IT Band

My next abused muscle post is going to be on something that is not actually a muscle at all. However it's a common structure that every massage therapist, personal trainer, and physical therapist has struggled with at one time or another. It's a pretty familiar term for athletes and it can be a real pain. We are going to spend some time talking about the IT band.

Chances are if you have used a foam roller, you have been told to roll out your IT band. Rolling out your IT bands is painful, and probably hasn't helped you a whole lot. It's time to stop abusing your poor IT bands. The iliotibial band is a thick band of connective tissue on the outside of the knee, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running and walking. A lot of times runners will develop tight IT bands that can irritate the knees and hips. 

The IT band's fibers blend into a small muscle called the tensor fascia latae or the TFL. The TFL can cause lots of problems with the IT band. Sometimes the TFL is overworking for lazy hip flexors, if that's the case the TFL will pull on the IT band and cause it to be tight and painful, even if that isn't where the problem actually is.

If you are having issues with the outsides of your knees and your IT band is tight and painful, get assessed and find out WHY. Stop the abuse of muscles that don't deserve it!

Scapegoat Muscle #1

I am going to start a new series of muscle posts. I'm going to call it the scapegoat muscles. These muscles are common muscles to beat on. They get stretched, poked, rolled, and punished, and often they aren't the problem, but taking up the slack for muscles that aren't functioning to their full potential.

My first scapegoat muscle is one that gets blamed for lots of different pains, mostly in the hips and legs. Our muscle today is the PIRIFORMIS.

The Piriformis is a deep hip muscle. It's a relatively small muscle, compared to other muscles in the area, but when dysfunctional, can cause big problems. The sciatic nerve runs under the Piriformis, so a tight Piriformis can pinch the sciatic nerve causing lots and lots of hip, and low back pain, numbness, and tingling. The Piriformis attaches on the sacrum and runs to the greater trochanter of the femur. 

It is responsible for lateral rotation of the hip and abduction when the hip is flexed. In other words, if you rest one ankle on the opposite knee, you will feel your Piriformis. The Piriformis is imperative to stability of the pelvis, so, we use it everyday when we walk and stand.

I find the Piriformis overworking all the time in my practice, most commonly, i see the large glute muscles underworking, causing poor little piriformis to have to pull the slack of a much bigger muscle. It's no wonder it hurts! Instead of punishing Piriformis, i like to find the cause and correct that.

Have a great day everyone!

Literally A Pain in the Neck

Hi, i have taken a break from my muscle posts lately, because, honestly, i just wasn't feeling them. I was annoyed by it and decided to work on other things for a while. Needless to say i have come around, and i'm back now!

I have a super exciting muscle to talk about today, and a muscle that lots and lots of people have problems with. This trouble muscle is called the splenius capitis.

The splenius capitis is a broad muscle located at the back of the neck. It attaches at the base of the skull and runs down to C-7 or that hump at the base of your neck down to the first couple thoracic vertebrae. When one of these muscles work it makes the head turn and bend towards one side, and when they both fire, it brings the head upright.

In my practice i see the splenius capitis overworking a lot for the front neck muscles! In a good majority of whiplash cases this is the case! Poor Splenius capitis is carrying your noggin around, maybe we shouldn't punish it, but find the muscle that isn't working as well and strengthen them!

Dysfunction in the splenius capitis muscle can cause lots of havoc with the neck and shoulders, but also cause headaches and sometimes pain into the face. If your neck has been bothering you, get assessed and a massage! You're body will thank you!

Nut Shell

I am the worst blogger.
I will claim the reason is being busy and move on.

I'm super excited to start learning a new modality in my body work practice. I have started a lymphatic drainage course and i am so excited about it. I have always been interested in the gentle, yet drastic work of MLD and it's super exciting to finally be able to dive in. As always my NKT work is ever growing and learning. There are always cases that stump me, but i believe i continue to learn and grow everyday, and that is what is important to me.

I feel very lucky to have found a Elements Massage and wellness center. This place is awesome and i am going to be working on promoting it and my own practice there. It's nice to be able to believe in where you are working. Networking has never been a strength for me, but i have acquired a kick in the ass lately that I needed, and i feel excited and ready!

Personally, I have been going through challenges. Family is tough to handle sometimes, however, i do have an support system, they know who they are. I don't think i would have survived the last couple months without a select few people.

