Stretching Archives - Health Tips From The Professor

Avoid Muscle Pain Before It Starts

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

Happy Thanksgiving!

November is the month that reminds us to be grateful for all the blessings we enjoy because we are Americans. Of course, we should be grateful every day for the freedoms we have in this beautiful country! Have you thought about the freedom you enjoy the most? For me it’s the freedom to worship however I choose because we don’t have a particular religion forced on us. I also love the fact that I can own my business and move it anywhere I like in the entire country.

I hope you’ll give some thought to what you are grateful for as this happy holiday draws near.

Should we warm up before stretching?

Avoid Muscle Pain Before It Starts

Now that the weather has turned cooler in all parts of the USA, more people are exercising outdoors. Are you? Be sure to warm up your muscles before you go running or cycling. One good way to gently and effectively warm up your joints is to bring them into their full range-of-motion. This is also a great morning routine when you first get up.

You have been told to stretch before you exercise. However, stretching while a muscle is tied up with spasms that shorten its fibers may cause the muscle fibers to get micro-tears. You could be creating muscle pain rather than avoiding muscle pain.

As an analogy, think about what happens if you tie a rope in knots and then try to stretch it to its original length without first untying the knots. That is exactly what happens when you try to stretch a muscle that is tight or has spasms. Release the spasms by warming up first, and then stretch. It works great and will assure that you don’t hurt worse after stretching than you did before you stretched.

Warm Up Before Stretching

The key here is not attempting to stretch your muscles, but to just gently move your joints. Here is a whole-body warm-up procedure I recommend.

First, bring your arm all the way across the front of your body, then slowly help the movement by linking your opposite arm across your elbow and pull your arm toward your chest. Repeat this with your opposite arm, loosening the back of your shoulders. Only go to the point of “feels so good,” never to a point of pain.

Then bring both arms as far back as you can, releasing the front of your shoulders. While you’re there, move your head and neck down toward your chest and around to the side, moving the top of your shoulders and neck.

Next, with your arms still out to the side, rotate your arms forward several times, and then backwards several times. Your intention is to move your shoulder joint in as many directions as possible, always doing the movement gently and slowly.

Warm up your waist and lower back by keeping your hips still and rotating your upper body as far to the left as you comfortably can, and then as far to the right. The goal here is to gently move all the joints from your mid-back to your hips.

To loosen your hip joint, you’ll want to easily swing your leg back and forth. If you are standing with your foot on the floor, you’ll need to hold your foot up, so it clears the floor.

When possible, it’s good to be standing on a step or some books so the foot on your swinging leg will be relaxed. Below I am demonstrating by standing on two packs of copy paper.

Stand with your right leg on a step, and then slowly and gently swing your left leg back and forth. Let your leg drop, giving an easy stretch to your hip joint. Then reverse so you can do the same to your right leg & hip. Then hold on to something and swing your leg in front of you, going from side-to-side.

This entire program will take from 5-10 minutes of your time, and its goal is to just get your joints moving. It should always feel good, like you are waking up your joints to prepare for the day. There are many good morning routines to loosen up joints that stiffen while sleeping.

After you have released the knots in your muscles, you can stretch safely. Now you are ready to start your day!

How to Untie the Spasms that are Knotting Up Your Muscles

If your muscles have painful knots, this gentle warm-up procedure is not always enough. I also teach people how to untie the knots (spasms) that form in muscles. Those knots shorten the fibers and put a strain on the joints. I always recommend that you apply direct pressure on the knots, holding the pressure for 30 seconds to press toxins out of the fibers and draw blood into the muscle.

If you have been to see me at my office, you know that I always teach how to do two or three of the Julstro Method self-treatments that will help you stop pain. I’ve been doing this for years, and it works.

Back in 2001 I wrote my first self-treatment book titled The Pain-Free Triathlete. At the time most of my clients were either serious athletes or Ironman triathletes. That ultimately expanded to become a book for the general public and in 2010 I wrote Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living. Thanks to print-on-demand that book was constantly updated and revised, with the latest version being done in 2018. Then I wrote the updated book for athletes titled: The Pain-Free Athlete.

I also have a DVD stretching program that combines all the self-treatments with a safe Yoga stretching routine. That DVD program is titled Focused Flexibility Training, although it started out as Trigger Point Yoga (only the name was changed).

The 15 Minute Back Pain Solution was another book added to the collection. This book focuses on the muscles that specifically cause low back pain, and hip/groin/knee pain, as well as sciatica. Originally it was only available as a Kindle book, but it is now being printed and will be ready soon.

