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Author: Leah

How to Help Your Shoulder Pain

Published: 6 June 2014
Written by Leah
1 Comment
Categories: Blog

Addressing Shoulder Tightness & Pain Continuing on our trigger point journey, I thought the shoulders would be our next stop. A very common pain or soreness occurs just next to the scapula, around your midback.

Even though the pain is in the back, this is not due to muscles acting on your spine, but due to muscles acting on your lovely shoulder joint. And as I sit here writing on the computer, I am trying to keep my posture in check – not to force good posture, but to find a place where my spine can stack and my shoulders can rest back in their sockets.

The Overworked Rhomboids

Sure, it’s helpful to get trigger points out of your rhomboids (the muscles in the back that attach your scapula to your spine). But guess what might be creating those trigger points.. It’s usually shortness in the front of the shoulder.

So, while it’s great to hammer out the rhomboids, the front of your shoulder, where your pecs lie, is an important area to address.

The Lovely Pectoralis Major & Minor

Often overlooked because rarely is there pain here in the front of the chest, these pec muscles, when shortened (which is the case for most of us!), can cause much pain in the back of the shoulders, neck, or down the arm.

When they become short (usually from continuous sitting or standing with slumped shoulders),the muscles in the back of the shoulder become lengthened and have to work harder against gravity to hold your shoulders back! This is why we experience pain in the back and not where the short, tight, and much neglected pecs lie. They are doing just fine being tight and held, thank you very much… until you press on them and realize there is work that needs to be done!

It’s also extremely important to get your shoulder joint in good alignment.. when the front of our shoulders become overly shortened, it causes extra work for other muscles and in the end, the ligaments take a beating as well, and you are left with a rotator cuff injury. Not fun.

Self Care Techniques to Open the Shoulder & Decrease Pain

Ball on Your Pecs:  Grab a small ball (tennis, racquet, or lacrosse work well) and stand facing a wall. Place that ball (between you and the wall) a few inches below your clavicle, more towards your shoulder in the meaty area of your pecs. Use your weight to lean into the ball and get a minnie massage in that area. You should hit your pec major and minor, and feel free to move the ball to a slightly different location and hold for a few mins.

Work one side for at least 5 mins and see how it compares to the other side- you might feel a surprising difference.

Move the ball slightly to one side if you experience any sort of nerve tingling/numbness down your arm or in your fingers. You don’t want to aggravate the nerves of your brachial plexus.

The Wall Angel: Another great exercise that I recommend many of my clients do is called the Wall Angel. And here’s a video that shows how to do it. Be sure to follow the directions carefully on how you should stand, etc. It is a great shoulder opener and also strengthens your muscles on the back of your shoulder.

Please don’t hesitate to call Leah for any advice on how you can help free your shoulder joint, creating more ease and less pain!

Free Bodied, specialized massage therapists Salt Lake 801-906-3222

 

How To Relieve A Stiff Pain In The Neck

Published: 25 June 2013
Written by Leah
2 Comments
Categories: Blog

Neck pain can be oh so aggravating. It can come on in a flash, get worse over time, and have the potential to drastically decrease the movement of your head. Not fun when you have to look over your shoulder to check your blind spot.

So, I’m here to give you some important information on the most common trigger points that cause neck pain. What causes them, and how you can treat them to relieve neck pain.

Levator Scapulae trigger points: Ouch, I can’t turn my head

This muscle attaches to your cervical spine (your neck) and the top of your scapula (shoulder blade). Trigger points in levator scapulae can make it quite painful to turn or tilt your head to one side.

levator scapulae trigger point
An X shows a trigger point, and the red is the pain area

It’s name would suggest that it elevates the scapulae, which is what it’s supposed to do. Unfortunately, for a lot of the population here in the US, this muscle has been recruited to hold our forward heads back, much like a bridle to a horse. If we didn’t have muscles doing that, our heads would continue to be pulled more forward and down by gravity.

Because levator scapulae is not meant to be the head-holder-upper, it gets overloaded and develops trigger points, which in turn cause pain.

Now, the main culprit is not levator scapulae. It is the forward head posture, exacerbated by tightness in the front of the neck (from years of poor posture). So you can press on the trigger point as much as you want, but until you release the front of your neck, and start sitting with your spine stacked, head floating up not forward, then you will continue to get neck pain.

What you can do to relieve the pain

To find some immediate pain relief if you’re experiencing this neck pain, search around with your fingers of the opposite arm and find a tender, intense spot. Apply pressure there (sometime letting go for a second) for about 2 mins or until the pain starts to dissipate. Then find another point and repeat.
sitting posture
You really know you’re on the right point when you feel the referral/radiating sensation that causes your neck pain. A theracane or a trigger point massage therapist, like our therapists here in salt lake, also help to relieve the immediate pain.

