Muscle Management

0:01 This section serves to help strengthen and aid your understanding of soft tissue, especially muscles, which comes in handy when you're working with muscles.

0:12 Enjoy.

0:00 Common keys to success with any goal often include a focused intention, and active imagination, and taking appropriate action.

0:10 Rumor has it that we humans use less than 15% of our potential abilities.

0:16 Let's consider the possibility that we can increase that percentage when we exercise and thus strengthen our ability to imagine and intend.

0:26 So, let's strengthen our imagination with the nose ring analogy.

0:34 Imagine you have your nose ringing today and there's a rope attached.

0:39 Now let's pretend there is someone on the other end of that rope pulling, thus creating a rather uncomfortable tension.

0:49 Now let's replace the rope with a muscle.

0:53 Got the picture.

0:56 In this scenario, where is the pain?

0:59 Most likely in your nose.

1:01 What is creating your pain?

1:04 I do believe the jerk creating tension by pulling on the muscle should receive credit.

1:14 Can you see how the pain in your nose would reduce?

1:17 If the muscle was more flexible and the jerk stopped pulling.

1:22 Thus less tension.

1:28 This serves as an example of how reducing tension in the muscles, and they all attach to the most sensitive part of the body, the fibro osseous junction and the periosteum pain can be reduced if not totally removed.

1:47 Oftentimes pain throughout the body can be likened to this situation, whereas the point of pain is often the result of distant tensions.

1:58 The source of the problem is not necessarily at your point of pain.

2:03 The point of pain is often the innocent bystander.

2:09 Thus, in this situation, working on your nose is not necessarily the most efficient approach to reducing the pain in your nose.

2:17 Addressing the tension at the other end of the pain would be my first thought.

2:24 So in conclusion, muscles attached to bone.

2:29 Which includes the periosteum, which is the most sensitive part of the body.

2:34 When the muscle gathers enough tension, this can create pain at the muscle's attachment.

2:40 As a real life example as it applies to your feet, if you experience pain on the bottom, the underside, the plantar side of your foot.

2:51 Chances are there are some muscular components pulling on that region, quite possibly the tibialis posterior.

3:00 This muscle inserts into several bones on the plantar side of the foot, and if there is tension further up the muscle.

3:08 The end product can be pain in your foot.

3:13 That brings to conclusion the nose ring analogy.

3:17 I do hope that this information broadens your understanding in terms of how muscle tension can be a primary component in pain, an important component in pain, and that often by addressing that component, by reducing the tension in that component, the pain is often reduced.

0:02 Knowledge is useful since this class is about muscle management for managing the muscles affecting the foot, ankle, and lower leg.

0:12 It is useful to understand what you are going to be working with muscles.

0:18 My approach to manual therapy is grounded in the work of Lorne Barry Senior, registered physical therapist and structural engineer.

0:27 Lauren taught me that structural engineers often approach a situation with two things in mind optimum function.

0:35 And longevity.

0:37 It is useful to relate muscles to guy wires and cables.

0:42 Similar to a crane that requires many guy wires and cables to function, the body requires many muscles to function.

0:52 Did you know our body requires approximately 200 muscles to walk one step?

1:00 Let's return to the crane reference.

1:03 If adequate maintenance has not been done and some of the wires and cables become stressed, this can weaken the crane's strength and balance.

1:12 This can also compromise the machine's function and longevity.

1:17 This machine may be headed for problems.

1:21 Our goal is to manage and maintain our human guy wires and cables, muscles in order to help the body maintain its ability in terms of movement, load bearing, and weight distribution and thus return to pain-free living.

1:38 Here it becomes useful to share a basic understanding of muscles.

1:43 There are 3 types of muscles in the human body smooth, cardiac, and skeletal muscles.

1:50 For our purposes, we are focusing on the skeletal muscle.

1:55 We will be concentrating on 3 specific sections within these muscles.

2:00 The muscle belly, its tendons, and its attachment.

2:05 The muscle belly is usually the thickest section located typically midway between its attachments.

2:12 It depends on the muscle.

2:13 The tendons, which are denser than the belly, are a continuation of the muscle and perform several functions.

2:21 One, they anchor the muscle to the bone, and two, transmit the mechanical force of the muscle's contraction to the bone.

2:29 The tendon is anchored to the bone by the colleginous fibers that continue into the matrix of the bone.

2:36 Tendons are capable of withstanding much more tension than the muscle belly.

2:41 The attachment points, also known as origin and insertion, are where a muscle's tendons anchor into our bones.

