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Psoas Massage + Bodywork Newsletter

Greetings!

Welcome back to our September newsletter. This month we offer up a case study of one of our clients including specific stretches for her and all desk workers. Psoas announces it's exclusive partnership with the U.S. Half Marathon and offers online payment for event day massages at the race and Expo. We include an injury prevention article for endurance athletes and of course DJ Split's Disk of the Month.

This month two Psoas partners have announcements. MV Nutrition is challenging you to lose weight and our friends over at Blue Sparrow Pilates is offering a FREE Pilates class for all Psoas clients - take advantage of this.

Just a reminder, we are open both Saturday and Sunday - reserve your timeslot today.

And finally, congratulations to our winners of last month's raffle:

Mike Namkung
Alex Snyatkov

Peace out,
Psoas

Case Study
By: Tim McGrath - Clinical Massage Specialist and Jennifer Rubinstein - ART and Clinical Massage Specialist

This is why I love Psoas and what we do. We used 3 separate therapists to work on this client and with the combined effort and skill we managed to alleviate her long standing issues.

Tim McGrath originated the case and made the assessment and subsequent referrals to other Psoas therapists.

Caresa continues to come to Psoas for maintenance sessions. It seems that her major complaints were mostly alleviated within about 10 sessions.

8 - 60 minute from Tim
2 - five minute ART for nerve entrapment sessions from Scott
4 -15 minute ART sessions from Jennifer

Who: Caresa is a 39 year old female, office worker who spends most of her days sitting, using the phone and computer.

Complaint: Chronic head, neck and shoulder pain for the past several years with severe discomfort with head rotation especially to the right.

Physical assessment: Physical assessment showed internally rotated arms, overly tight Pecs (chest muscles), forward and raised shoulders, exaggerated curve in cervical spine with limited multidirectional range of motion of the neck. She had multiple characteristics of upper cross syndrome.

Treatment Plan: Relieve tightness in Pecs and surrounding muscles of the shoulder and neck AND retrain the stabilizing muscles of the shoulder to fire correctly in an attempt to stabilize shoulder an allow proper neck curvature and carrying angle for the head.
Caresa agreed to a regimen of weekly sessions with reassessment at 5-7 weeks.

Tim's sessions: Tim employed reposturing techniques, which reduces muscular disposition on the skeleton, combined with specific exercises to reassert the proper muscular dynamics to reestablish ergo dynamics posture.

Client claimed to feel much better with less physical discomfort, increased ROM, but some discomfort remained when turning right.
Tim consulted Scott, owner and ART practitioner. Scott attempted to release the Dorsal Scapular Nerve from entrapment beneath two muscles between the spine and the scapula (shoulder blade). This was successful in two sessions (about 90% decrease in discomfort).

Caresa agreed to integrate 15 minute ART sessions into the current reposturing work.

For Tim, "the most exciting part comes from the client's claim to now feel more aware of her posture and feel more able to assess when she may be sliding out of balance. She has come miles from where she began".

Jen Rubenstein

Jennifer's sessions - Active Release Techniques: Caresa worked with Jennifer Rubinstein for 4 ART sessions. In her first ART session, Jennifer concluded it may be easier to work on her Serratus Anterior and Latissimus Dorsi in an effort to loosen the shoulder girdle. Tight Trapezius and Levator Scapula muscles made it almost impossible to get the Rhomboids to relax. Jennifer also found the Scalenes and Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles to be tense and fibrotic. By the end of the first session, she had increased ROM and slightly decreased pain in the neck and shoulder.

In three subsequent sessions, Jen was able to release the muscles of the neck and shoulder and work on the remaining pain between the scapula and spine. Jen released the knot entrapping the Dorsi Scapula Nerve which was a big help. However, Jennifer believed that there was an entrapment of the nerve cords at the Scalene muscles in the neck. Helping this proved to be extremely beneficial in allieviating pain and increasing Range of Motion.

ART was employed to address some of Caresa's Upper Cross Syndrome characteristics mainly the raised and internally rotated shoulders. In addition to ART, Jennifer also addressed breathing techniques, which should help Caresa maintain a more correct upper body posture.

By the end of four sessions, Caresa was able to turn her head without pain (something she had not been able to do in years) and the large knot in her shoulder was mostly alleviated.

Caresa states that her recovery feels complete and is both what she hoped for and what was stated as the goals of treatment by the Psoas therapists. She felt progress weekly and her understanding of the progression of treatment was always explained and seemed accurate in comparison to what she was feeling physically. She says "I always felt like I was in competent hands," and adds that "there was never any pressure from the Psoas staff, who were easy and convenient to work with."

Case Study Stretches

While these stretches are great for most everyone who works at a desk - these are specific for our case study. Psoas always provides stretches, use of certain tools like balls and rollers, as well as strength training exercises to help bolster our clients' progress.

1) Dorsal Scapular Nerve Stretch

Click here or the image to see this video

While doing this stretch, try to keep your head first laterally flexed away from the side you are stretching and then bring your chin towards your opposite hip without losing the lateral flexion.

