How many of you experience frequent neck / shoulder / back pain? Over the years, I have noticed that these sites of pain have been a frequent problem for many people.
The problems are not structural, i.
e.
skeletal, but muscular.
The one form of treatment that seems to relieve the symptoms is a deep tissue massage or even more specific, sports massage.
Let's look at the reasons why.
Often our daily routine leads us into poor movement patterns, possibly resulting in incorrect posture.
This can cause changes to your muscular skeletal stature.
Should your day start with a commute to work on a train, in a car or on a bus, it is likely that you will be sat down.
You then arrive at your place of work and sit down in front of your computer for endless hours at a time.
Your back is supported by the backrest of a chair and you may have a tendency to lean forward with your shoulders elevated and/or rounding whilst you stare at your screen.
In addition, certain muscles shorten and some lengthen when we are sat down, i.
e.
the hamstrings located down the back of your upper leg can shorten behind the knee, the hip flexor muscles at the front of your hip shorten when in a flexed position.
If we keep this posture for hours on end, muscles will naturally adapt to the altered position.
At the end of the day you travel home by the same mode of transport.
Upon your return, work has exhausted you so much that the best way to relax is to slouch in front of the TV.
Give or take a few variations, does all of this sound familiar? Low back pain, upper back pain, shoulder and neck tension are all familiar complaints that can be a result of posture that has adapted to lifestyle habits.
The same applies to exercise.
How do you know that your body is in optimal alignment as you perform your repetitions in the gym? Have you ever studied or analysed your gait cycle (the way in which you walk and how your feet land on the floor)? If your feet collapse under the arches, known as pronation, this can put undue tension on the knees which then travels up to the hips.
If you suffer from rounding shoulders, or otherwise known as medial rotation at the shoulder joint, your running stance can be effected which leads to a restriction in your breathing pattern.
What is all of this doing to your posture? Muscles shorten and lengthen according to what we do to them.
They find what is called a 'position of ease'.
This position is normally out of optimal alignment, hence the neck / shoulder / back pain.
Welcome to the world of muscle imbalances that not only impair your movement, restrict your breathing and give you pain, but also get worse over time if they stay untreated and can lead to injury.
Sports massage is a great form of treatment that can help alleviate muscular imbalances and overcome postural issues.
There are great results after releasing the small muscles around the shoulder blade and those that run into the neck.
For example, if you experience pain in your arm, this isn't necessarily the site of the problem.
Sports massage isn't about relaxing music and scented oil, it's about treating and rebalancing the alignment of muscle tissue.
It may not always be pleasant, but the feeling of having a muscle 'released' is worth the short-term tenderness during the treatment! Another great benefit of sports massage is that it aids recovery of micro-trauma within muscle fibre.
To truly perform at our best and avoid pain and muscle tension, our posture should be in optimal alignment!