So, That's my life in a nutshell. I will be posting a new anatomy post soon!

MS 150

On Saturday i had a great time working on the bicyclists of the MS 150 event. I tried to keep any big changes at a minimum due to the athletes having to ride another 75 miles the next day. I did have great results with a man who was having spasms in his left hamstring, we found his left hamstring under working and his right lumbar erectors overworking. Some quick work and he got off the table with no pain or spasm in his hamstring. Because his hamstrings were offline they were probably seizing up to protect themselves during his 75 mile bike ride. I was very satisfying to see this high level athlete feel the differences in his body as we tested and especially feel the relief when we were done.

The Less Boring Adductor Group

This next muscle post is going to be a little different. I am going to tackle a group of muscles as opposed to an individual muscle. The main reason for this is because i get bored easy, and i don't want to bore anyone else either. This group is the hip adductor group. Each one of the adductor muscles are important, however, i don't always know what adductor i am working on, so i usually address them in my practice as just the adductors. They are really important muscles to athletes, such as football players and sprinters who requires fast, sudden directional changes.

The hip adductor muscles are the muscles in your inner thigh and groin. They consist of 5 muscles. The pectineus, adductor brevis and adductor longus are known as the short adductors which go from the pelvis to the thigh bone. The gracilis and adductor magnus are the long adductors which go from the pelvis to the knee.

The function of the adductors, as the name gives away, adducts the leg or brings it towards the midline of the body. They also stabilize and control the legs and also help in medially rotating the leg and flexing the hip.

The adductors can be overworking as well and sometimes underworking. The pectineus muscle sometimes will be overworking for bigger stronger hip flexors like the psoas and that can cause groin strains in athletes. If you stretch the adductors out and they are compensating and stabilizing the body, without strengthening the underworking muscle, you will leave the body unstable and more prone to injury. Another option is the body will tighten those adductors up again, because it needs that stability and the pain to return.

In athletes i have worked on, the adductors are a huge player in keeping them healthy and functioning at their best! If you, or someone you know, have been having groin pain, i believe NKT is the best way to find out what's going on. Find an NKT practitioner near you!

Neurokinetic Therapy: The Basics

My practice is what i consider my art. I try to pull from all different modalities and learn as much as i can so i can help my clients to the best of my ability. There is one modality that has changed how i look at the body and has helped me understand movement and anatomy better than i ever have. I took NKT level 1 last October. Neurokinetic therapy or NKT is a system used to correct movement dysfunction in the body.

One of the biggest things that NKT has taught me is that the body will always have a reason. There is always a reason for tightness and pain. The body is smart and it will do whatever it has to do to keep itself upright and moving. The founder or NKT, David Weinstock always says "don't poke for no reason." And i have adopted this outlook and stopped releasing, stretching, and strengthening the body for no reason.

The basis for NKT starts in the motor control center of the brain. The MCC stores all movement patterns. When muscles aren't working, other muscles have to step up and provide the body with stability. When muscles overwork it's no surprise when there is pain and tightness.

When most massage therapists do deep tissue work they will go straight for the tight and painful area and release it. That will only help for a short time because it leaves the body unstable and it will have to find that stability again once the client gets up off the table. The real problem is the muscles that aren't working correctly NKT helps find the root cause of the issue and correct the dysfunctional pattern so that we will achieve lasting results.

I have seen amazing results with NKT. I find clients who have chronic issues who have tried everything, see great results with NKT. Athletes who have hit a wall with their time or weight can often break through after getting assessed. Know why you have pain and correct it, your body will thank you!

Stay healthy and have a great day!

You Can't Run Without It!

I'm going to continue with the muscles of the leg today in this anatomy post. This next muscle is one i find dysfunctional a lot. It is a two joint muscle and is imperative to healthy walking and healthy knees. It's one of the four quadricep muscles, the rectus femoris! The rectus femoris or the rec fem as i affectionately call it, sits in the middle of the front of the thigh and runs straight down from hip to knee.

Because it's a two joint muscle, it functions to both flex the thigh at the hip as well as extend the knee joint. The rec fem is a weak hip flexor and is more of a helper to the psoas and illiacus. It's also an antagonist or functional opposite to the hamstrings.