To fully alleviate the pain and prevent it from returning, getting a myofascial or structural massage is key. Following that up with changing your sitting and standing habits (not by forcing good posture, but by stacking your spine) will help you for a lifetime. And yes, you can still do this while sitting at a computer all day!

 

Sign up for our newsletter  for the next installation of pain in the neck causing trigger points!

And feel free to call us if you have any questions about your neck pain. It’s possible we might be able to help you over the phone for massage and self care for neck pain in Salt Lake City – 801.906.3222.

What Are Those Knots?

Published: 18 April 2013
Written by Leah
4 Comments
Categories: Blog
Trigger Point Therapy Salt Lake City
Overlooked headache trigger points

Well, it’s about time I focused the next few articles on trigger points and treating with Trigger Point Therapy.. The following articles will be specific to areas like the shoulder, low back, neck, etc, so stay tuned!

Before I dive straight into specific areas of pain that we can address (and you can address at home), I thought it important to talk about trigger points in general- what exactly are they anyway? how do I (and you) relieve them? and how can you prevent them from causing pain?

What Are Trigger Points?

Trigger points are found in soft tissues, primarily muscles and fascia (the connective that acts like a web throughout your body to hold everything together). They are primarily caused by muscle overload (whether it be from postural overload, repetitive stress overload, exertion overload, etc). And trigger points cause localized pain or referred pain to another area, which is how some trigger points are left untreated- we assume the area of pain is the place to treat.

A trigger point is a small area of muscle that has stayed contracted without a nerve impulse, forming a little knot. This usually causes a muscle to feel tight, and it will contribute to weakening the rest of the muscle. A trigger point, if left untreated, causes a chain reaction of other trigger point areas emerging, as other muscle groups have to compensate for this weakened, inefficient muscle. Many times a diagnosed “tendonitis” is actually trigger points causing pain, and can be treated with Trigger Point Therapy.

According to Dr. Janet Travell, who pioneered myofascial pain research and treatment, trigger points are the sole cause of pain seen in clinics 85% of the time. That’s a huge percentage!

Treatment

Trigger points are best treated by massage – self massage can do the trick too!- but more specifically, Trigger Point Therapy, where the massage therapist places pressure on the trigger point, usually causing some tenderness and referral sensations. This pressure helps release the held muscle tissue, and causes more blood flow (and thus oxygen for healing) to the area. Creating some minor, bearable pain while pressing on a trigger point will send your brain a signal- there is pain! Then, a slight neurological happening occurs- when the massage therapist (or you) releases pressure on the point, the pain goes away and your brain forgets about the previous, chronic pain that was there to begin with. This is similar to the Gate Control Theory of Pain.

After you’ve released the nagging trigger point and relieved your pain, it’s important to find out how the trigger points developed, so you can prevent them from returning. Did they develop because of bad postural patterns? An old injury that your body has compensated for for years? Or maybe a minor acute injury, that within a week or two, could heal on its own. You might need some guidance to get to the root of the problem (I know I have a hard time figuring out what’s actually going on with me without an outside eye), so seek help. We at Free Bodied are always here to answer any questions you might have to help lead you towards pain relief.

Prevention

Move yourself! That’s right, get into some sort of exercise regimen. Building up strength with prevent muscle overload (remember, that’s the primary cause of trigger points). I highly recommend crossfit because of it’s varied exercises and importance in taking the joints to their full range of motion (just make sure you go at your own pace). If you are just running or just biking or just getting on the eliptical, you are not moving your body at full capacity. We all start somewhere, so if it’s starting with a 10 min walk 4 times a week, start there! And then do some stretches post walk.

If you are afraid of starting to exercise (or getting back into exercise) because of pain, start by talking to some specialists and ask their opinion- maybe a physical therapist, a crossfit trainer, an acupuncturist, or a massage therapist (not a surgeon!). They will give you a good idea as to what you might be able to do and whether or not you might need to see a surgeon or might not.

Develop good postural habits. Like your mum (or dad) always told you, sit up straight! This should be done by stacking your spine, not by forcing your shoulders back and your chest forward. Here’s a great video by Ruthie Streiter (a dear friend of mine in NY) that I recommend many of my clients to watch so they can sit well. If this is hard for you, you can also try sitting at the back of your seat, using the seat’s back to prop your butt so it has that slight curve. Just make sure your feet are planted on the ground.

I hope this information sparks some interest in the journey of your healthy body. Remember, we are all working on something at any given moment. It is not just the resolution of pain or disease that is important, but also the knowledge and understanding we receive along the way.

Do you have a specific area of pain you’d like me to talk about in my next article on trigger points? Please let me know in the comment box below. For knee pain trigger points, check out this article.

Here’s to your health!