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Muscle Protective Mechanism Disorder
Muscle Protective Mechanism Disorder explained
Date: 1/8/2010 4:51:42 PM ( 3 y ) ... viewed 1093 times
Muscle Protective Mechanism Disorder
I have written before in this blog about the way the body and brain work together to protect the muscles, and how that mechanism is not working as it should be in people with Fibromyalgia [a chronic pain condition].
Briefly, here is how the "muscle protective mechanism disorder" works:
In the blood stream are sensory neurons that roam around the body looking for active muscles; those muscle sensory neurons are triggered by lactic acid, a normal by-product of muscle metabolism [energy use].
Those sensory neurons, when triggered to do so by the lactic acid, will signal a "messenger neuron" that communicates with the brain, carrying the message that the muscles are being used.
For people with chronic pain conditions such as Fibromyalgia, it was found by "the Dr.s Light" [a husband and wife team] that there are many MORE of those sensory neurons in their blood stream, and that those neurons are much more active that they are in normal people.
Also, that when those messages reach the brain they are carrying a more urgent message because there are more of the sensory neurons triggering the messenger neurons. Therefore, the brain makes the muscle protective mechanism go into overdrive, as if the muscles have been overused. That is the exact experience of people with Fibromyalgia, where just a short walk will make them feel like they ran a marathon - their muscles hurt or go into spasms or they even might get full blown muscle cramps; they feel that "heavy, tired-but-not-sleepy" feeling of fatigue that comes on from just doing normal light activity.
Pain, Cramps, Fatigue
The pain comes from the brain, as it reacts to protect the muscles by producing pain so that the person will stop doing what they are doing. Pain is a protective mechanism for everybody, of course, and without it we would harm ourselves constantly.
If we push through the pain, the brain can also cause cramping, where the muscle tightens up and cannot be used anymore, which is what the brain was trying to accomplish with the pain, "but oh no, we didn't listen and now we have a charley horse".
A third way the brain can get us to quit using our muscles is FATIGUE. Not only "in the muscle" where our legs feel tired after a long walk, but also general fatigue where the person becomes tired and sleepy, we get a strong desire to sit down. It is thought, by Dr.s Light and others, that the fatigue aspect to Fibromyalgia, and it's cousin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, comes from this protective mechanism problem.
Conclusion
So little was known up until recently about muscle metabolism and it's relation to chronic pain conditions, but now that those neurons have been identified [by Dr.s Light] it might be possible to get more research done.
The reason why this protective mechanism has "gone wrong" in some people is still a mystery, but it could be from damage that occured during a viral infection or it could be due to neurotoxins from man-made sources. The research on the XMRV virus, recently discovered to exist in most CFS [Fibro] patients but not healthy people, is a source of excitement in the chronic pain community. Perhaps they will discover that the XMRV virus has caused this "overly sensitive condition" in the muscle protective mechanism, and that by killing the XMRV perhaps muscle protective mechanism will return to normal. There is still hope.
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