Is it CSF leak, IIH or Both or something else. How it all started in my case

[Leah]

That would make me suspect both fluid circulation and muscle relaxation. (?) Are upper traps still in a spasm after running?

[KoolDude]

@vdm

Do you do full body stretches before and after running? Is your body hydrated enough during/post exercising?

I drink a lot of water and my potassium level was ok in the last blood test I did. I also do Sauna from time to time as I find it helps me as well.

[KoolDude]

@Leah

Are upper traps still in a spasm after running?

Never checked them after running but my facial symptoms are way better and they build up hours afterwards. Some mental clarity too. So this is bit weird.

[elijah]

@KoolDude

I also do Sauna from time to time as I find it helps me as well.

Before I had my surgery (and even now) a hot shower always made me feel better. I’m assuming it had something to do with relaxing my muscles, but even know it makes my surgery pain better.

[vdm]

Hot shower I guess also acts as a vasodilator…

[vdm]

@KoolDude

I drink a lot of water and my potassium level was ok in the last blood test I did. I also do Sauna from time to time as I find it helps me as well.

Just a thought… I assume you run with the front of the foot landing first.

How are your calf muscles? Soft? Hard as rock?

[Isaiah_40_31]

I’m pitching for epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) baths for magnesium supplementation. 1 cup of Potassium in a tub of comfortably warm water w/ a 10+ min. soak. Magnesium is known to be a muscle relaxant & also calms nerves. Worth a try.

[KoolDude]

@vdm

How are your calf muscles? Soft? Hard as rock?

My calf muscles are neither soft nor hard. I would say they are normal.

[vdm]

Mine used to be rock-hard, and I swear I could feel effects on my back muscles trying to compensate…

[Skatkat]

What is the relevance of this? I constantly have tight calves, tight hamstrings and the mid traps/shoulders are also tight, even after just walking (running too) and I can stretch them but 10mins later they will all be tight again, is it something I’m doing wrong? I’ve tried to do some traps and shoulders exercises to strengthen them but it seems to make matters a lot worse. I can’t tell if I have weak chest muscles and the traps are tight because of that or just weak traps that get tight but nothing seems to help and anything I do makes it worse, even when I’ve had advice from physio and no one seems to have any answers. If you have any info that might help I’d be really grateful

[vdm]

I’m not quite sure (not a doctor myself), but my observation and theory based on basic biomechanics is that tight calves mean the ankles become “straighter” than they should be, and so that the body wouldn’t fall backwards when upright, it has to compensate somehow. One of the possible ways to do that is to overextend the knees, and slightly flex the hips. For that, both the psoas and quads should tighten, as the quads would allow overextending the knees and psoas, as they perhaps are most suitable muscles to do that. But now, we have forward-tilting pelvis, and the spine isn’t totally vertical but slightly leaning forward. As the spine is flexible, that forward momentum which is quite significant has to be compensated somehow, and I suspect that erector muscles are the best for that, but also lats and traps.

Now, that lats, traps and erectors are stiffened, the mobility of the spine is restricted. Which means a) deterioration of deep spine muscles (e.g. multifidus) and b) compression and restriction on the spin vertebrae, which I speculate is one of the reasons some develop military neck.

I also suspect that might be one of the possible reasons why women are more affected by this (due to wearing high heels and perhaps social pressure to “walk straight and nice”).

[Skatkat]

Thank you so much, this explains it really well and this is exactly me. I have had 3 kids and have suffered from lots of back pain since the first pregnancy and also have two slipped discs in the lower spine. In 2021 I did feel the sensation of falling backwards and I still get that now, you’ve basically summed up my life right there! I’m going to work on correcting it and see if it improves anything.

[vdm]

@Skatkat sorry to hear you have troubles with discs!.. That’s a tough thing, as I have serious DDD myself in multiple places…
If the disc issues are in the lower back, I’d say a well educated PT might do wonders. I’d avoid chiropractors, though, if there is any sign of disc prolapse, as forced “adjustments” might weaken ligaments supporting the spine.

In general, I have started to think that the best way to loosen up the soft tissue is to put it under tension and massage out/press out tight knots, thus inducing local over-stretch at exactly those tight spots. “Adjustments” like cracking aren’t that effective for long term, in my opinion, simply because they don’t force the tissue to remodel. Remodelling starts happening when there is a prolonged tension/stretch, not just a quick snap, which is more likely causing a micro injury to ligaments/tendons than loosening up the muscle… But again, that’s only my (current) opinion. If I find out it’s wrong, I’ll change it

P.S. With all the seriousness, I came to this conclusion while preparing raw meat.

[Brandy]

I have the same issues. Who are you referring to by “we have forward tilting pelvis’?” People who generally have an ES diagnosis??

[Brandy]

Same!!! I thought getting my hip fixed would have fixed all of this. Nope.

[vdm]

@Brandy It’s more as in “here we go”.

[Isaiah_40_31]

@vdm

I’m not quite sure (not a doctor myself), but my observation and theory based on basic biomechanics is that tight calves mean the ankles become “straighter” than they should be, and so that the body wouldn’t fall backwards when upright, it has to compensate somehow. One of the possible ways to do that is to overextend the knees, and slightly flex the hips. For that, both the psoas and quads should tighten, as the quads would allow overextending the knees and psoas, as they perhaps are most suitable muscles to do that. But now, we have forward-tilting pelvis, and the spine isn’t totally vertical but slightly leaning forward. As the spine is flexible, that forward momentum which is quite significant has to be compensated somehow, and I suspect that erector muscles are the best for that, but also lats and traps.

Now, that lats, traps and erectors are stiffened, the mobility of the spine is restricted. Which means a) deterioration of deep spine muscles (e.g. multifidus) and b) compression and restriction on the spin vertebrae, which I speculate is one of the reasons some develop military neck.

I also suspect that might be one of the possible reasons why women are more affected by this (due to wearing high heels and perhaps social pressure to “walk straight and nice”).

@vdm - was it you who posted the link to the video which demonstrated what you just wrote in this post? It was very helpful & thought provoking but I can’t remember what it was called. I think it was Connor Harris doing the presentation.

[Isaiah_40_31]

@Brandy - There are many links to great body biomechanics videos in @vdm’s post about his favorite resources. If you haven’t looked through that thread, it’s quite worthwhile.

List of my favourite resources on YouTube to learn anatomy

E.g. [Myofacia approach for forward-head posture]

[vdm]

@Isaiah_40_31

@vdm - was it you who posted the link to the video which demonstrated what you just wrote in this post? It was very helpful & thought provoking but I can’t remember what it was called. I think it was Connor Harris doing the presentation.

Possibly I did indeed. I can’t remember exactly, but the “ankle” thing has been in my head for a while, I think I mentioned them here:

Cervical Instability - cause of Eagles or the other way around?

@Lababila Unfortunately I couldn’t find “one size fits all” set of exercises (I wish I did!), so it was more about studying anatomy, relationship between various bones and muscles, biomechanics, and then listening to the body. I am more and more inclined to the idea that military neck is the result of the misalignments all over the body, from ankles to knees to hips to pelvis to lumbar and, especially, thoracic spine. Over the time, muscles elongate/shorten to adapt to the misalignments, as the …

And here:

So why calcifications sometimes happens

Yesterday I came across the theory called “joint by joint approach” by Bayle and Cook. While obvious it has its fans and critics, in general it’s useful to know this idea and the rationale behind it. A quick summary:

So there might be some random video posted to one of the topics around that time which shows the whole body mobility concept.

My own ankles used to be (and still are to some extend) of limited mobility due to the tension in calves.