2:50 It is useful to understand that the attachment point is sensory innervated, which means the attachment point can be a location of pain.

3:01 Oftentimes a painful spot is also an attachment point.

3:06 Mussels can be viewed as a complex collection of parallel fibers similar to a wet bundle of spaghetti noodles.

3:15 This is what the inside of a typical skeletal muscle looks like.

3:20 Muscles are made of fibers.

3:22 Each fiber is made up of long thin cells which are packed into bundles.

3:27 These fibers and bundles slide past one another producing a contraction.

3:32 That changes both the length and the shape of the muscle.

3:37 Each individual muscle is simply a bundle of fibers designed to work together as a team, shortening and lengthening, contracting and relaxing.

0:01 Simply put, muscles do two things muscles contract, shorten, and muscles relax, lengthen.

0:08 How do muscles move my body?

0:10 Consider every muscle crosses at least one joint, sometimes several joints.

0:17 The change in muscle length and tension from contracting and relaxing creates movement throughout the body as the muscles pull on the bones and movement occurs at the joint.

0:31 Our human joints can be likened to hinges opening and closing.

0:38 Human joints are much more complicated in that they are not one dimensional simply moving in one direction.

0:46 The direction of movement is predicated upon the various muscle contractions around the joint and the shape of the joint.

0:56 Observe the movement under the skin of the muscles on the back and inside of the leg as they contract and relax in order to move and rotate the ankle.

1:08 According to Newton's 3rd law of motion, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction in our bodies, when muscles contract, other muscles relax and our body moves.

1:22 It really is rather simple.

0:01 When a muscle has a problem, more often than not, the end result is tension somewhere within that muscle.

0:08 Any tension in a muscle creates a strain on the muscle's sensitive attachment to the bone and periosteum.

0:16 This can be experienced as pain.

0:18 Muscle management is about reducing those problems and tensions and thus reducing pain.

0:24 What are the most common problems?

0:27 Adhesion stuck fibers.

0:30 Adhesions are one of the most common contributors to soft tissue pain.

0:34 It serves to understand that muscle fibers most healthy state allows movement without restrictions.

0:42 Muscle tissue is smooth and slippery when healthy.

0:45 Allowing the muscles and surrounding tissue, nerves, blood vessels, bones, and organs to move freely and function properly.

0:55 Oftentimes adhesions are formed as a result of an injury healing process or a reactive process to soft tissue stress and inflammation.

1:05 Simply put, adhesions are most often the end result of injury, prolonged restriction of joint motion, or surgery.

1:14 Spasm muscle spasms are frequently identified as a component in pain.

1:20 Spasms serve as a protective mechanism to help avoid further injury.

1:25 Simply put, the body often reacts to injury or perceived injury by tightening up.

1:31 For example, upon lifting a heavy object, muscles in your lower back may react by going into spasm.

1:40 This could be interpreted as your body telling you to figure out another way to move that couch in order to avoid creating further stress.

1:49 Heck, you might even bend your knees when lifting.

1:52 What a concept.

1:55 Your muscle spasm protected your muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems by tightening up to prevent further damage, and your nervous system told you of the problem that something needs to be done to relax those stressed muscles.

2:10 In my humble opinion, pain is best responded to by respecting and addressing its message rather than trying to ignore it.

2:20 Distortion, fibers out of place.

2:23 What do you mean distortion?

2:25 When I Google muscle distortion, there's not much mention beyond breast implants.

2:32 Muscle distortion is recognized by therapists who have studied and practiced the very method of corrective massage.

2:39 To the best of my knowledge, no other therapeutic modality recognizes this possible cause and component in pain.

2:50 The principle is simple in that muscles have an ideal healthy position and relationship to the surrounding structures.

2:58 Sometimes due to injury, repetitive stress, or postural imbalances, muscle tissue can become displaced from its most healthy natural positioning.

3:08 This can contribute to tension and thus contribute to pain.

3:13 A barry method therapist is trained to correct that situation.

3:18 Sometimes it's simply a matter of putting muscle fibers back where they belong.

3:24 Dehydration.

3:26 Every cell in our body is wet, similar to a well hydrated sponge.

3:31 These fluids, primarily interstitial and lymphatic, saturate muscle tissue and are very important for delivering nutrients and removing metabolic waste.

3:41 For any number of reasons, fluid distribution can be compromised adhesions, spasms.

3:47 And distortions are major contributors as well as insufficient water consumption.

