Posture

Today I am going to tackle a subject that I have been mulling over for months now. It’s a topic that has been ingrained in us by Mothers and Grandmothers everywhere. We are told “keep your shoulders back!” and “stand up straight!” but is posture really as important as we are led to believe?
 
I get clients everyday that come to me blaming the pain they are experiencing on their "bad posture". They say this almost in an ashamed manner, as if they deserve their pain because they caused it with their slouching, lopsided sitting, and inability to walk with a book balancing on the top of their head all day. 
 
I want to call BS on this socially common phrase of "I have bad posture".

First of all posture is more complex than a person not having the willpower to keep their shoulders back. Posture is deeply ingrained into our everyday lives and has probably been developing since you were a child. It is a collection of compensation patterns, stabilizing reflexes, and physical manifestations of your emotional comfort zone.

As a movement therapist, I deal with the musculoskeletal problems associated with posture, however the emotional components shouldn't be ignored. I believe the body feels and functions at it's best when it's moving.

Anybody who has leaned one way for a prolonged period of time, knows that the body doesn't like to sit still for too long. Therefore being in a hunched position at a computer for 8 hours will take it's toll on how your neck, shoulders, and low back feel at the end of your day. This conundrum however is a lot of times unavoidable. A lot of us have to work at a desk, which is not the most beneficial position for our bodies. You aren't choosing to be lazy causing this strain on your back, it's just something that we have to do. This is a strain that we put on our bodies because we are living life.

This is not a posture problem!

With NKT and other movement techniques, I help people feel more comfortable in their posture everyday. Clearing up compensation patterns allows the body to be positioned comfortably and these "posture problems" will clear up on their own.

So, what does all this mean for you?

1) Don't feel guilty about your so called "bad posture". We are all on a journey towards good, pain free movement. This journey doesn't happen over night!
2) You haven't been able to "fix" your posture by sheer will? So what? Those patterns are there for a reason! It is very difficult and in some cases close to impossible to fix your resting position by sheer force! How about finding out why you are most comfortable hunched forward and working with your body instead of against it!?
3) My biggest goal is to help my clients move comfortably and pain free, this arbitrary ideal we call posture may not be as important as our Grandmas told us.

Pain Isn't the Answer!

In my career as a massage therapist, I have had countless clients come to see me who are convinced that "no pain, no gain" is the only way they will feel better. Deeper work is often helpful in releasing soft tissues and a little bit of discomfort is necessary, however i believe excessive amounts of pressure often cause more harm than good.

Massage and bodywork should NEVER cause bruises and excessive soreness! It upsets me when i hear a client say that they were scared to come to see me at first because they have had a massage before that was painful. Don't get me wrong, a day of mild soreness can be normal, anymore than that is not. A skilled practitioner will never leave you with marks or bruises, and they will communicate with you and find out how your body responds best.

I am a huge believer in listening to the body. The muscles of the body always have a reason they are tight and painful, whether it be protecting itself or compensating for another muscle. I find listening to the body and finding out the cause of why the pain and tightness is there is more effective for lasting results and a more gentle session. When working with the muscles and soft tissue, it's much more beneficial to convince rather than force. Delivering pressure below the client’s pain threshold for a longer period of time has often produced better results than wailing on them with an elbow while they hold their breath and grimace in pain.
As always, listen to your body and keep it happy and healthy!

Glute Min!

This is my first muscle post on my official business page i wanted to make it a good one with an important muscle! This muscle i want to talk about today is a huge player in stabilizing the hips and you use it every time you take a step, it's called the gluteus minimus.

Even though the glute min is a small muscle, it's very important. It is located on the outside of the hip and is the deepest of all the glute muscles sitting under the glute medius and the glute max. The glute min is responsible for abducting the hip or bringing it away from the body as well as medially rotation the hip. It attaches on the top of the hip bone and runs down the side of your hip to attach on the greater trochanter of the femur. 

A huge function of the glute min is it helps stabilize your hips when you are standing on one leg, like when you are walking or running. Glute min helps to raise the opposite hip during walking so that the leg can swing through, without this very important muscle (and some help from glute med) that hip would collapse down and make walking much more difficult.

Keeping stable hips is so important for a healthy back and healthy knees also. My husband had debilitating pain in his right leg and into his knee for several years, we found glute min as one of his big problems. Glute min wasn't working correctly so other muscles of his legs had to overwork.

Take care of your body today, it works hard for you!

Gaining Momentum.....

