Muscle Imbalances: What Causes Muscle Imbalances and How to Fix Them

A muscular imbalance describes the imbalance between two muscles or muscle groups that face each other. A combination of shortening, tension and weakness usually prevails. Various everyday, sport or illness-related causes can lead to the development of this muscular imbalance.

How does a muscular imbalance arise, what treatment and therapy methods are there? Definition, forms and causes at a glance

What is a muscular imbalance?

Muscular imbalance refers to an imbalance in the muscles. The imbalance can occur due to an altered length, strength, or tension of two muscles. A typical pattern is the combination of muscle weakness and tension or shortening.The muscular imbalances (imbalance) lead to increased stress on joints, overloading of tendons, muscle tension in other muscles and poor posture. An example of a muscular imbalance is a weakened back musculature and a shortened abdominal musculature, for example due to sitting at a desk for a long time. As a result, this imbalance leads to the development of a hunchback and pain in the lower back.

forms of muscular imbalance

As a rule, the muscular imbalance describes an imbalance between agonists (players) and antagonists (opponents) , i.e. between flexors and extensors. Here, a shortening of the player leads to a weakening of the opponent.

But other forms of imbalance are also possible:

• between stabilizers and mobilizers
• between the left and right half of the body
• between the upper and lower half of the body

Imbalances between stabilizers and mobilizers are often described. Stabilizers are deep muscles that have the task of stabilizing individual joints or body sections. Mobilizers are the superficial muscles responsible for moving our joints. Imbalances usually appear in the form of a weakening of deep abdominal muscles (e.g. M. transversus abdominis) and a shortening or tension of superficial abdominal muscles (e.g. M. rectus abdominis), which can be caused by sitting for a long time, for example.

In relation to the whole body, imbalances can also occur between the left and right as well as the lower and upper half of the body . For example, one arm can be more muscular than the other due to the unequal (unbalanced/one-sided) load on the hands or one-sided sport. Sometimes the upper body is also trained more than the legs, as can be the case with various sports or unthinking training in the gym.

Muscular imbalances should be corrected or treated in any case, especially during sporting activities , as the imbalance can irritate the tendons, muscles and joints. As a result, the risk of injury increases and performance decreases.

Causes of a muscular imbalance

Muscular imbalances are often caused by sitting in the same position for a long time.

Causes for an imbalance (= dysbalance) can be manifold. Muscular imbalances are generally caused by incorrect or excessive use of the muscles . For different activities:

• during sports
• in everyday life
• at work
• after injuries

In sports, one-sided strain, or one -sided or incorrect training , is often responsible for the imbalance. In addition, muscular overstrain and fatigue, as well as weak or unstretched muscles, can trigger an imbalance.

Sitting for a long time also leads to a permanent imbalance in the muscles. Especially when you sit with a rounded back, so the back muscles become long and weak, while the abdominal muscles shorten. If you bring the pelvis forward, the upper body comes into a straight position in which the back and abdominal muscles are evenly loaded: Of course it is difficult to sit in this upright position for a whole working day. It is therefore advisable to continuously change the sitting position throughout the day.

Restraints and poor posture , which mainly occur as a result of or after injuries, have a similar effect. Continuing to perform an activity in a certain inappropriate way (eg, limping while walking) puts undue stress on certain muscles and under-uses other muscles.

A lack of exercise and congenital bone deformities (e.g. shortened legs, scoliosis) also mean that muscle groups cannot be used according to their function and this leads to a change or compensation in the body that promotes a muscular imbalance.

How does a muscular imbalance arise?

On the one hand, incorrect loading leads to the fact that mobilizers in particular (primarily flexor muscles) become shorter and their opponents weaken. In the case of an excessive hollow back, the hip flexor muscles would shorten, with a simultaneous weakening of the gluteal and deep back muscles.

If muscles that have a static load (holding task) are affected by a bad posture, they usually react with a weakening. This weakness is then compensated for by the moving muscles. However, since the moving muscles are not designed for holding work in their structure, they are quickly overwhelmed by the new task. This leads to tension and shortening in the muscle.

The tension and shortening leads to reduced blood circulation and thus to pain in the affected area. The consequences are movement restrictions caused by poor posture. This cycle must be broken by adequate therapy and the causes of its development must be treated.

Strength and coordination exercises can be used to restore muscular balance.

Therapy & rehabilitation of muscular imbalance

The doctor or therapist must primarily recognize muscular imbalances. As part of a functional examination, posture, muscle strength and muscle length are examined. Special pressure measuring pads or an ultrasound examination can help to evaluate the function of deeper muscles (abdominal/back muscles). Classic imaging procedures, such as an X-ray or MRI, are only necessary in individual cases if, for example, a congenital scoliosis or an injury is suspected to be the cause of the imbalance.

therapeutic treatment

After evaluating which muscles are too weak, too short or too tense, the treatment can start. Muscles that are too weak must be rebuilt with adequate strength/endurance training . Shortened muscles can be restored by combining fascia training and stretching exercises. In addition, coordination training and targeted relaxation techniques are effective in breaking the cycle of imbalance.

For a successful therapy, it is important to treat the cause or the trigger for the imbalance in order to prevent the symptoms from reoccurring. If sitting for a long time is evaluated as the reason for the muscular imbalance, which is usually difficult to avoid for work-related reasons, it can make sense, for example, to change the working position at regular intervals.

In general, in the case of muscular imbalances, it is advisable to be active and varied in everyday life in order to prevent or treat an imbalance in the muscles.

Depending on the symptoms, the treating therapist puts together an individual exercise program that should be carried out every day for around 15 minutes.

Functional electrical stimulation

If you want to do without a foam roller and gym, you have the option of rebuilding your muscles with the help of electrical stimulation.

EMG-triggered functional electrical stimulation can restore everyday functions. The active initiation of movement using electromyography (EMG) and 4-channel stimulation enable function-related natural movements and thus work on strength, mobility and coordination. If the focus is on a specific muscle, strength and endurance can also be built up in isolation using special stimulation programs. If the focus in a later phase is purely on coordination training, it is also possible to work exclusively with the help of biofeedback. The muscle function is reported back to the patient as video feedback via a screen without the affected person being supported by electricity.

muscle imbalances FAQ

How do you fix muscle imbalance?

There are five different ways to correct muscle imbalance.

• Use unilateral exercises.
• Begin with the side that is less strong.
• Allow your less strong side to determine the intensity of your workout.
• Put in some extra effort on the areas that are less strong or less developed.
• Repair the core issue, which is a lack of mobility and flexibility.

What are the symptoms of muscle imbalance?

• Participating in only one sport or focusing on working out one muscle group at a time.
• Poor posture.
• Strength, flexibility, or equilibrium on one side of the body that is significantly different from that on the other side of the body.
• There is no correlation between pain and a particular damage.

Is it normal to have muscle imbalances?

The presence of slight disproportions is natural and acceptable. So, what exactly is this pain? However, despite the fact that persistent pain is typically a corollary to asymmetry and is not actually a symptom that is unique to muscular imbalance, you should still seek professional medical assistance if you are experiencing it.

What are the most common muscle imbalances?

In most cases, muscular imbalances manifest themselves around joints or other parts of the body that are particularly mobile, particularly in people who engage in strenuous physical activity. Hips, shoulders, and knees are the most typical locations for the development of muscle imbalances and the areas they affect.

Do muscle imbalances go away?

Exercise is typically effective in restoring balance when it has been disturbed. A study conducted in 2015 on some of the world’s best fencers revealed that the sport’s high reliance on lunging results in an uneven development of the muscles in the lower and upper limbs.