I have found the rec fem to be sometimes overworking and sometimes underworking. When it overworks it can put a lot of strain on the patellar tendon and cause knee issues. When it's underworking it can cause groin, hamstring, or even low back to make up for it and cause pain and dysfunction.

I worked on a marathon runner who had a painful hamstring a while ago. She got to the point to where she couldn't even run a mile because she was in so much pain. Her rec fem was underworking and her hamstrings had to stabilize for it. Once we got her rec fem working again, her hamstring pain went away and she was able to run her double digit distances again. The rec fem is an important muscle to healthy movement and running!

Appreciate your rec fems today and have a wonderful day!

TFL

Well, it's time for me to get back in the swing of things. I went on an interview yesterday and i think i have found the place for me. I have spent countless hours trying to decide what my  dream job would look like. I knew i wanted a place that would value my vision, and respect the kind of work i like to do. I wanted a place where i can learn from other therapists, and also, maybe they could learn from me, and a place that values going out into the community and participating and promoting what we do. I have found that place. More on that as it becomes more official. :)

Lets get on with my anatomy post. This next muscle is a fun one. I have gotten the privilege to have A LOT of experience on this specific muscle because my husband has had issues with his in the past. It's a muscle that's name sounds super fancy and can cause super fancy problems if it's not working right.
This muscle is the Tensor Fascia Latae of the TFL.

The TFL is located on the outside of the hip and attaches on the outer edge of the illiac spine and goes down to blend into the IT band.

The TFL does many different functions, it's a hip flexor, rotates the leg inward, as well as abducts the leg or pulls the leg away from the midline of the body.

If the TFL is overworking, it can cause a lot of strain on the IT band and in turn cause pain and dysfunction in both the knee and the hip. I see this in a lot of runners. Some people want to foam roll their IT bands, that's great, but if you don't know why  you are foam rolling, it won't do much good in the long run.

The TFL can be underworking as well. If that happens, sometimes the groin muscles will have to overwork to stabilize the hip and that causes quite a bit of pain as well.

A good example of this is, my husband played competitive disc golf for many years. During his career he developed debilitating pain in his right hip that went all the way down the outside of his right leg and eventually started effecting his knee.   In disc golf he constantly used a run up and plant on the outside of his right leg. We found his TFL compensating for most of his adductor muscles as well as other core muscles. Once we started working with him, his pain lessened greatly, and today, he is pain free.

If your an athlete and you have problems with your IT band, you might want to check out your TFL!

Have a healthy day everyone!

Virginia!

It's official.....I made it to Virginia.

I have been in the state for 2 days now. I can't even begin to describe what has been running through my head these last couple days. This experience is unbelievable. Being out of my comfort zone is the understatement of the year. I literally have zero comfort zone left. Surprisingly enough, i am in good spirits. I am learning massive amounts about myself, my goals, my surroundings, and my strength.

Being out of Michigan is bittersweet. I find myself savoring the familiar. Even something as small as the blanket i use at night or the restaurant i go to for lunch. That could have something to do with not having our home yet. The hotel we are staying is nice, but it's not our own. Hopefully we will have our own place in a week or two. My cat, Danny, is done traveling too.

Then comes the hard part, where do i want to work? I m learning the differences in culture from Michigan to Virginia. In VA everyone is friendly and everyone says "hello" if they catch your eye  and i have gotten the door held for me more in the last 2 days than an entire year in Michigan. They move a little slower and i am learning that i need to slow down too. I got a few looks when i was speed walking through Walmart yesterday. The drivers never seem to be in a hurry either. There was a line up of cars behind a mail truck today because nobody would pass him! I have a lot to learn and a lot to get used to i guess. I believe these differences will effect my practice and are things i need to be aware of.

Surviving the move down here has occupied 100% of my brain space lately, hopefully i will have more anatomy related thoughts soon. Stay tuned for that. :)

Have a great day today!

Anatomy Pun.....

Hahahahahahaha

Trouble Maker Iliacus

Today we are going to look at an often overlooked muscle. It can be a problem child muscle sometimes, but mostly because it's trying to do more than its fair share of work for the body. It's a brother of another muscle called the psoas, and sometimes people mash them together and call them one muscle. I think, however, it's special enough all by itself and should be treated as it's own.

Todays muscle is the Iliacus!