3:53 A less than fully hydrated, dried out muscle is less flexible and can add to muscular tension.

4:00 How do these 4 problem issues with muscles contribute to pain?

4:05 Any and all of these restrict a muscle's ability to contract and lengthen.

4:10 So in that situation when lengthening of a muscle is required for movement, the muscle's attachment point is pulled on harder than what is normal.

4:20 This in turn creates stress on the sensitive periosteum.

4:24 It serves to remember that the most sensitive structure in the body that can send your brain the pain signal is the periosteum, the covering on the bone.

4:35 The periosteum is sensitive and when it is stressed via muscle tensions, the pain signal is created.

4:43 With this in mind, oftentimes by reducing adhesions, spasms, soft tissue distortions, and rehydrating the tissue, pain can be reduced if not fully eliminated.

4:55 Yay.

4:56 It's often really that simple.

4:59 That's what muscle management is about reducing muscle problems and reducing pain.

0:03 The ability of any muscle to engage, contract is partially dependent on the ability of the opposing muscle's ability to disengage, relax.

0:14 For example, were the biceps muscle under stress and unable to fully relax, the triceps muscle would have to pull against that shortened biceps muscle harder in order to straighten the arm.

0:29 This could result in pain around the elbow near the triceps attachment.

0:35 Why does it hurt there?

0:37 It serves to understand that the greatest stresses to the muscles tendons are felt where they anchor into the bone, the fibro osseous junction.

0:48 Consider the most sensitive structure that can send your brain the pain signal is the periosteum, the covering surrounding that fibro osseous junction where the muscle anchors itself into the bone.

1:04 It is important to note that in the scale of pain sensitivity, which part of the body hurts more when injured, the periosteum ranks first, followed by ligaments, tendons, fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds muscles, and finally muscle.

1:23 For example, have you ever banged your shin?

1:26 Remember how much fun that was?

1:29 Part of the reason it is so painful at that location is there is very little padding or protection between your skin and the periosteum of your shin bone.

1:41 When a muscle is unable to fully relax, lengthen, the opposing muscle has to pull harder in order to contract against that restriction.

1:52 The extra force pulls on the muscles attachment, the fibro osseous junction, and that sensitive periosteum.

2:01 It serves to remember in muscular problems, pain is most often felt near a muscle's attachment.

2:09 The nose ring analogy is very useful here.

2:12 Imagine you have your nose ring in today, and there is a rope attached.

2:17 Now let's pretend there is someone on the other end of that rope pulling, thus creating a rather uncomfortable tension.

2:26 Now let's replace the rope with the muscle.

2:30 Got the picture?

2:31 OK, where is the pain?

2:34 Most likely in your nose.

2:36 What is creating your pain?

2:38 I do believe the jerk creating tension at the other end of the muscle should receive credit.

2:46 Can you see how the pain factor would reduce if the muscle was more flexible, less tension.

2:53 This helps explain how by reducing tension within the muscles and they all attach to the most sensitive part of the body, the fibro osseous junction and the periosteum pain can be reduced if not totally removed.

3:08 Oftentimes pain throughout the body can be likened to this situation, whereas the point of pain is often the result of distant tension.

3:18 The source of the problem is not necessarily at the point of pain.

3:24 The point of pain is often the innocent bystander.

3:29 Thus, in this situation, working near your nose is not necessarily the most efficient approach to reducing the pain in your nose.

3:38 Addressing the jerk at the other end of the rope would be my first thought.

3:44 So can you understand that pain in our body is often the end result of muscles lack of flexibility brought on by tensions and stress.

3:56 What creates tension and stress within muscles beyond obvious trauma and injury?

4:02 Simple answer anything that compromises flexibility.

4:07 Four common contributing factors.

4:10 Adhesion spasm, dehydration.

4:15 For muscular distortion and misalignment.

4:20 Correcting muscular distortion and misalignment is a specialty of certified very method practitioners.

4:28 Sometimes it's simply a matter of putting things back where they belong.

4:33 So in conclusion, oftentimes pain is the end result of a muscle's compromised flexibility, and that can be within an individual muscle and its compromised elements or influenced by the surrounding musculature.

4:50 Think back to the biceps triceps example used earlier.

4:54 Any combination of these can result in a high level of tension which can irritate the sensitive periosteum.

5:02 As the muscle anchors into the bone.

5:06 That brings to conclusion the segment on how muscles contribute to pain.

5:11 Now would be a good time to review the information on the problems with muscles.

