WHAT THE BACK!?

The back consists of the posterior aspect of the body.

His bony elements are mainly vertebrae, although ribs, pelvic bones and skull contribute to the back's skeletal framework too. Associated muscles and ligaments interconnect the vertebrae, ribs, pelvic and skull with each other. 

This connection reveals why we, as a massage therapist, love to work through your gluteal muscles or hip flexors (even if you don't feel any pain) and have a closer look through your chest and front neck muscles (pectoralis muscles, scaleni, SCM to name a few) if you have back pain.

The curvature of the vertebral column is concave anteriorly in the thoracic and sacral region whereas in the cervical and lumbar region it is concave posteriorly. With this equal distribution the center of gravity is aligned, which is important for the body's weight balance. If the body's weight is centered on the vertebral column it will expend the least amount of muscular energy to maintain an upright bipedal stance.

To support your spine it is very important to train your posture as often as possible. This includes all trunk muscles but also your hip muscles to maintain your correct curvature.

The major bones of the back are 33 vertebrae.Our spine consists of seven cervical, twelve thoracic, five lumbar, five sacral (which fuse into a single bone, the sacrum) and three to four coccygeal vertebrae (often fused into a single coccyx).

A typical vertebra has a vertebral body and a vertebral arch. 

The main purpose of the vertebral body.

• Weight bearing: It carries the body weight. The more weight a vertebra has to carry the bigger its size which explains why a cervical vertebra is tiny and fragile in comparison to a lumbar vertebra.

The arch has a totally different task. 

• Protection: It forms the lateral and posterior walls of the vertebral canal which starts from the very first cervical vertebra (atlas) to the last sacral vertebra. It's a protection for the structures that are in this canal which are the spinal cord and its protective membranes, blood vessels, connective tissue, fat and spinal nerves

• Attachments: for muscles and ligaments

• Levers: for the action of muscles

• Sites of articulation: with adjacent vertebrae

To keep your spine fully functional it's indispensable to use it. 

If there is no stimuli or to little your body will slowly degenerate and get weaker and won't have the ability to react appropriately. It's a simple fact that if you don't use it you will lose it. 

Why should your body keep up a function and waste energy and resources?

So go for a walk, run, exercise it doesn't matter which activity you prefer but move. The importance is that you give your spine different stimuli and therefore your body needs to adjust to it.

fascia /ˈfeɪʃɪə,ˈfeɪʃə/

• a thin sheath of fibrous tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ.

what IS IT?

To know the importance of it we need to understand what fascia is in general.

Fascia is your connective tissue network, it’s like a web that is connected from head to toe fusing everything in your body. 

It gives us our body shape and holds us together. Actually you can look at it as a “second skin”. 

Fascia can be found immediately underneath the skin, around muscles, group of muscles, organs, nerves, bones and cells. For example it allows the muscles, organs and nerves to move freely alongside other structures and it reduces friction in between them.

So why is this fascia so important for us and our body?

In a healthy state the fascia is relaxed and very flexible and this capacity allows us to respond to movements and activities properly. 

But as every other structure, fascia is not free of any damage. Fascial dysfunction can occur because of lack of movement, poor postures, trauma and unhealthy diet.

If so, it becomes tense, inflexible and it loses it’s ability to slide and glide. 

via GIPHY

AND IF IT’S NOT FUNCTIONING WELL?

Fascial dysfunction is associated with pain, stiffness, fatigue and limited range of motion. If you exercise and you have one part in your body that has lost his flexibility it will tighten somewhere else to compensate it’s immobility. This in return can cause pain in body parts even if you haven’t had any problems before. 

It is very important to think of fascia as one whole piece. If a trauma occurs there will be a reaction of your body,  affecting a part of it for good or worse.

Therefore, it is necessary to keep your fascia agile so it can react to every movement or activity without compensation. If your fascia loses this ability the risk of getting injured increases even more.

What can you do to keep your fascia healthy?

• Water: Fascia consists of 70% of water so keep yourself hydrated. 

• Massage: This will break the adhesions between the fascia and the other tissues next to it. Keeping the lubrication and a healthy range of motion

• Cupping: The negative decompression treats fascial adhesions and therefore releases fascial restrictions and tension

• Foam roller: Foam roll your fascia but consider that this tissue is really slow in reacting. Roll slowly through it or stay on sore spots up to 5 minutes until you feel a release. “No pain, no gain” is clearly the wrong approach.

  • Where? : Everywhere actually… Start with your feet and work your way up

• Move more: if you don’t use it, you lose it!

TMJ

TMJ what does it stay for?

The Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) connects your mandible to your temporal bone (skull). It is a bilateral joint and that means both sides must function together as one unit. This is unique and therefore this joint is simultaneously predisposed to malfunction.

via GIPHY

The TMJ is divided by a fibrous articular disc into a lower and an upper part. The movements are depression (open your mouth), elevation (close your mouth), protrusion and retraction. We also have the complex “chewing” and “side-to-side” movements from the lower jaw. 

The main muscles that are generating motion of your mouth are masseter, temporalis, pterygoideus lateralis and medialis, digastric and some hyoid muscles.

WHAT CAUSES PROBLEMS IN YOUR JAW?

Problems can be related to trauma, stress, anxiety, bruxism during the day or night or posture of your back and neck.

Bruxism is one of the main reasons and very often you don’t even realise that you clench or grind your teeth together especially if it happens while sleeping. And then there is our well known posture that has a huge impact on our TMJ.

A poor posture results in a forward head position that creates altered length-tension relationship in between the muscles. Some of them become hypertonic and raise the imbalance even more. This imbalance needs to be corrected again.

As a massage therapist we will focus on your muscles and posture. Not just the muscles around your jaw but your whole body. Working through your body will free your mind, release tension and stress.

The specific TMJ treatment will be done external and internal that means we have to go inside your mouth.

There are different massage techniques to treat your joints and muscles. We either do “trigger point” or “deep tissue” massage. Both techniques could be combined with dry needling to get rid of those nasty knots.

Knots that can lead to headache as well as coordination problems to move your mouth properly. We will also go through stretching and strengthening exercises if we consider it necessary.

Did you know?

Holding stretches for 30 seconds that stretch the calf muscles several days a week will improve range of motion, decrease risk of tearing and help the calf muscles produce proper levels of force.  

Calves are important in every step we take!

The calves are actually made up of two muscles: the gastrocnemius, which crosses the knee and ankle, and the soleus, which crosses only the ankle. The ends of the gastroc and soleus tendons fuse in the lower part of the leg as the Achilles tendon. 

They flex the foot to allow you to plant on the balls of your feet. As you land when you walk or run or squat down to sit or perform exercises the calf muscles must stretch to allow your foot to flatten and your shin to come forward.

If your calf muscles are excessively tight you will constantly walk and stand on the balls of your feet this impairs your ability to move properly, to squat down and to walk normally. 

Keeping the calves flexible is not only important for preventing calf tears but for preventing the ever troublesome Achilles tendonitis or rupture.

How do you stretch them?

1. Gastrocnemius stretch: Stand near a wall with one foot in front of the other, front knee slightly bent. Keep your back knee straight, your heel on the ground, and lean toward the wall. Feel the stretch all along the back leg. Hold for 30 seconds.

2. Soleus stretch: Same as the stretch mentioned before, but now you will bend the back knee making sure your heel stays on the ground. Feel the stretch along the bottom part of the back of your calves. Hold for 30 seconds.