Weird Need To Stretch

Training
1

[just realized i posted this in the wrong sub. if a mod could move this to bigger, stronger, leaner, that would be appreciated]
hi everyone.

recently i’ve been noticing that sometimes i feel a strange urge to forcefully contract some muscles for an extended period of time.

for example, i often find myself extending my leg to the point where mu quads almost hurt, keeping that position for a few seconds, which strangely makes me feel better.

often, when i’m sitting i extend my arms over my head and reach behind, while very forcefully contracting my back muscles (i can really feel a strong contraction in my traps), whereas if i’m standing i sometimes feel the need to grab onto something over my head and extend my back (which stretches my abs).

this wouldn’t even sound strange, if it didn’t happen like 10 times a day!

i’ve come to the conclusion i’m doing it to subconsciously release tension in the muscles i stretch, although i don’t really feel a stretch in the “target” muscle (except for the abs), rather a very strong contraction in the opposite mucles.

i’m wondering what the cause is, and if maybe i should start stretching regularly, because to me it looks like i have like accumulated undue tension in the muscles or something.

can that by any means be the case?

2

Google a combination of these search terms:

Compulsive
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Muscle
Tensing
Stretching
Contraction

3

Hi and thank you.

For a period of my life I have experienced some mild symptoms of what having ocd could look like (at least that’s how I recognized them as I got older), and because of that I can tell you that this specific time of contraction that I mentioned is not the case.

This isn’t by any means a “compulsive” thing: it’s more of a thin that I do without even thinking about (like you stretch upon waking up, just way more intense), it’s not something I feel obliged to do

But thank you anyway for giving me that small insight on ocd symtomps: that’s something I should look more into