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!