Why am I stronger when my muscles are slack?

[MayFlowers21]

Hi, I am a 19 year old female and I have noticed something interesting. Any time I exert any effort to complete an act of strength like turn on the shower, open bottles, lift a mini fridge, etc it is really hard to do it, but when I completely slack my muscles, my strength increases signifigantly to ripping off shower knobs, being able to do pushups, etc. I was wondering if this is normal and maybe I just didn't know it or if it might be an issue. I also have a problem with experiencing certain sensations, like I was stirring a boiling pot of pasta and didn't even realize my hand was in the water for like 2 minutes. My whole hand was red and dripping wet but I didn't even realize. Other times I have increased pain, like I bumped into a pole and I didn't think I hit it that hard but I felt like I had broke a bone and my arm was bruised. I don't have health insurance right now, so I'm just wondering what it could be and if I should be concerned

[Paxiled]

I can't say I have a clue why you don't feel pain.  AnxiousNoMore is right, if you actually put your hand in boiling water for 2 minutes and didn't end up in the emergency room maybe you're from a different planet, you know?  But seriously, he's right, it probably wasn't actually boiling.  Some people do have disorders where their nervous systems don't work and they don't detect pain, which is our warning system not to keep doing what we're doing.  If you have that, you need medical attention.  But the other stuff is just the way bodies work.  If you tense up every time you try to exert strength, you will exert strength less effectively and get hurt more often.  Every athlete tries to relax before exertion.  Martial arts is all about emptying the mind so you can put your entire focus and energy into a movement, and it's also about what is called push/pull, or using the flex in your body to maximize output.  If you're always tensing up the muscles will work harder but not more efficiently and with less force, whereas if you are able to relax into the effort you will be stronger, combining mind and body.  Watch athletes take a deep breath before an action -- that's to clear the tension that impedes movement and concentration.  We concentrate best when we don't force it.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

Also for item 3. you would have to see a doctor to find out if some parts of your body are feeling more pain than they should. It is possible to have a condition that COULD cause this.

[AnxiousNoMore]

1  Muscles can't react by creating a power boost when you relax them, unless they are tired and needed a break so maybe that is what happened. Or you can exert more force than normal just by mentally psyching yourself up to the point that you overcome the obstacle in your path, so perhaps that is what you are doing. Some athletes have superstitions that some things will slow them down like getting their hair cut on the day of a game even though it has no physical effect. However they will perform better when they don't do whatever they think will slow them down, so they perform better when these mental roadblocks are not present.

2 It is possible that you have a sensory issue that inhibits your sense of pain that you should normally feel from a burn. Until you can see a doctor to review if you have an issue, consider using oven mitts when cooking to  protect yourself, sunscreen when going outdoors and gloves when handling harsh chemicals. However, you didn't mention getting a second or third degree burn from immersing your hands in boiling water for 2 minutes, so if that didn't happen perhaps the water wasn't as hot as you thought it was - I'm not trying to disagree with your claim that you have less sense of pain than you should have, but there has to be physical damage to skin after 2 minutes in that temperature.

3 Likely you hit the pole harder than you thought, or else hit a spot that is sensitive - example hitting the funny bone is an unpleasant experience. Wrestlers know where this spot is so one tactic to gain an advantage over their opponent is to grab that spot to stun them.