5:16 Enjoy, and I hope this all serves you.

0:00 Adhesions often serve as the body's natural band-aid.

0:06 On our skin surface, we often can witness adhesions in the form of scars.

0:11 An adhesion is a naturally forming fibrous connective tissue that the body creates around stress tissue as part of its natural process for repairing problematic injured, and stress tissue.

0:27 Simply put, adhesions are the body's natural glue.

0:31 The all too common problems with adhesions is after they have served their purpose, the band-aid needs to be removed.

0:40 This is because residual adhesions contribute to soft tissue stress and interfere with healthy muscle function.

0:48 Oftentimes that stress and interference will continue until the adhesions are intentionally removed.

0:57 Adhesions are one of the most common contributors to pain.

1:03 It serves to understand that muscle fibers most healthy state allows movement without restriction.

1:12 Muscle tissue is smooth and slippery when healthy, allowing the muscles and surrounding tissue, nerves, blood vessels, bones, and organs to move freely and function properly.

1:28 To summarize, adhesions are the body's natural glue and most often the byproduct of injury, repetitive stress, prolonged restriction of motion, or surgery.

1:41 And Adhesions can often interfere with healthy movement.

0:00 A bit more about repetitive stress outside of trauma and injury, one of the most common contributors to foot pain is repetitive stress.

0:12 And two of the most common repetitive stresses are two that we create for ourselves when high heels are worn or when you're working on something that is low to the ground and you squat down so that your weight is on the balls of your feet.

0:28 Rather than drop down onto your knees.

0:31 If that's the situation that you find yourself in on occasion, I highly recommend you go to the hardware store and invest in a good pair of knee pads.

0:41 Consider them as a healthy investment.

0:44 These two positions of placing an inordinate amount of weight on the ball of the foot sets up a situation where the muscles in the foot and lower leg are forced to take on excessive weight bearing tasks when more often their job description includes mobilization and helping to maintain the body's balance in gravity.

1:05 So in review these two positions put demands on the muscles.

1:09 That is not normal for them to hold for any length of time.

1:13 Yes, your muscles can do this, though in my opinion the price is way too high.

1:18 The end result in this situation is the muscles in the lower leg and foot are strained, and more often than not, muscles react to strain by tightening up, and oftentimes they stay tightened up.

1:31 And when muscles are stuck in stress, oftentimes the tissue becomes adhered, and oftentimes the continued combination of muscle tension and soft tissue adhesion creates pain, so remain aware.

1:45 If you are doing something that contributes to the stress, tension, and adhesions that can lead to problems in this area.

1:54 One of the most effective and efficient ways to address repetitive stress is to work on your awareness of your physical positioning and movement, increasing your awareness of your movements and positioning.

2:11 Makes it easier for you to make more healthy choices.

0:01 Built into the muscular skeletal system is a stress relief mechanism that we can stimulate with our fingers.

0:09 It's called the Golgi tendon organ.

0:15 The Golgi tendon organ, GTO is a neurological sense organ that monitors tension.

0:23 It is located where the muscle fibers transition to tendon, the muscular tendinous junction, on their way to attaching into bone.

0:33 Its general function is to provide the central nervous system with information and feedback regarding tension in the muscles and tendons.

0:43 When a muscle or tendon reaches a level of stress that may cause damage, the GTO activates to inhibit the muscle from creating any further force, thus protecting from injury.

0:57 Simply stated, the contraction is turned off.

1:01 Similar to a home circuit breaker, the circuit breaker's job is to cut off the circuit whenever the current jumps above a safe level.

1:12 The GTO performs a similar function.

1:15 When a muscle reaches a damaging level of stress, the GTO is activated and the muscle's contraction ability is essentially turned off.

1:25 Simple, and it works.

1:28 We can use that built-in function to help relax a muscle that is in a state of spasm by creating an artificial GTO response with our fingers.

1:41 The technique to create an artificial GTO response can be incorporated while performing the corrective techniques.

1:51 As you are nudging fibers back towards their optimum anatomical relationships, focus part of your corrections near the specific muscles musculotendinous junction.

2:04 This produces a beneficial toofer.

2:07 1, the muscle fibers are nudged out of any possible distortions, and 2, the GTO response encourages the muscle to relax.

2:18 This can be an incredibly fast and efficient way to relax specific muscles.

2:24 With the consideration that these muscle fibers are under stress and most likely hypersensitive, I highly recommend going lightly with your initial pressures.

MUSCLE MANAGEMENT