The Iliacus is found in the lower portion of the trunk. It's attached to the inside part of the hip bones and fits into a depression called the iliac fossa. The iliacus is a flat, triangular-ish muscle, and runs down to attach down onto the lesser trochanter of the inside part of the femur.
The Iliacus is a powerful hip flexor. It is important when you lift your leg forward, as well as when you bend your trunk forward, like in doing a sit up.

The iliacus is one of the first muscle that i look at when there is hip dysfunction or pain.
In my practice, Mr. Iliacus is caught  overworking often. It's important to make sure it's not pulling the pelvis forward. In the rare occasion that he's underworking, it's really bad news for the hips and low back too. An underworking Iliacus causes much difficulty in hip flexion and stability of the hips and back.
If you are having trouble with your hips or low back your iliacus may be involved!

Stay healthy and have a great night!

Self Discovery

My husband and i just found out that we are moving to Virginia. The move has been looming for a while we just never expected it to come up so soon. We have spent the last couple of days bouncing between sheer excitement and utter terror. One of the things that has been plaguing my mind is how i want to re-invent myself professionally.

I have been an massage therapist for about 2 and a half years. My focus is slowly developing. I have this opportunity to be whatever i want to be now after this move. I love helping people move better. I love seeing their ROM improve after working on them.

These past 2 and a half years have been a blur. I started off at a chiropractors office that was small and dysfunctional. I learned a huge amount there. I was doing between 25 and 30 massages a week there. I always came home at night sore as hell but so excited that i had found my career. That office ended up being shut down a year later, but that experience for me is something i will always appreciate. I learned about how to structure a massage, i learned palpation, and most importantly i learned patient management. This first year set me up for success.

After chiro #1, i was immediately hired by another chiro in the area. This office was so impressive to me. After a previous year of drama, uncertainty, and stress this new office seemed like a safe haven for me. There, i was pretty much independent in my work. I could make my own schedule and my only responsibilities were to give awesome massages and keep up with my massage notes. Here is where i really honed in on my skills. I took NKT(tm) and began incorporating that into my normal massage work. I refine, refine, refine, everyday.


Oh man, this self discovery thing is more complex than i thought. I guess i will continue this another day. :)

Rhomboids

This muscle is one that seems to bother everybody. People see me on a daily basis with problems in this area, and most people want very deep work, but is that really necessary?

That muscle is the Rhomboids! The rhomboids are actually two muscles, the rhomboid major and the rhomboid minor, but i tend to lump them together because they perform the same function. They are muscles of the shoulder that lie under the trapizus and run in between the shoulder blades.

The rhomboids attach on the spinous processes of the vertebrae from about C-7 down to T- 4 and run on a diagonal down to attach on the medial boarder of the scapula. This muscle is responsible for pulling the scapula towards the spine, keeping the scapula against the ribcage, elevating the scapula and rotating the scapula downward.

Posture is a hot word today. Rhomboids are often lumped into conversations about postural issues. Sometimes getting into the rhomboids and releasing the tension is necessary, but sometimes the rhomboids are not working properly and need to be strengthened. That is why i like to know what is going on before i release anything. Pain is tricky sometimes and doesn't always show up where the problem is.

My favorite: The Deltoid

Today i have decided to post about my one of my most favorite muscle. This muscle has been my favorite ever since i took my first anatomy class in high school, and it has stuck with me all these years. That muscle is the deltoid. The deltoid muscle covers the upper part of the shoulder joint and attaches on to the middle of the upper arm bone or the humerus. It's a big muscle and does many functions, so many that it is actually classified into 3 sections, anterior, middle, and posterior.

The delts are the heavy lifter of the shoulder, it is responsible for most of the abduction of the shoulder and helps to prevent dislocation of the shoulder when we carry heavy loads. Like when i carry my groceries to the house from the car in only one trip, and also helps hold those grocery bags away from the body enough so they don't hit my thighs when i walk.

The anterior fibers of the delts are responsible for moving the arm upwards and to the front of the body, also, they medially rotate the arm.

The middle fibers abduct the arm, meaning they move the arm out to the side, like you are forming an T with your body.

And lastly, the posterior fibers extend the shoulder, moving the arm down and behind you and also, outward rotation of the arm.

Without the deltoid muscles our shoulders would be in big trouble, that's why it's so important to keep your delts functioning correctly in conjunction with the smaller muscles of the shoulder.

