Economy Massage

09/30/2022

04/01/2022

🔈DO NOT ROLL OUT THESE AREAS OF YOUR BODY

Foam rollers or lacrosse balls can be really useful to self-release tight muscles or trigger points however not every part of the body can be rolled out. We need to keep common sense about where to and where NOT to be rolling out.

It is not recommend to roll out the following 5 areas of the body.

1. Side of your neck, especially behind your collar bone. There are lots of nerves there.

2. Armpit; there are some important muscles accessible in this region, but it’s also easy to press your nerves against your arm bone and thinking it’s good because ‘it hurts’.

3. Between your triceps and biceps, on the inside of your arm. This area is often worked to help with ‘fascial planes and sliding’, which probably isn’t happening the way we think. It’s also an area where you are able to directly press your nerves and blood vessels against the bone. Never a good idea.

4. Your abdomen. Stop pressing heavy objects into your abdomen. Are you trying to roll out your liver and kidneys? Your psoas is underneath all your organs. Not going to happen.

5. Back of your knee. You have nerves and blood vessels directly in the back of your knee, proceed gently in this region if at all.

When foam rolling, focus on areas of muscle mass, not arteries, nerves or organs.

Are there any other areas that you would add to the list?

03/29/2022

🔈 LIFE OF A MOBILE MASSAGE THERAPIST

03/01/2022

🔈 ASSESS THE SYSTEM, NOT JUST THE PART

Everything in the body is connected. Achilles tendinopathy is a great example of this. The Achilles tendon and calves are connected to the plantar fascia on one end and the hamstrings on the other.

Weakness in the hamstrings is a known risk factor for Achilles tendinopathy. This weakness causes movement compensations that lead to extra loading on the Achilles.

If you can't propel yourself forward via hip extension, you may resort to pushing off more at the ankle and foot. This movement compensation increases the stress on the Achilles and can overload the tendon.

So when you want to fix an injury, you have to look beyond the site of pain. Attacking locally is a great place to start but you may need to move up or down the chain for long term resolution. You know what hurts, but you need to figure out why. Find the patterns. Find the compensations. And often you'll find the solution.

02/15/2022

Let Them Eat Cake