A recent study conducted at the Center on an Aging Society at Georgetown University found that back pain is the most common cause of workdays lost in the US. It is the 2ndmost common cause of visits to the doctor’s office and experts estimate that 80% of the population will have a back pain issue at some point in their lives. Not only are we a society in pain, but when it gets bad enough we lose work, money, and then have to pay in an attempt to relieve the pain. Many of us are currently facing these problems and are met with the question of how do I get better and how do I decrease the likelihood that the pain will return. One answer is understanding and breaking the pain cycle.
Tag: ROM
Five Factors That Affect Your Flexibility
Some people can bend themselves into a pretzel, while others can barely get up after sitting for a while. How about you? Flexibility, or limberness, refers to how freely your joints move and the length in muscles that cross those joints. Regular massage can, and will, help most people improve and retain their normal flexibility. You’ll feel better because you can move better.
How flexible you are depends on factors, some of which are in your control, some that aren’t. Here are five factors that affect your flexibility: Continue reading “Five Factors That Affect Your Flexibility”
If You Play Soccer, You NEED Massage
Soccer is the third most played team sport in the US (13 million Americans), behind basketball and baseball. Soccer players get great exercise and training and play increase agility, better coordination, and build team skills. As the sport’s popularity soars, so do the injuries. With a little planning, however, serious soccer players can use massage to help them reduce injuries and increase their flexibility and range of motion on the field.
Common injuries
Most injuries in soccer are limited to the lower extremes. Sprains and strains are common, as are injuries from a knee twist, or a not-too-well placed kick from another play. Overuse injuries also occur.
Massage Can Improve Range of Motion
Your body is constructed around a bony skeleton composed of roughly 206 bones, which are jointed to one another. Skeletal muscles attach to two or more bones that are joined through one or more joints. Contraction of these muscles crossing their respective joints powers the movement of the bones, pivoting at their joints. Muscles tend to work in pairs, across joints, each muscle of the pair pulling opposite to its partner.
When muscles become tense due to stressors of any kind, both muscles of a pair partially contract and shorten, putting pressure across the joint(s) the muscles cross. This tension reduces the potential range of motion (ROM) at the joint(s), because part of the dynamic range of the muscles is already reached. Continue reading “Massage Can Improve Range of Motion”