Whether you’re a couch potato or a fitness fanatic, all of us deal with tight, stiff muscles from time to time.



But what causes muscle tightness? Is it good or bad? What exercises, therapies, or muscle rubs reduce muscle tightness?



What is muscle tightness?



When most people describe “tight muscles,” they mean they have restricted movement. They have reduced flexibility, mobility, or both.



Flexibility is a passive range of motion around a joint. For example, you could assess your hamstrings' flexibility by standing up, locking your knees, bending at the hips, and allowing gravity to draw your upper body toward your toes. Or, a massage therapist could move your leg around your hip joint while you remain relaxed on the table.



Mobility is an active range of motion around a joint. Using your hamstrings as an example again, you could test your hamstrings' mobility at your hip joint by doing Romanian Deadlifts. You actively lower your upper body toward the floor while holding onto a barbell, and then actively contract your hamstrings to stand back up again.



Mobility has a more "real world" application, as it determines how well you move while your muscles are under tension. If you can move through a full range of motion while your muscles remain under stress, you'll reduce your risk of an injury.



Women usually have a better range of motion compared to men, but they have a lower pain threshold. They likely have less muscle stiffness but could experience similar pain as men who have stiffer muscles.



Why is this important? Because something like the pain of delayed onset muscle soreness could be more significant in women even if their training program isn't as intense.



Causes of Tight Muscles



A variety of factors contribute to tight muscles, including a lack of use, misuse, and overuse.



In some cases, the tightness is short-lived. In others, it can be long-term unless you deal with it. Though you could feel stiff in almost any area of the body, you're most likely to feel tight in your back, hips, and neck.



Poor posture



Your body adapts to your environment. If you sit at a desk with your shoulders hiked up, shoulders and head pulled forward, your back rounded, and legs at a 90° angle at your hips and knees all day, you'll develop tightness in your:




upper back and neck (traps)



chest (pecs)



front of your hips (hip flexors)



backs of your legs (hamstrings)



calves (gastrocnemius and soleus)




This posture contributes to aches and pains in your head, neck, shoulders, low back, and knees. It’s as if all of the muscle groups in your body cause you to slouch forward like an old man or woman.



When I design the workouts for VIGOR Training, I emphasize pulling movements and glute work to correct some of the postural imbalances created from so much sitting.



Sadly, I suspect many children learning in front of a computer during this COVID Circus will develop horrendous posture that could follow them throughout their lives.



Injuries



I ruptured my bicep tendon in 2014. I did everything I could to enhance my recovery after surgery and got back to regular lifting in half the time the surgeon said it would take.



Still, I experience occasional tightness in my bicep and surrounding muscles occasionally.



When you get injured, the injury changes the way your muscles function. Surrounding muscles compensate for the injured ones. Your movement patterns change to work around the injury. 



All of these factors can cause tightness in non-injured muscles.



Poor sleep positions



I sleep on my stomach. I realize that'll make some chiropractors and physical therapists cringe, but it's how I sleep the best.



Though stomach-sleeping isn't good for your neck, it's more problematic when you have a limited range of motion in your cervical spine.



Your pillow and mattress also affect whether you wake up refreshed and mobile, or stiff and in pain.



Vanessa likes a soft mattress.