Dr. Jason Winkelmann

06/09/2026

Part 2: Most people with chronic pain are told: “Steroids reduce inflammation, so they must help healing.”

But that’s not how your body works.

Inflammation is part of the repair process — not just the source of pain.

Your body is managing:
• Immune signaling
• Tissue repair
• Inflammatory regulation

And steroids directly impact all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

When your body experiences stress, injury, infection, or autoimmune activation, it releases arachidonic acid — the starting point of the acute inflammatory response.

Part of this pathway produces prostaglandins, which create:
• Pain
• Redness
• Heat
• Swelling

Steroids block the pathway before arachidonic acid is even released.

That means less inflammation and often rapid symptom relief. But it also means your body produces fewer immune cells involved in healing and recovery.

That matters because:

→ Inflammation may be reduced, but repair can slow down
→ Blood sugar regulation can become disrupted
→ Sleep, recovery, and muscle maintenance can worsen

At the same time, this also affects:

• Fluid balance
• Nervous system recovery
• Immune function

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Pain → inflammation suppression → impaired recovery → recurring symptoms

This is why chronic pain isn’t just about shutting inflammation off.

It’s about regulating inflammation appropriately.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.

06/08/2026

Part 1: Most people with chronic pain are told: “Just take anti-inflammatories every day.”

But that’s not how your body works.

Pain and inflammation are part of a larger healing process — not just something to suppress.

Your body is managing:
• Inflammation
• Tissue repair
• Nervous system signaling

And NSAIDs directly impact all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

When tissue is damaged or stressed, your body releases inflammatory chemicals called prostaglandins. These chemicals increase pain, redness, heat, and swelling — which is why medications like ibuprofen, Advil, Aleve, and Tylenol can temporarily reduce symptoms.

But prostaglandins also help:
• Protect your gut lining
• Maintain kidney blood flow
• Trigger resolution of inflammation

When these pathways are repeatedly suppressed, your body may feel better temporarily while also slowing parts of the healing response.

That matters because:

→ Pain can become more prolonged
→ Inflammation may not fully resolve
→ Gut and kidney stress can increase over time

At the same time, this also affects:

• Immune regulation
• Recovery signaling
• Nervous system sensitivity

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Pain → symptom suppression → incomplete resolution → more chronic inflammation

This is why chronic pain isn’t just about pain itself.

It’s about the physiology underneath it.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.

06/07/2026

https://www.mytruehealthcenters.com/post/why-your-muscles-are-tight-achy-and-painful-what-chronic-pain-is-actually-doing-to-your-tissue

Why do muscles stay tight and achy in chronic pain? Learn how poor circulation, nervous system dysfunction, inflammation, and impaired tissue recovery keep muscles from fully relaxing — and why stretching alone often fails.

06/05/2026

https://youtu.be/cJNQlhRm8mo

Tight, achy muscles are one of the most common symptoms in chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia — but what if the muscles themselves aren’t actually the...

06/04/2026

Part 5: Most people with chronic pain are told: “Your muscles are tight.”

But what if the problem isn’t just the muscles?

What if the fascia surrounding those muscles is also changing?

Your body is managing:
• Muscle movement and coordination
• Connective tissue tension
• Pain signaling throughout the body

And fascia directly impacts all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

Fascia is connective tissue that surrounds muscles and helps different tissue layers glide smoothly against each other.

But in chronic pain conditions, fascia can undergo a process called densification.

That means the tissue becomes:
• Thicker
• Less flexible
• More fibrotic

As fascia loses its ability to glide normally, friction increases between muscle layers.

But the bigger issue is this:

Densified fascia increases cells called myofibroblasts.

Myofibroblasts generate sustained tension throughout the connective tissue system.

Unlike muscles — which stop and start at joints — fascia forms continuous chains throughout the body.

So tension in one area can create pain somewhere completely different.

That matters because:

→ Increased fascial tension activates pain receptors
→ Restricted tissue movement increases stiffness and guarding
→ Sustained tension can spread pain patterns throughout the body

At the same time, this also affects:

• Trigger point formation
• Nervous system sensitization
• Whole-body movement mechanics

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Muscle tension → fascial densification → more tissue tension → increased pain signaling

This is why chronic pain isn’t always just a muscle problem.

It can also involve pathologic changes in the connective tissue surrounding those muscles.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.

06/03/2026

Part 4: Most people with chronic pain are told: “Your stress is just making the pain feel worse.”

But stress and pain are far more connected than that.

In many chronic pain conditions, stress physiology directly contributes to muscle tension, reduced blood flow, and pain amplification.

Your body is managing:
• Nervous system activation
• Muscle tone and guarding
• Blood flow and oxygen delivery

And chronic stress directly impacts all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

Stress and anxiety activate your sympathetic nervous system — your fight-or-flight response.

One of the effects of sympathetic activation is increased muscle tone.

Muscle tone is the constant low-level contraction your muscles maintain at all times so your body can react quickly when needed.

Under normal circumstances, that’s helpful.

But when stress becomes chronic, your muscles stay partially contracted for prolonged periods.

