Neural Tension vs Muscle Tightness

Now, Let’s Talk About Forward Bending

When bending forward with the upper body, aiming to reach the toes or the floor with the hands, we may experience a stretch in the back of the leg.

That stretch it may not be only your hamstrings but also the sciatic nerve. When this nerve lacks mobility, as expressed earlier, due to things like disc issues, facet joint irritation, piriformis syndrome, or general irritation, it can feel like your hamstrings or calf or back are tight, even when they’re not.

A good way to understand if the feeling of tightness is from your nerve or not is to perform a Slump Test.

How to perform a Slump Test?

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to perform the slump test:

• Sit on a chair or table, where both feet are off the ground;
• Slump your body forward, while looking straight ahead, and your arms are crossing behind your back (which means your spine rounds backward, your shoulder drops forward);
• Now, start lifting up one leg, while the other one is bent at the knee at 90°;
• While you lift up the leg, start noticing if you feel any pulling sensation from the lower back going down to the back of the leg or calf (it could be anywhere along the lower back to the feet);
• If you manage to reach full leg extension, now, start looking down (you may notice tension arising or increasing);
• If nothing happens yet, then bring your toes (of the leg raised) backwards (ankle dorsiflexion);
• If, along any step of this process, your pulling sensation increases (more intense) or becomes longer (like from only the back of the leg, it now feels even in the back or in the calf), this is neural tension. Indeed, the tension would feel like a long rope pulled across multiple joints (lumbar, hip, knee) with a burning sensation and maybe some pins and needles.
• Next, to experiment further with the neural tension, start looking up with the head, go if you can in full cervical extension, and you should feel relief in the back of the leg tension.

This last step is proving to you how, by releasing the central nerve (that travels in the central canal of your spine), the neural tension slows down. You are stopping the nerve’s pull from its origin, the brain.

Should You Stretch a Nerve?

No, not really. Nerves aren’t designed to be stretched like muscles. In fact, if you keep stretching a nerve aggressively, you may end up irritating the nerve and worsening the symptoms.

Instead, use nerve gliding or joint mobilisation exercises, which are gentle, rhythmic movements that help the nerve move through its surrounding tissues without overstressing it.

And to stay in the loop, let’s look at the sciatic nerve glide:

• Lying on your back, lift one leg while keeping the knee slightly bent.

• Slowly extend the knee and flex the foot back toward you, then release.

• Repeat in small, pain-free ranges.

This can help restore nerve mobility without aggravating the nerve. If this is not the case, and you still experience pain and discomfort, then it is probably time to book an appointment (myotherapy) to ensure there is not significant entrapment along the nerve pathway, and see what can be done to relieve that compression.

How Myotherapy Can Help with Neural Tension?

As a Clinical Myotherapist, I specialised in assisting people with any sort of musculoskeletal issue. Neural Tension is one of those.

During a Myotherapy session, we would address, via a detailed clinical history and a series of assessments, what may be the cause of the neural tension, and if there is any structure responsible for neural tension.

Indeed, not everyone may present with the same level of neural tension, as someone can be hyper- or hypo-mobile in their joints; the same applies to nerve capacity for stretching.

In any case, things that can be done to improve the presentations during a Myotherapy session are:

• PNF – Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation – which is a passive stretching technique, combines with isometric contractions (which means the patient is engaging the muscle with no movement due to external resistance to the movement) to improve flexibility and range of motion.
• Joint Mobilisation – Where necessary, we may apply joint mobilisation to ensure the nerve is free from tension caused by ligament inflammation. And this can be done at the spine level (facet joint), or at other joints, like the elbow, for example, if we are dealing with radial nerve compression.
• Deep Tissue Massage – Where needed, we can massage the muscle that may entrap the nerve, to release the tension and let the nerve fibres run free.
• Exercises– as mentioned above, looking into nerve gliding, which allows the nerve to be flossed back and forward, by improving its movement.
• Dry needling – Ideal for restoring muscular activation, and releasing muscular compression applied on nerve (as can be for sciatica entrapment at the piriformis muscle).

Conclusion on Neural Tension

In conclusion, neural tension is a naturally occurring phenomenon that can be due to a series of reasons.

Unless it causes sharp pain or severely restricts your mobility, it is something that, via gentle gliding and mobility drills, can be improved and maintained. If that’s not the case, then a myotherapy session is worth it to analyse better what can be done about it.

Overall, nerves are better not to be stretched if they feel uncomfortable, as this could lead to worsening the presentation, and create more irritation to the nerve tissue than benefit.

FAQ about Neural Tension