Poll Do You Automatically Clench/Tense Up?

[CraftyCath]

I find I tense up all the time, in different parts of my body.

I clench my jaws too and find it very difficult to keep still. I can't just watch TV as I loose concentration and drift of into la-la land so I tend to sit with a crossword or my laptop and do two things at once. I have terrible concentration levels and get headaches if I concentrate too long.

 

[DOTI]

This may have been answered already, but what is the latest medication that can be taken for the pain, and the stiffness? I'm finding mine really bad today. I usually just grin and bear it and take ibuprofen but this is ridiculous. I'm keeping my left eye half closed because of it. Oww!

 

[Queen Boudica]

Meds would be short term , you may also have an underlying cause and could go to a physio or chiro to help loosen tight muscles.

I do pilates with a physio that helps relax and strengthen the core so you don't compensate and use the wrong muscles and tendons and then stiffen up. I have low muscle tone and hypermobile joints so there is also an underlying cause that can be helped with exercise and physio and chiro and even massage.

I have also heard that acupuncture can also help and one of the ladies in my pilates class swears it helps with her neck and jaw tension.

 

[txtrace]

Doti, I use a combination of meditation and essential oils. This is for The and all my physical injuries. I was using Aleve but that just created stomach issues and I can't function on narcotics but I do well now managing the pain with the meditation and oils.

 

[jocko]

I was tensing badly until recently, before conscious breathing & DBT & yoga; now I can see how 'letting go' has a physical side to it. I remember the last few years especially I'd sit closed up in a ball or sleep fetus style in bed, crunching up as tight as possible even if my limbs feel asleep. I wouldn't breathe or un-tense and I'd sit in my dark basement for days reading and reading and making myself crazier/tenser, falling deeper into delusion land. It was a vicious circle because I'd have some horrible anxiety attack & just clench up tighter and fuel that underlying unease even more. One night I had a full fledged panic attack and went to the ER for something to dope me and just sat there for an hour all bent over, clenched up trying to hold in what felt like a nuclear explosion while my mind went at light speed with horrible scary stuff. I felt like I was dying & ended up puking in the garbage bin in front of my dad. I got some pill from the doctor then got back home and it started up all over again, I had to go right back. I could've defused it all by just deep breathing and staying present.

Lately when I get triggered I don't have that automatic clamp down either, those are awful.

 

[BlackbirdSinging]

I'm almost always tensed up somewhere. Whenever I focus I realize my shoulders are pulled up kind of tight causing me to be hunched or curled forward a little. I have to be mindful and take a deep breath and when I do I can feel my shoulders relax and drop.

 

[CraftyCath]

I get very tense and since my dentist has given me a mouth guard to stop me clamping my teeth together at night, I have realised that I do it during the day too. I am trying to relax and allow my muscles and my jaws to relax. Similar to yourself @BlackbirdSinging.

 

[Lina007]

My jaw is often clenched to the point where I get headaches. I often don't realize I'm doing it until I get such a headache.

 

[Udi]

This happens to me too, try not thinking too much about it. be mindful surrender to the present moment.

 

[InvisibleSun]

I struggle with this a lot too. My jaw will be sore from clenching..my shoulders, neck and back are always tense. Sometimes I'll have nightmares and I'll wake up to my body being completely rigid, as if I were paralyzed. Have to remind myself that I can move. Gets much worse when I'm anxious or symptomatic. Having Fibromyalgia certainly doesn't help matters either. Quite the vicious cycle, really...

 

[sartor]

Yes. I'm all tension, especially neck, shoulders, and jaw. If I become aware of it I'll spring right back. Have you all heard of Alexander Technique? I've found help in that and in Kundalini Yoga.

 

[Hush92]

I only become aware that I tense up whenever I am touched. Though my therapist says I must be tense a lot because I regularly have really painful awful muscle cramps, especially in my legs and feet.