The time has come to announce what I've been working on. I have been a massage therapist for 5 years now.  There are stats that say the burn out rate within the industry has been estimated at 50 to 90% within the first 3 to 5 years in practice. I have been on the edge for the past year or so, frustrated, tired, and not sure where i wanted to go in my career. 

It doesn't help that over the past year my entire world had been turned upside down. My husband and i moved across the country, he changed positions within his company and literally everything in our lives felt like it was crashing down. We never felt like we made the wrong decision, but the stress in our lives was high. On the flip side of the stress this change has been the push we needed. 

My big decision came after an accumulation of events and talking to a few of my mentors. The cross road had been laid out and I needed to make a decision about what i wanted my future career to look like. Everything fell in to place and the deciding factor was my husband saying to me "Elyse, you have to do this, i don't know why you wouldn't." The waffling i have been doing suddenly made complete sense! I need to find my passion again, what i love to do, the clients that i love to work with, if i don't I won't be able to be happy in my practice.

AND thus the idea of Momentum Massage and Bodywork was born! Starting May 1st i will be opening my own business in Newport News, VA. I am so excited! My passion has always been the structure and movement of the human body and my business is going to focus on those goals! 

There are many people that have helped me come to this conclusion, notably, my husband Ben, my mentor Shawn (shawnsmovementworld.wordpress.com), and my friend and trainer Gary (coastalfitnessva.com). This will be a new chapter in my practice and i really can't wait to get started!

Deep Six!

You may have heard of the piriformis muscle, and you may know that it is deep in your hip area and it's a real pain in the butt when it's angry, but did you know that the piriformis is actually only one of the six small muscles that make up your hip's external rotators AKA "the deep six".

The deep six are the piriformis, superior gemellus, inferior gemellus, obturator internus, obturator externus, and quadratus femoris. There wont be a quiz on those names, but it's important to your hip joint that these muscle are functioning properly.

They all externally rotate the hip like when you turn your foot out. They are also a big stabilizer for the hip joint itself. I find a lot of times the deep six have to stabilize extra when the much larger glute max is lazy. This can cause tightness and pain in the hip as well as range of motion problems and even worse, irritate the sciatic nerve.

Our bodies are very adaptable. When one muscle gets lazy a different muscle or set of muscles will try to take over the work in order to keep you upright and moving. It's like at your job when one employee with a special work project gets sick, two of his co workers have to take over this project. Though these two employees may get the job done, odds are it wont be done as well as if the specialized sick employee had done it. In this case these two muscles have completely different jobs, but if they don't step in, how will your body function?

It's important to not only address the symptoms but also the "why" of your pain. Your body works hard for you! Take care of it!

Happy Pop, Happy Knees

I'm going to finish up my study of the lower leg today with a post on a tiny muscle that can cause BIG issues. It's called the Popliteus. The Popliteus is a huge contributor in knee pain. 95% of knee pain cases i see has some dysfunction with this little muscle.

The Popliteus runs across the back of the knee from the lateral epicondyle of the femur to the back of the tibia. It is responsible for internal rotation of the lower leg as well as unlocking the knee from a fully straightened position. It also provides the knee with some very important stability.

With my clients i find the popliteus overworked a lot! I have found the popliteus to have a really hard time after ACL surgerys and ligament tears as well. In order to have healthy knees, you have to have happy politeus'.
I recently had a cyclist client come to me with constant achy knees and trouble fully straightening his knees after a long bike ride. After our session, we were able to find a compensation pattern with his Popliteus overworking for his hamstrings. It's no wonder his knees were complaining!

If you or someone you know has knee pain or stiffness, it would be a good idea to get assessed and see if Popliteus is involved!

Don't Trip on Your Toes! Thank Tib Ant!

Since we have been talking about ankles, lets study another big player in ankle stability. It's the shin muscle called the Tibialis Anterior.

The Tibialis Anterior is the largest muscle on the front of the lower leg. It attaches on the top of the lateral condyle of the Tibia and goes down to attach on the first metatarsal of the foot.
The Tibialis Anterior is a dorsiflexor of the foot which is when you pull the top of your foot towards your shin. It also does a slight inversion of the foot. These actions are very important in stabilizing your ankles and legs when you walk. Without dorsiflexion and the Tib Anterior you would trip over your toes when trying to take a step and you wouldn't be able to balance on one leg as efficiently.
 

I find dysfunction in the Tib Anterior all the time, especially with runners. When the Tib Anterior gets angry shin splints can result. Any runner knows Shin splints are not fun and can often set back your training. Keep Tibialis Anterior happy by getting assessed! “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Have a great day folks!