It’s not difficult to release the tight muscle spasms that are causing you pain, it just takes a bit of direction to know how to find the point and how to treat it. Each of these books and DVD programs show you how to do that quickly and easily.

You can look at each of these books and programs by going to www.JulstroMethod.com/shop

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

About The Author

Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

She has been widely published, both on – and off – line, in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers around the country. She is also often chosen to speak at national conventions, medical schools, and health facilities nationwide.

The Pluses And Minuses Of Stretching

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

When using stretching exercises for flexibility and pain relief, you should be careful to release the knots first.

Minuses! Are there any minuses to stretching? Yes, there are…let me explain.

All muscles originate on one bone, we’ll call the bone that is at the beginning of the muscle the “stationary bone,” then the muscle tendons cross over a joint and insert into another bone we’ll call the “moveable bone.”

When the muscle contracts (shortens) it pulls on the tendons, and they pull on the moveable bone where they are inserting. This is how all joints move.

Let me demonstrate with the biceps muscle in your upper arm. Your biceps originate in two different places:

The “long head” is deep inside your shoulder joint, and the “short head” is on a bone at the top of your shoulder called the coracoid process of your shoulder blade.

Your biceps tendon crosses over the inside of your elbow joint and inserts into the bone in your forearm.

When your biceps contract, you bend your elbow so you can touch your shoulder.

Notice that your triceps, on the back of your arm, are having to totally stretch to allow this movement.

Imagine what will happen if your triceps won’t stretch.

You won’t be able to bend your arm and your elbow will hurt. You may decide that you need to stretch your triceps – but this is where the “minus” comes in!

The “Minus” of Stretching Exercises for Flexibility When Your Muscle is Tight

When you repetitively use a muscle, in this case the triceps, the muscle fibers spasm and become painful, tying them into knots that are shortening the muscle fibers. The fibers are now short, but they are still originating and inserting in the same place. This causes a strain on the bone, usually at the insertion point.

If you had a 12″ length of rope and tied enough knots in it to make it 11″ and then consider what would happen to the rope if you tried to stretch it back to 12″ without first untying the knots. The knots would get tighter and the fibers outside of the knots would be overstretched. This is what happens to your muscles when you stretch without first releasing the spasms. It is the main reason you may feel worse after stretching than you did before you stretched.

Also, since the fibers are now short, they can’t lengthen enough to allow the joint to bend. In this example, the triceps have shortened which prevents them from lengthening. You either think you need to strengthen your biceps, or you think you need to stretch your triceps.

Rarely does anyone think about first releasing the spasms, and then stretching the muscle fibers. Yet, this is exactly what needs to be done if you plan on using stretching exercises for flexibility and pain relief.

Release the Spasms Preventing You From Using Stretching Exercises Safely.

As I mentioned, when you try to stretch you are now causing the knots in the muscles to become more complicated, and you are overstretching the fibers on either side of the knot.

However, if you release the spasm by putting direct pressure on it, you will feel a burning sensation, but as you press and release, the burn will lessen until it totally disappears. Now you can safely stretch for flexibility without injuring any of the muscle fibers.

The Perfect Stretching For Flexibility Packages:

Two products that will demonstrate how you can safely release the spasms and then start stretching for flexibility

The 15 Minute Back Pain Solution

Specifically written to focus on each muscle that causes back pain. THE 15 MINUTE BACK PAIN SOLUTION explains in detail why the muscles from the middle of your back to your knees will cause low back and hip pain, including sciatica and what to do to relieve the pain. An easy-to-read eBook that has a step-by-step program you can do in 7 Days.

This is the perfect way to prepare your muscles so you can use stretching exercises for flexibility!

And

Focused Flexibility Training

The comprehensive stretching program covers all aspects of releasing the spasms that have shortened the muscle fibers, and then guides you through a safe stretching routine using proven yoga-style postures.

Focused Flexibility Training has three DVDs that:

Demonstrates how to do every Julstro self-applied treatment taught in Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living.
Two 30-minute yoga-style stretching programs for the upper body
Two 30-minute yoga-style stretching programs for the lower body.

Both stretching programs featured in the DVDs start with a 15-minute routine of Julstro self-applied treatments to release spasms in the muscles being stretched and then continue on to the 30-minute guided stretching programs.

Focused Flexibility Training also comes with a Julstro Perfect Ball and a Bamboo Stick Massager to provide all the tools you’ll need to be safely stretching for flexibility.

With just a bit of time and focused attention on safely stretching, you will be able to get back to living your life without joint pain and with more flexibility than ever before – it’s easy and it feels great!

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

About The Author

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.