots in the arms.

Physical therapy treatments for arm muscle discomfort

Treating muscle knots typically involves a two-step approach: treat the current symptoms and protect your whole body from getting knots in the future. The most effective methods that address both prevention and cure include:

• Stretching high-use muscles
• Low-impact exercises
• Trigger point release therapy
• IASTM
• Massage therapy

Not everyone who has a muscle knot and comes in for treatment will utilize all of these procedures. They are the individual tools in our toolbox of care that allow us to personalize treatments to your specific experience of muscle tension while addressing your preferences when possible.

Preventing muscle tension in your arms

When you’ve recently healed from a muscle knot, you’re probably feeling grateful that it went away on its own and may be worried about doing something that could trigger it to return and disrupt your lifestyle again. That’s where taking a few preventative measures can help you live the life you want sustainably.

• Stay hydrated – when your body has enough water, muscle fibers stay flexible and resilient and won’t form into “knots” as easily.
• Keep moving – Exercise can be both a prevention strategy and a trigger for muscle knots, which is why knowing how to exercise safely and sustainably with a physical therapist’s guidance can be so valuable.
• Take breaks – Muscle knots can arise from tension when you’re spending all day at your desk, for example. Switch up your routine by stretching your legs and moving around at least once every two hours. At the very least, roll your shoulders and flex your arms if you can’t take a full break.
• Sleep well – High amounts of stress and sleep deprivation are huge risk factors for all kinds of muscular and mental conditions that can affect your health, including muscle cramps and knots.

Arm muscle knot treatments in Franklin, WI

Sick of arm cramps and muscle knots interrupting your lifestyle? Whether you’re experiencing muscle soreness, stiffness, and pain in your arms or elsewhere in your body, our physical therapists are more than capable of helping you find relief for today and the future.

Start a conversation with our team about how we might be able to help you learn new and holistic ways to exercise and work to avoid muscle knots by calling our clinic or requesting an appointment online today.