2) Pectoralis Major --- more detail
(these are large strong muscles - go slowly just till you feel a stretch than move deeper as the original stretch fades)

At doorway, exposed beam or wall, place right arm straight out to side and bend elbow to a 90 degree angle
Place that hand and elbow just inside wall, body even with wall.
Move right foot forward and turn torso to the left
Repeat the stretch continuing to find the slight stretch, letting it fade and then finding the stretch again. Use your breath.

The Pectoralis major is a large fan shaped muscle. In order to stretch its entirety, one must use three separate positions. The 90 degree angle is one but also move the elbow slightly upwards and downwards to stretch the entire muscle.

3) Scalenes --- more detail

There are 3 separate scalenes muscles, all needing individualized stretches.

Neutral position (middle Scalene) shown here.
Sit up straight with head facing forwards. (Neutral position)
Stabilize shoulder down on right side by holding onto a chair or sitting on hand.
Placed left hand over head above right ear and gently flex neck to the left by bringing left ear to left shoulder.
Hold for 15 - 60 seconds.

For the anterior and posterior scalenes start with your head turned slightly left and then right.

4) Angel Stretch --- more detail
This is a stretch/exercise to get movement and blood flow through your upper back muscles - rhomboids/ latissimus dorsi / and trapezius.

Lean against the wall with your legs slightly bent. You want to keep your hip, back, shoulders, and arms pressed against the wall through the entire movement.
Place the back of your arms against the wall in 90 degree angles.
Bring your elbows down towards your body in a smooth, slow motion as far as you can while maintaining contact with the wall.
Now, slowly bring arms over your head, still in 90 degree angles.
Repeat several times.

US Half Marathon partners with Psoas

Psoas is proud to announce they are the official massage therapists for the US Half Marathon. We will be at the expo the day before and at the half marathon providing massage for the athletes. This year we are offering an option for you to pay for your massage prior to the events which will allow you a priority position in the line (which is always long) on race day.

Psoas is offering online registration and payment for your:

Post event massage (race-day at Aquatic Park - 11/1/09)
Pre-event massage (at the expo - 10/31/09)

Click here to sign-up, pay for massage, and for more information.

Endurance Training and Injury Prevention

runners in rain

Running is a great way to stay fit, burn off stress, meet like-minded people etc... However, training for a long distance race is strenuous and runs the risk of injury. Hopefully we can help you avoid many of the potholes and provide you with tools to proactively reduce the chances of injury.

Whether you're working with Psoas Massage + Bodywork or other sports massage specialists, the best ones will keep you healthy by employing manual techniques, stretching you and teaching you to stretch properly. They should also educate you about the important little things such as how to ice or hydrate properly to where to find the best running shoes for your type of feet. Using sports massage as a compliment to your training can greatly reduce occurrence of injury. Of course no treatment can completely eliminate injury - so stay aware of your body and contact a professional as soon as you start to feel something may be out of sorts, abnormally sore, or lasting pain. The difference between staying super aware of what your body is telling you or ignoring the signs and "working through it," could be the difference between you making it to your target race...or not.

Some common endurance running injuries to be aware of are:

IT Band Syndrome
Tendonitis
Plantar Fasciitis
Shin Splints
Groin Pulls
Hamstring Tears
Ankle Sprain
Inferior Patella Syndrome

The following tips can help decrease the frequency or even eliminate injury and certainly lessen recovery time if an injury does occur.

Getting regular sports massage during your training
Learning to stretch properly - and then utilizing that knowledge
Using the correct equipment (mostly shoes but also orthotics if needed)
Ice, ice , ice
Learning how to train properly - don't over or under-train

Sports massage can help with each of these.

We all like the obvious benefits of massage - it makes you relax and feel good! But the benefits of having a highly skilled sports massage therapist on your training team are not as obvious as you may think.

A skilled Sports Massage Therapist can help an endurance runner:

Alleviate muscular tension and adhesions, help muscles fire more efficiently and decrease recovery times after longer workouts.
Increase range of motion by locating dysfunction in the muscles or other tissue surrounding a joint. Using the appropriate bodywork techniques and stretching can lessen tightness, adhesions, trigger points, and scarring that have negative affects on range of motion. A sports massage therapist can also teach how to stretch specific muscles properly. As a therapist gets to know your body more, they can help you learn which specific muscles need more stretching to maintain balance, how long your particular body needs to stretch, how often, when, what props you may need.
Decrease injury potential by catching problems before they become injuries. Therapists can often detect subtle changes in tissue that can be addressed before an athlete may be aware of it.
Learn the nuances of a training schedule, how to avoid cramping, and what types of training might not be good for particular body types.
Decrease post-event recovery. Post-event massage within a day or two of an event will greatly decrease recovery from an endurance event.
Decrease recovery times if you do get injured. Let's just try to keep you healthy and worry about this last point in another article.

If you're interested in more information, give us a call, 415.227.0331, and we'd be happy to talk about your training techniques and answer any questions you may have.

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