Pure Performance Massage

03/18/2025

02/26/2025

It's time to make massage part of your training plan.

02/26/2025

PURSE and POSTURE 😳

Sometimes a small thing that is done, but done over and over, can have a tremendous effect.

Carrying a purse or bag on one shoulder is one of those things!

Human shoulders are naturally sloped downward, so if we place a bag/purse there, it will slip off. The only way to keep it from slipping off is to isometrically contract our shoulder girdle muscles of elevation (upper trapezius and levator scapulae), for every second of every minute or every hour that the bag is worn!!! Multiply this by every day/week/month/year/decade, and the deleterious effects are tremendous!! 😵‍💫😵‍💫

And it really does not matter if the bag is not heavy. Even keeping an empty bag on the shoulder would cause this constant unremitting contraction, most certainly leading to tightness, dysfunction, and pain in the shoulder and neck, likely with headaches to follow.
Although a heavier bag would dig into the myofascial tissue more than a light bag would, especially if the strap is narrow.

Do we know anyone over the age of 25 who doesn’t have tight muscles and myofascial trigger points in their trap/lev scap/ back of neck area? 🤔

I hate to sound preachy, but this is one of my pet peeves. So often, I treat a patient for their tightness and pain in their neck. And then they thank me and promptly put their purse on the shoulder to leave. 😐😤

There is such an easy fix. Just buy a cross-body bag (preferably with a wide strap). It will naturally stay on the opposite shoulder without the need for any muscle contraction. 😊😎

And perhaps as you transfer all your stuff into this wonderful new cross-body bag, take away anything that you haven’t used for the past week. You probably don’t need to be carrying around all that stuff. 😊

01/13/2025

The Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL) is superficial and can be easily palpated by asking the client to first medially rotate their thigh at the hip joint, and then flex the thigh against mild/moderate resistance. This will cause the TFL to pop and can be easily felt.

If you position the client supine with the thigh on the table and the (lower) leg hanging down off the end of the table, it is easier to have the client not engage quadriceps musculature… so it is easier to discern the TFL.

If the client is supine with the entire lower extremity on the table (which is a much more common position), then ask them to just flex the thigh at the hip joint, allowing the knee joint to bend a bit, so the quads stay relaxed.

The landmark for where to palpate is to find the ASIS, and drop immediately distal and slightly lateral.

Once located, palpate the TFL in baby steps distally toward its attachment into the ITB, by asking the client to alternately contract and then relax the muscle, each time they contract the muscle, strum perpendicularly across the TFL.

Illustration is from my text: The Muscle and Bone Palpation Manual, 3ed (Elsevier).

05/08/2024

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