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By Rome Jorge, Lifestyle Editor
I never really believed in pasma until it happened to me.
I experienced it for
the first time upon taking cold shower after several sleepless
nights working on my college thesis. My entire body was wracked
with pain. It felt like all my muscles were tied up in knots. It
took a brutal massage of my 275-pound classmate as well as the
“hot” soothing sensation of copious amounts of liniment ointment
to make me fell better.
The second occurrence was after a relaxing
massage by the beach in Boracay. The masseuse told me knot to bathe
within an hour after her massage. Both a rational man who dismissed
folk beliefs and an impulsive cad who couldn’t resist the lure of
the waves, I found myself plunging into to the blue waters soon
after. Surely enough, my entire body ached.
Pasma—the Philippine folk belief that exposure
to cold soon after muscle fatigue induced by physical exertion, lack
of sleep, vigorous massage or even sex can cause muscle pain,
spasms, sweat palms or shaky hands—has arguably no exact western
medical equivalent or scientific explanation. The closest are:
fibromyalgia—chronic widespread pain and a heightened and painful
response to gentle touch—and myofascial pain syndrome—pain
caused by damage to the fascia or connective tissue that sheaths
muscles.
Melchor Tuquero, MD, notes, “We doctors
don’t advice against taking cold showers after physical
exhaustion. It’s muscle fatigue. Most probably, you would have
experienced muscle pain anyway even if you had not bathed or been
exposed to cold water.”
He adds that the “heat” from liniment oils,
balms and creams do not actually raise temperature. Rather, the
mint, camphor chilies or other components found in these oils, balms
and creams give the sensation of heat.
However he does note that the standard treatment
for muscle fatigue, hot compress, promotes increased circulation to
flush away toxins that may have built up with muscle exertion. With
great physical exertion, the muscle undergo anaerobic
metabolism—burning calories beyond the body’s capability to
provide sufficient oxygen. Thus, substances such as lactic acid are
produced. Dr. Tuquero notes that sudden exposure to cold can
possibly hinder circulation that flushes away such toxins.
Athletes have long known how to avoid muscle
pain and injury despite making great demands on their muscles.
Before any physical exertion, they must stretch and warm up to
promote circulation and flexibility. Afterwards, they must gradually
“warm down” and do stretches yet again to promote circulation.
Though they push their bodies to perform beyond limits, they do so
gradually, allowing their muscles time to recover and to build
strength upon strength. These same rules apply to all if people are
to avoid injury.
Tuquero cautions that with injuries such as
sprains and bruises, cold compress should first be applied to
prevent swelling. Only after 24 hours should hot compresses be used
to promote circulation.
For their part, physical therapists advocate
deep tissue massage to promote circulation and muscle relaxation.
Though palliative, oils and creams do help in relaxing the body and
thus allowing it to heal itself faster. Some physical therapists
advocate the use of ultrasound to heat muscles deep within the body
to achieve these same effects. However, there is yet no scientific
evidence to support the efficacy of ultrasound for fibromyalgia or
myofascial pain syndrome.
Science doesn’t have all the answers. Not yet.
It’s only this year doctors finally began to understand exactly
why muscles get tired.
In a report published online on February 11,
2008 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(www.pnas.org), Dr. Andrew Marks revealed that it was
calcium—necessary for the muscles to contract properly—and not
lactic acid that was to blame for muscle fatigue. He explains that
as muscles tire, they begin to leak calcium, thus weakening their
ability to contract. The calcium leaking around the muscle fibers
also provokes an enzyme that attacks the muscle fibers, further
weakening them.
Adapted over millions of years to overcome
physical challenges, the body reacts the same way when it counters
mental or emotional problems—it preps and revs up the body to
fight or to run by releasing epinephrine and norepinephrine hormones
that signals the body to release more calcium for muscles. But since
many of today’s challenges are mental and emotional and not
physical, the muscles tire and fatigue senselessly. This explains
the feeling exhaustion when under mental and emotional stress.
Over-stimulated by constant stress, muscles can fail to function
properly and sustain damage.
These findings have serious implications beyond
cases of body aches. After all, the heart is a muscle that must
never tire or experience pasma.
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