Posts Tagged ‘muscle’
December 7th, 2009 by Matvey Kipershtein
Imagine working at your computer all day long without a slightest tension at your neck. Feel the mouse click instead your wrist crack as your press the button.
Many of my patients say: “Oh, my posture is awful”. “If only I could keep myself properly positioned at the desk, my neck would feel so much better”.
So why it is so difficult to keep our bodies perfectly aligned even though we know how our bodies should look like?
Throughout my practice as massage therapist and working with my own body I came to realize that instead of pushing against myself, it is much easier to add something new, and the old inefficient patterns will fall out effortlessly.
The first step to any change is awareness.
Breathing is the primal rhythm of our bodies. Paying attention to it is the key. It will tell you a lot about yourself. Feel the wave raising from your stomach and moving up to the chest as you inhale. Observe the abdomen passively falling and then the chest gently collapsing as the air effortlessly leaves your lungs on exhalation. Did you notice any tensions hindering that smooth flow of air? Try to let go of these tensions. How does it affect your breathing? Do you feel any difference in the tension at your back, neck and shoulders?
Start by adding small breaks to your daily routine to listen to what your body has to tell you. Take a short walk. Add to your life. Let someone with expertise give you a different perspective and help you. Sometimes all that is needed is a little push in the right direction. See your massage therapist to release those tensions, take a yoga class or Tai-Chi.
Keep a positive outlook. Pain should not be your sole focus. But don’t ignore it either by keeping yourself busy or taking pain killers.
Body tissues have memory of their own, and all traumas that you experience tend to accumulate and cause problems. Disappearance of pain and discomfort will follow in due time as your body regains its innate balance.
Tags: muscle, posture, stretch
Posted in Health, Massage Therapy | 70 Comments »
October 28th, 2009 by Matvey Kipershtein
Tennis elbow is a very common syndrome that affects manual laborers and racquet sport players. It is usually experienced like pain at the outside of the elbow which can radiate down the forearm. This is often accompanied by the decrease in the grip strength.
This dysfunction involves the muscles located on the outer site of the forearm. These are collectively called wrist extensors and their function is to cock the wrist back. Another important role of this muscle group is to counterbalance the muscles that clench the fist and flex the forearm thus making these movements smooth and well coordinated.
There are numbers of reasons for the tennis elbow. It can be inflammation of the wrist extensors tendons around the elbow, or trigger points in the muscle.
My experience treating patients shows that the best way to treat this dysfunction and to prevent it from reoccurring is to gently stretch the involved muscles few times a day for at least a minute at a time, and to ice the outside of the elbow.
So here’s the stretch:
Wrist extensors Stretch
Extend your arm with the palm facing downward and gently pull your wrist down till you feel a nice comfortable tension along the outer side of your forearm. You can fine tune the stretch by slightly rotating your forearm.
Use very gentle force. If it hurts, you are pulling too hard, back off a bit. Breath and feel muscles relax as you exhale. Hold the stretch for at least a minute.
At the end of the stretch put ice pack over the outside of the elbow and keep it there for about 10 minutes.
Here is a good article on tennis elbow that also has a number of strengthening exercises for the involved muscles.
Tags: muscle, Physical exercise, stretch, wellness
Posted in Health, Massage Therapy | 53 Comments »
October 14th, 2009 by Matvey Kipershtein
Muscles that help you grip an object in your hand or flex your wrist are located on the inside of the forearm. Most of them are attached at the bone that is on the inner side of the elbow, very close to the “funny bone”. Because of this shared attachment it is very common to develop pain at this spot if your job or sport activity demands prolonged strenuous gripping. It happens a lot with golf players, hence the term “golfer’s elbow”, or with manual labourers who need to use a tool such as a screwdriver.
Very often this pain is diagnosed as tendonitis, and anti-inflammatory is prescribed to kill the pain. It is common that this pain is caused by the increased muscle tension of the wrist flexors that is not met by adequate strength at the attachment sight at the elbow. Taking the medicine will only mask the symptoms and from my experience will make the problem worse when the painkiller wears out. This happens because the person will not feel the pain which is the warning sign and will continue with the activity that further irritates the painful spot.
Apart from receiving professional advice and going for a therapy, there is a very simple stretch that a patient can do. I know it works, because a few months ago my father called me complaining of this type of pain and weakness of his grip after assembling a table. I emailed him the stretch instructions with pictures, and after a few days of stretching and icing he was pain free, and the strength of his grip came back.
So here’s the stretch
Wrist flexors stretch
Pull your wrist down very gently until you feel a mild resistance at your forearm. I know that you can probably go a few inches further, but stop here and breathe for a few moments. Feel your forearm relaxing till you can pull a little bit more without increasing the resistance.
