Stable Hands Therapeutic Massage

07/04/2025

Happy 4th!!

02/19/2025

The important roles the diaphragm plays.

02/18/2025

A super cool animation og the diaphragm at work! Look at those connections to the spine!

01/24/2025

So many people have trouble getting up and down. The older we get, the more imperative it is to be able to get up from and get down to the floor. Pain, arthritis and immobility are some of the reasons people have which causes them to stop getting down on the floor. PRACTICE in stages. A little daily practice could really change your life!

To further your resilience, check out the Daily 21s movement program here:https://osi-online.com/courses/the-daily-21s-for-vitality/Have you read Tim's new b...

01/24/2025

Nice explanation! Stretching and foam rolling everything that "feels tight" isn't always the answer! Come get assessed and let's figure out what isn't working as well, and get rid of your compensations.

The biggest challenge with sciatica pain is not knowing what you don't know.

The Inconvenient Truth

Your thinking brain isn't made aware of the fact that ninety-nine percent of the practitioners who work with the musculoskeletal system lack the skill set to differentiate tight muscles from muscles that are underperforming.

Without the ability to determine the state of a muscle, your guess is as accurate as the practitioner, who is seen as the expert, the one with the answers.

When Your Feeling Brain Takes The Wheel

As counterintuitive as this may be, when muscles feel tight, that's not a clear way of knowing they're tight. In other words, relying solely on "feel" is not grounded in science.

Whether your muscles are tight or not is of no concern to your feeling brain. Your feeling brain, driven by emotions, has you targeting muscle tightness with one-size-fits-all stretches and releasing muscles and fascia with a foam roller or a lacrosse ball. Meanwhile, fascia is a mere distraction and muscle tightness is a symptom and a sensation that serves as a distractor.

You can't have tight muscles without underperforming muscles. If you're wondering what happens first, it's the underperforming muscles. See, your brain (the control center) is hard-wired to call upon tight muscles to protect the area it perceives to be vulnerable to an injury.

The Vicious Cycle

Stretching, rolling on a lacrosse ball, and attempting to release muscles with deep tissue massage ends up collecting muscles that are performing to the best of their ability. This approach increases instability (aka the threat). So, of course, by the next day, the tightness and symptoms return.

Compensation Is Cumulative

Tight muscles compensate for underperforming muscles. Because practitioners haven't been able to identify an underperforming muscle for decades, every injury and surgical procedure you've had has increased compensation and, ultimately, fragility.

The Best Strategy

When it comes to sciatica pain, the strategy that allows for the best outcome in the shortest amount of time is this: stop chasing pain and improve the neurological input to the muscles that are found to be underperforming.

Then, like clockwork, your brain recognizes stability, allowing for the relaxation of the muscles that are no longer required to pull the weight of the underperforming muscles.

The result I described in the previous sentence isn't possible without the ability to differentiate muscle tightness from muscle weakness. With over twenty years of experience ignoring muscle tightness and, instead, improving the neurological feedback between the brain and the muscles that are found to be underperforming, I'm confident when I tell you that, in most cases, the piriformis isn't tight. Yet, it's a muscle that can have the sensation of feeling tight. Another muscle that regularly feels tight but often isn't is the upper trapezius, a neck and shoulder muscle (hint, hint).

12/24/2024

Wishing everyone peaceful holidays, while we acknowledge there are many who are unable to be with loved ones this holiday season. Stay well and enjoy the blessings you have, whether they be big or small.

09/11/2024

Always remember 9/11🇺🇲

06/28/2024

I often find the Serratus Anterior underworking to over active Upper Traps or Pec Minor. This is an important scapular muscle! Here are some great ways to train it.

Send a message to learn more

06/28/2024

Working on the muscles in the feet is so important to the stability of our body. Try doing some foot mobility and strengthening and see how the rest of your body feels!

Last weekend we taught our newest course, Defying Gravity: Brain-Based Fall Prevention and Fall Preparation, to over 250 amazing Z-Health professionals. It was a blast!

One key idea we discussed during the course was how vital it is to strengthen the big toe to help both fall prevention and overall movement performance. Unfortunately, few people are aware of the need for big toe strength, and even fewer have a good grasp on exercise progressions that work well. We want to fix that in today’s blog.

Why Strengthen the Big Toe?

- Recent research highlights the importance of the big toe in maintaining balance, stability, and efficient force transfer during movement.
- The big toe plays a crucial role in balance and propulsion during walking and other activities.
- The flexor hallucis longus, the primary muscle responsible for big toe movement, is essential for maintaining the medial longitudinal arch (MLA) and ensuring proper force distribution across the foot.
- Weakness in the flexor hallucis longus muscle can lead to instability, inefficient force transfer, and an increased risk of falls.
- In research settings, older adults with stronger big toe flexor muscles demonstrate better balance and are less likely to fall compared to those with weaker muscles

Ready to learn how to strengthen it? Read more here: https://zhealtheducation.com/blog/prevent-falls-by-building-a-stronger-big-toe-3-amazing-exercises/

06/28/2024

03/19/2024

So many people come in with shoulder pathologies. The rotator cuff and other shoulder & neck muscles can be a complicated "fix". There are certainly many factors involved. In many cases rebalancing the muscles really helps manage the pain.

12/28/2023

I work with my client on breathing and share the importance of breathing through the nose. Is mouth taping a good option for you??

This video by Dr. Perry of Stop Chasing Pain, gives you more info on how this can affect your health. Worth the watch!!

New episode of the Stop Chasing Pain Mini-Podcast. Dr. Perry shares perspectives on things that may make your life better. Thank you for tuning in. Disclaime...