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One of the most important concepts to understand is that all body’s muscles shorten in response to injury or exercise. Every time we move we cause muscle injuries. These injuries are generally unimportant and singularly very minor that most people will be unaware of these constant muscle changes. 

I classify three degrees of injuries; they are major, intermediate and minor injuries. Major injuries, as example, would include car accidents, falls or even high intensity exercise like a marathon. Intermediate injuries are usually daily injuries incurred at work such as typing a typewriter or computer, car assembly, or even knitting. These intermediate injuries cause relatively minor, but repetitive muscle injuries that accumulate over time to cause a severely contracted muscles or groups of muscles. 

Many experts use the term repetitive strain injury or RSI, but I believe a more accurate term would be repetitive traumatic strain injury or RTSI. Typing at a computer station is only one type of RTSI or RSI. The last group of injuries is the minor injury group which simply represents everybody’s daily life such as sitting, sleeping, walking or standing.

Minor injuries could be thought of as very minor RTSI. I find it best to think of it as a fact of life that we will all develop muscle injuries of all kinds, minor, intermediate and major, and that these injuries will all accumulate to determine what pain problem you will develop. 

A common example is the young athlete who injures his right low back in football at fifteen years of age and seems to make a great recovery. Five, ten or even twenty years later he seems to develop right-sided low back pain, or right hip pain or even right knee or foot pain. He may even develop arthritis in these areas. 

This would represent the slow and persistent ravages of short scarred muscle known as myofascial pain pinching nerve in the low back. Remember when your grandmother said "that your old injuries come back to haunt you." She was right. 

Right now, I want you to remember that muscles in our spine and limbs are injured with day to day life, sports and by accidents, and that these injuries cause accumulated muscle shortening.