Pec Minor

This next anatomy post i'm going to tackle is a big one. It's a muscle that i see causing shoulder, back, and neck problems on a daily basis. It's a tiny muscle but this little guy knows how to throw its weight around.

I'm going to talk about pectoralis minor. Pec minor is a thin, flat muscle found under the pectoralis major. It attaches to ribs 3, 4 and 5 on the front of both sides of the rib cage and goes up to the coracoid process of the scapula.

Pec minor is responsible and helpful in movement and stabilization of the scapula and shoulder. It's a downward rotator of the scapula as well as an internal rotator of the humerus.

A lot of times shoulders that are slumped forward, or what we hear called "poor posture" are caused by a shortened and overworking pec minors.
When i hear people say "i just have bad posture, i always have." I cringe a little. There is a reason for your "bad posture" and sometime pec minor may be a culprit!

Let's release those nastly little pec minors and strengthen some other opposing muscles that aren't working correctly, and allow your body to naturally relax back to where it should be!

SCM

So last week i got a suggestion on what muscle i should research next. This muscle has been a little bit of a challenge for me so i have been putting it off. Today I have decided to suck it up a tackle the thing. It's the Sternocleidomastoid muscle. Say that 10 times fast, or just make it easier on yourself and call it the SCM. The SCM, i have found, both being used too much, as well as not pulling it's weight and both ways causes a great amount of pain in the neck, head, and shoulders.

The SCM are front neck muscles. They are the big muscles that pop out when you turn your head to the opposite side. The SCM attaches on the clavicle and the sternum and then goes up and attaches on the mastoid process of the skull right behind the ear. If you watch an ab work out video, these muscles are often sticking out VERY noticeably. That tells me that the neck and abdominals are very closely related and sometimes if you do too much ab work when your abs are not strong enough, you will use your neck to compensate.

The SCM's flex the neck as well as rotates the head to the opposite side. The SCM is a breathing helper as well.

I have found these very important muscles causing so much trouble and even headaches at times! Keep this muscle in mind if you are having pain because it's very possible that it could be a contributor! Have a wonderful, sunny weekend folks!

Scalenes

I feel like the universes threw this muscle into my lap this week. In my work i will have weeks where all of my clients have problems with the same area. this week for me it's the scalene muscles. I have had some pretty good results this week, but i also realized that i don't know theses muscles as well as i would like to. The scalenes are relatively small muscles, and they aren't common place where people think their pain is coming from, however they are sneaky and can cause numerous problems.

There are three pairs of these muscles and they are along the sides of the neck. these muscles attach on the vertebrae from numbers 2 to 7 and come down and attach onto the first and second ribs.

The function of these muscles are to bend the neck to the side, like you were bringing your eye brow to the shoulder on the same side. They also assist with breathing and elevating the first and second ribs.

In chest breathers, the scalenes can become over working and tight because they are doing too much work. I find that people who are under a lot of stress will breathe primarily into their chest and it in turn causes pain in the neck.

Another important thing about the scalene muscles is they are surrounded and intertwined with many nerves and arteries. The most noteworthy is the brachial plexus which passes through the middle and anterior scalenes. If the scalenes become tight and put extra pressure onto the brachial plexus, numbness, tingling, pain, and loss of strength can result in the arms and hands.

If you are having trouble with your neck, shoulders, arms or hands, your scalenes may be playing a role in the dysfunction!

Stay healthy and enjoy the sunshine today!

The Unstretchables

The Unstetchables

This is a pretty cool article on muscles that are literally impossible to stretch. It seems to me like my industry is OBSESSED with stretching. I get clients on a daily basis whos chiro, PT, MD, Personal trainer, or other MT have told them to stretch their IT band. THIS kills me!!! I respectfully tell them my personal experience and try not to bash their other health care provider. But guys- The IT band CANNOT be stretched! Even if it could, the connective tissue that the IT band is made of is so tough there is no way to lengthen that.

As far as foam rolling, you are probably just punishing the musculature underneath the actual IT band. Find out WHY your muscles are tight. They are just trying to keep you upright and moving.

Gait Cycle

Here's a gait video i found helpful. I really liked how this guy explains it.

Crawling Like a Boss

I'm going to start implementing crawling into my daily routine. I would like to eventually learn how to include crawling and gait patterns into my sessions with clients. Starting with the basics. :)
Have a great day!