Most people tend to overdo their stretches and pull really hard. This is a very common mistake. The muscle will recognize this pull as a threat, and will contract to protect itself. This is a reflex, the same thing happens when you get your knee tapped with a hammer at the doctor’s office and your leg jerks up. We can’t control it, and a contracting muscle can not be stretched. If you pull too hard, you will damage the painful spot even more.
So the best thing is to take it easy and allow your body to relax. Hold the stretch for at least a minute progressively pulling down more bit by bit and repeat it a few times a day
Tags: massage, muscle, Physical exercise, stretch, wellness
Posted in Health, Massage Therapy | 17 Comments »
October 7th, 2009 by Matvey Kipershtein
I always start my treatments with a quick postural scan, and all too often I hear my patients say: “Oh, my posture is awful”. “If only I could keep myself properly positioned at the desk, my neck would feel so much better”.
So why is it so difficult to keep our bodies perfectly aligned even though we know how our bodies should look like?
Moshe Feldenkrais who pioneered the field of mind and body connection has pointed in his book The Potent Self that habitually improper posture is not as simple as it may appear to someone who can think it can be remedied by substituting by a better posture. When you do so, the conscious control is overriding. The overworked muscles fatigue, and the inhibited ones waste away, the whole spatial body image is distorted. The body sensation is found unreliable and is compensated for by an increased use of the eyes to supplement and correct the faulty muscular account of the body in space. Every action now needs a considerable time of thinking out and preparing for. Constant attention to the muscular tension is difficult to maintain for long periods, hence the sensation of tiredness, and falling back to habitually faulty posture.
That is why it is very difficult to just put yourself in the ideal position. An effort to do so usually results in the body being voluntarily held in a very rigid state. The breathing becomes restricted as we feel aches in the areas that work to keep us erect, such as low back, neck and shoulders.
Throughout my practice as massage therapist and working with my own body I came to realize that instead of pushing against myself, it is much easier to add something new and the old inefficient patterns will fall out effortlessly.
The first step to any change is awareness.
Breathing is the primal rhythm of our bodies. Paying attention to it is the key. It will tell you a lot about yourself. Feel the wave raising from your stomach and moving up to the chest as you inhale. Observe the abdomen passively falling and then the chest gently collapsing as the air effortlessly leaves your lungs on exhalation. Did you notice any tensions hindering that smooth flow of air? Try to let go of these tensions. How does it affect your breathing? Do you feel any difference in the tension at your back, neck and shoulders?
Start by adding small breaks to your daily routine to listen to what your body has to tell you. Take a short walk. Change doesn’t have to be painful. Add to your life. Let someone with expertise give you a different perspective and help you. Sometimes all that is needed is a little push in the right direction. See your massage therapist to release those tensions, take a yoga class or Tai-Chi.
Keep a positive outlook and keep in mind that the pain is the last signal your body sends to let you know that it has a problem, and it needs your attention. It should not be your sole focus. But don’t ignore it either by keeping yourself busy or taking pain killers.
Body’s tissues have memory of their own, and all traumas that you experience tend to accumulate and cause these problems. Disappearance of pain and discomfort will follow in due time as your body regains its innate balance.
Tags: muscle, posture, wellness
Posted in Health, Massage Therapy | 2 Comments »
September 30th, 2009 by Matvey Kipershtein
Many people I talk to complain that they have started to experience general body stiffness after the age of 30. I used to brush these remarks off until I started to experience it myself.
Morning stiffness if accompanied by sharp joint pains and lasts more than 45 minutes can be a sign of arthritis or fibromyalgia. However, from my personal experience and from taking many health histories of my patients I realized that in most cases there is nothing to be worried about. There are few simple steps you can take to alleviate these discomforts.
Typically, a very simple physical activity will take care of it. I have been doing yoga for many years, and right now I find it very helpful for my morning stiffness.
Usually a few rounds of sun salutation will get my body limber and mind fully awake.
Take a look at this website for instructions on how to perform this routine. http://www.santosha.com/asanas/suryanamaskar.html
As with any physical activity keep in mind your limitations. Don’t push it, especially if you are new to yoga. Besides, it is your first warm up for the day. It should never hurt. Feel the nice, comfortable tension with every stretch. A sharp pain tells you that you went too far. Your yoga postures don’t have to look exactly like the pictures you see on the website. Nobody is judging you; you are doing it for yourself. If you can’t reach the floor with your forward bends, use a stool or a table to support your arms.
On the last note… Some people do have arthritis or another inflammatory condition that makes their mornings the worst time of the day. If you are worried about it, don’t wait till it goes away by itself. Book an appointment with your massage therapist; see someone with an expertise in the field to get a professional opinion.
Tags: massage, muscle, Physical exercise, stretch, wellness
Posted in Health, Massage Therapy | 2 Comments »