And if you’re not physically fighting or fleeing, those muscles never fully release.

Over time, that chronic guarding starts reducing circulation to the tissue.

Which means the muscles receive less:
• Oxygen
• Magnesium
• ATP (cellular energy)

That matters because:

→ Reduced blood flow increases muscle pain and tightness
→ Oxygen deprivation sensitizes nerves
→ Pain itself creates even more stress physiology

At the same time, this also affects:

• Trigger point formation
• Central sensitization
• Autonomic nervous system regulation

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Stress activation → muscle guarding → reduced circulation → pain → more stress activation

This is why chronic pain and the emotional stress surrounding it cannot always be separated into different conditions.

They are often part of the same physiologic loop.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.

06/03/2026

Part 3: Muscle pain is not always because you overdid it. Sometimes it’s because you’re not moving enough.

Most people with chronic pain assume pain only comes from excessive activity.

But your body was designed for movement variability — not prolonged static tension.

Your body is managing:
• Muscle fiber recruitment
• Blood flow and oxygen delivery
• Nervous system threat detection

And prolonged postures directly impact all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

Your muscles contain different types of muscle fibers.

For low-level endurance tasks — like sitting at a desk, driving, scrolling on the couch, or holding posture all day — your body recruits small endurance fibers first.

These fibers are called low-threshold motor units.

But here’s the problem:

They’re the first fibers recruited…
and the last fibers released.

So during prolonged static positions, these fibers stay active continuously without getting adequate recovery.

Researchers call this the “Cinderella Hypothesis.”

Over time, those constantly active fibers can become:
• Oxygen deprived
• Metabolically fatigued
• Hyper-sensitive

That matters because:

→ Reduced circulation increases muscle tension
→ Fatigued tissue becomes painful
→ The brain starts interpreting those muscles as areas of danger

At the same time, this also affects:

• Trigger point formation
• Central pain sensitization
• Protective muscle guarding patterns

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Static tension → muscle fatigue → pain signaling → more guarding and tension

This is why chronic pain isn’t always caused by too much movement.

Sometimes it develops because the body stopped getting enough movement variability.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.

06/01/2026

Part 2: Most people with chronic pain are told: “Tight muscles just mean you need to stretch more.”

But that’s not how chronic pain physiology works.

Under normal circumstances, tight muscles happen because a muscle was overworked.

But in chronic pain conditions, tight, achy, and painful muscles are often tissues that cannot fully recover.

Your body is managing:
• Oxygen delivery to tissues
• Inflammation and nerve sensitivity
• Cellular energy production

And chronic muscle tension directly impacts all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

Healthy muscles contract and relax normally.

But chronically tight muscles can become stuck in a partially contracted state, limiting blood flow to the tissue.

When that happens, the muscle starts accumulating:
• Inflammatory chemicals
• Metabolic waste
• Acidic byproducts from low oxygen states

Biopsies of chronic trigger points and fibromyalgia tender points consistently show elevated inflammatory mediators like:

• Bradykinin
• TNF-alpha
• Interleukins 1β, 6, and 8
• Substance P
• CGRP

These chemicals increase pain sensitivity and keep nerves in a hyper-reactive state.

That matters because:

→ Reduced oxygen creates tissue acidosis
→ Acidosis increases nerve hypersensitivity
→ Inflammation keeps muscles from fully recovering

At the same time, this also affects:

• Mitochondrial ATP production
• Blood vessel regulation
• Central pain amplification pathways

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Muscle tension → poor circulation → inflammation and acidosis → more pain and tightness

This is why chronic pain isn’t just about “tight muscles.”

It’s about tissues that no longer have the resources to properly recover.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.

05/31/2026

Part 1: Most people with chronic pain are told: “Your muscles are tight because you’re stressed.”

But that’s not how your body works.

Tight, achy muscles are often a sign of deeper physiologic dysfunction — especially poor oxygen delivery, low ATP production, and impaired muscle relaxation.

Your body is managing:
• Muscle contraction and relaxation
• Blood flow and oxygen delivery
• Cellular energy production

And trigger points directly impact all of them.

Here’s what’s happening:

Muscles contract when calcium binds inside the muscle fibers.

But muscles only relax when magnesium helps remove that calcium.

If the muscle stays partially contracted, blood flow becomes restricted.

That means the muscle starts running low on:
• Oxygen
• Magnesium
• ATP (cellular energy)

When your body can’t restore those nutrients efficiently, trigger points form.

And those “knots” are often areas of localized oxygen deprivation.

That matters because:

→ Oxygen-deprived tissue becomes painful
→ Low ATP prevents muscles from relaxing
→ Restricted blood flow traps metabolic waste in the tissue

At the same time, this also affects:

• Nervous system sensitivity
• Mitochondrial energy production
• Pain amplification pathways

So your body gets stuck in a cycle of:

Muscle contraction → reduced circulation → oxygen deprivation → more pain and tightness

This is why fibromyalgia isn’t just about muscle pain.

It’s about the systems underneath it.

And when you understand the physiology,
your symptoms start to make sense.