Got a medical question? Let me stretch my brain.

[Fumes]

Originally Posted by Cyanide

So, what this leads to is a case where, the moment a scarred muscle starts to fatigue too much through heavy strain (twisting while carrying something) or through prolonged use (like sleeping in a bad position), it lengthens under load, surpassing the length of the scar, the weak scar starts to tear, sends off massive numbers of pain signals to the central nervous system. In a reflex loop, signals short circuit back to the muscles to tell them to go into a massive contraction to protect themselves under load and then this loop just keeps cycling on itself.....resulting in muscle spasm.

Hmm...very interesting. Mrs. Fumes is a grad student and has been spending an inordinate amount of time sitting on a very worn out couch with her laptop and several large stacks of papers. I suggested that she get up and stretch occasionally, but oh no, there's too much work to do and no time. I would expect that sitting in an ergonomically inappropriate position for extended periods of time might be a trigger for back spasms.

This was quite enlightening! Thanks for taking the time, John.