fitness – Massage For Well Being

Proper body alignment can mitigate the risk of injury, pain, and discomfort. It can also enhance performance for any kind of physical activity: athletes, dancers, musicians, massage therapists, carpenters, and so forth. A body well aligned has more power, efficiency and is less prone to injury.

If one’s job or hobby requires a lot of sitting during the day (driving, sitting at a desk in front of the computer for example) it will be important to take breaks during the day to move and tune in to your body. In addition to stretch and strengthening exercises, simple meditative exercises can help align and increase body awareness. Improved body awareness is invaluable for any exercise program, walking, daily living.

Body Awareness Exercise 1:
Stand with your feet about hip width apart. Bring attention to your breath and begin to scan your body. Take note of your alignment and any feelings of stress or discomfort. Notice where your head is in relation to your shoulders and pelvis. Imagine dropping the pelvis down towards the floor.

Bring your attention to the soles of your feet. How do the soles of your feet feel against the floor or mat? Is there more weight on one foot or the other? or one part of the more than another? How does the floor feel against your feet? Shift the weight from the heels of your feet forward toward the balls of your feet, slowly back and forth. How does that affect the alignment of your head? When the weight is far back on the heels, the head, in an effort to to counter-balance, will move far forward. Imagine the soles of your feel against the floor like a tripod with weight distributed between the balls of the big toe, little toe, and heel.

What occurs in the pelvis (and up and down the spine) affects head alignment. Drop the pelvis down towards the floor but do not push your pelvis into a posterior tilt (shoving forward or under). Notice if there is any forward rounding of the shoulders, imagine the release of tension and open the shoulders and chest.

Ease your head back so that your ears come in line with your shoulders. The cheek bone should be in line with the top portion of your sternum. You can try this exercise while placing your fingertips side by side on either side of the neck. Beneath your fingertips you will be able to palpate portions of the scalene muscles and the sternocleidomastoid muscle. As the head eases back into alignment, how does your body respond? Take note of shifts in alignment at the base of the head, shoulders and pelvis, soles of feet.

Muscle tension and trigger points can be effectively addressed using a lacrosse massage ball, soft massage ball, or tennis ball. Follow the steps below to relieve muscle tension and pain in the flexor and extensor muscles of the forearm.

To address the flexor muscles of the forearm, place the anterior side of your forearm on top of the ball, positioning it on a flat, hard surface such as a table, bench, or the seat of a chair (as seen in the image above).
At a slow to moderate pace, roll the ball and search for areas that feel tender or exhibit signs of muscular pain.
When you find areas requiring attention, pause and maintain pressure. The pressure can be firm, but do not worry if it does not feel like it is enough pressure. Sustained pressure is effective while using the breath and your intention to release.
To increase the intensity, consider applying the “Pin and Stretch” technique: Using the ball to apply pressure into the anterior forearm raise your hand up towards the ceiling (forearm stays on the ball) and return. Repeat three to five times (or what feels good to you). Explore doing the “Pin and Stretch” with fingers straight and fingers softly curled. This will help target different muscles. The Flexor Digitorum Profundus muscle attaches to the distal phalanges two through five. The Flexor Digitorum Superficialis muscle inserts at the base of the middle phalanges. The placement of the fingers will change the intensity and intent of the stretch.
To address the posterior forearm (extensors) you can turn your arm so that you can roll the ball similarly as the anterior forearm. If that feels uncomfortable, roll the ball on the forearm with the other hand.
To “Pin and Stretch” the extensors: If you are rolling the ball with one hand on top of the other forearm, place your hand at the edge of the table, bench, or chair so that you can move and stretch the hand downward towards the floor and return. Repeat three to five times. Explore the movement with fingers straight and alternatively curled into a soft fist. Because Extensor Digitorum inserts into the middle and distal phalanges two through five, curling the fingers into a fist will help target the muscle.

Incorporating this type of self care routine can be an effective way to relieve forearm muscle tension and pain. Whether you choose to use a lacrosse massage ball, a soft massage ball or tennis ball is based on individual preference. I personally like the weight and rubberized texture of both the lacrosse and massage ball. Both provide more firmness than a tennis ball; the lacrosse ball being most firm. The rubberized texture of a lacrosse and massage ball provides more grip on the surface you are using. A set of lacrosse and soft massage balls for the purpose of self massage are often sold together as a set.