Exercises for Upper Cross Syndrome As previously mentioned, the UCS is caused by a constant habit of poor posture, to achieve a correct posture on top of massage therapy, we would need to do exercises for Upper cross syndrome. So, there are 2 main groups of muscle that we want to target. 1st group, the tense muscles: Levator Scapulae Upper Trapezius Pectoralis Major Second group, weak muscle Deeper Neck Flexors Rhomboids Middle Trapezius. Now, let’s go through some exercises for Upper cross syndrome. Brugger exercises for Neck deep flexors. This exercise is going to focus on improving the strength of the deep flexors. Stand straight with feet apart ; Place 2 fingers, one on each sternocleidomastoid and start gently and slowly flexing the head forward. The fingers seating on the Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) would allow you to keep those muscles deactivate and so would place all the strength of flexion on the deeper muscle that we are trying to train in gaining strength. If you are not sure where the SCM is, place a hand horizontally between the neck and the upper chest, along the Clavicle line. Rotate your head gently right and left and those 2 muscles that pop up below your hand when you rotate the head are the SCM. Just be aware that the L SCM will activate when you rotate right and vice versa; 3 repetitions for 10 head flexion. Do you feel like you need help with your neck pain? Book now your next appointment at Fitzroy North Clinic. Strengthening the Rhomboids and Middle Trapezius. For this exercise, we would need an elastic rubber band for exercises. · Stand straight, feet apart, and wrap the elastic band on your fist, thumb facing out. · As you breathe in flex the elbow at 90, breathe in and bring the rubber band in tension. As you breathe out extend the elbow out. · Release and start again. 3 repetitions of 10. All those exercises have to be done daily for 6 weeks in order to be effective to change the UCS. Self Massage for Pectoralis/Upper Trap/Levator Scapulae. Pectoralis Self Massage exercises: Lie down in a prone position with the arms along the body; Place a tennis or a spiky ball right between the Pectoralis and the floor; Keep the foot’s toes anchored on the floor; Gently push yourself forward and back by breathing in (from the nose) and out (from the mouth). If you would like more pressure, is enough to open the arm at 90 and lightly extend the arm, by lifting the hand from the floor. Upper Trap and Levator Scapulae Thai Yoga exercises: Start by lying in a supine position and the ball will be seated between the shoulder and the floor. Place the ball right next to the upper angle of the scapula. This time keep your shoulder flexed at 90 degrees, so with the hand facing the ceiling. Start gently a slow rotation movement at the shoulder, by drawing a circle with the hand. 3 series of 6 repetitions for each rotation movement. With Thai Yoga, you wanna make sure that each exercise is done slowly and gently. Those exercises often work on the delicate area of the body and can reproduce massage pain. Moving the body slowly and gently and having constant breathing in and out would allow you to live Thai Yoga at its full potential.
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Jul
What is, Upper Cross Syndrome? Upper cross syndrome (UCS) is a common posture imbalance that affects many people nowadays and it is caused by repetitive poor posture habits. The body‘s muscles work in coordination with another one to keep our posture erected along the Plumb Line. The Plumb line is an imaginary line that runs from the top of the body down to the foot, passing by the: Mastoid process of the skull Middle Acromion (shoulder joint) Centre of gravity of the body (pelvis) Greater Trochanter (GT or Head of the Femur) Side of the Knee Down to the Malleolus. The head and shoulders are protracted compared to the plumb line, for someone that suffers from UCS. This happens when there is an unbalance between the anterior and posterior portions of the cervical area. So, to better understand what UCS is, let’s go through which muscles are involved in this condition, and the muscle’s role. Let’s start by drawing a diagonal line from the shoulders down to the upper chest area of the pectoralis (). The diagonal line would cross first the Upper Trap (UT) and Levator Scapulae (LS) for then cross the Pectoralis Major (PM). What do these muscles have in common? Tightness. The tight pectoralis would protract the shoulders. On the other hand, UT and LS would elevate the shoulders and scapula and accentuate the shoulder protraction. Indeed, this force applied bilaterally would place the muscle that is attached from the spine into the Scapula (or Shoulder Blade) under constant stretch, as for the muscle that keeps the neck erect, like the Deep Flexor Muscles (Longus Colli, Longus Capitus, Rectus Capitus and Longus Cervicus). Do you feel like you need help with your neck pain? Book now your next appointment, at Fitzroy North clinic. Now let’s draw a second diagonal line, in the opposite direction of the first one . This line would start from the anterior side of the body. From the neck area and go towards the posterior inferior side of the body. Therefore, would cross first the Deeper Flexor Muscles of the neck and then the Rhomboids (RH) and Middle Trap (MT). What this muscle got in common? As mentioned before because those muscles are placed under constant stress, they get weak, and can’t hold the neck and the scapula in place. How massage therapy can help? Massage therapy is a great way to create balance in the body structure. So, along with a massage session, either Thai Massage, Remedial Massage and or Myotherapy, we would start by doing a series of postural assessments and Range of Motion (ROM). This would allow me, the therapist, to pint point out what muscle needs more attention, and if there is more presentation to add to the UCS. From there then, we may start working on releasing tension from the Pec area and the UT, using gentle strokes that involve stimulating blood flow and heat in the area. Where per areas like rhomboids we would use techniques that may recreate some pain, so to stimulate the muscle to be activated. Said so, depending on the massage therapy I am offering, the approach can be slightly different. In conclusion, there is to say, that massage therapy by itself, would not be enough, if the person, at the end of the treatment, would go back to their routine life. It would be important that the patient follows the exercises that they would give at the end of the massage session. Exercises for UCS
Jul
Why food and massage are such important things? In a fast and modern society like the one that we are living in today, knowing what food to consume, can be a tough task. Even though food shapes our body, our health and indeed food can intake can increase the benefit of massage. Often we have a short time, and a tight budget and we go for what catches our eye which is not always the healthiest option. As the food industry did evolve to be one of the most complex marketing industries in the world, if someone has to sell you food before thinking about your health, most of the time, they will think about how to sell you a cheap and high-profit product. There you go then with colourful and ergonomic packaging, health benefit status and star rating. But why we would need all these suggestions about what to eat when we could work out our diet on our own by being present in the body and the mind? Is that so hard to do it? And how massage therapy can help? Let me share with you my path, which did allow me to build some food and body awareness. When I was a kid/teenager I grow up in a family where food preparation/consumption would be a ritual and a way to spend time together. Mum would spend most of her free time cooking for the family (3 kids and husband) and would try to vary the intake of nutrients by following the seasonal products and the traditions of the culture she did grow up in too. On the other hand, I was the spoiled one who would have to complain all the time that the food on the table would not suit my taste. As I grow older and came to Australia (I was 22 at that time) I realized that I could eat whatever the fresh food industry would have to offer. In a matter of days, I lost the idea that processed food was the only thing I could go for and soon I realized that I did waste so much energy and time as a kid fighting back mum’s hard work. How I did do that? Well, everything started in Italy actually, just a few months before I was leaving for Australia. I had a blood test for general health concerns and my GP at that time did make me notice that my liver was stressed. I was not a heavy drinker or drug/medicinal user, so my liver could be under stress just because my food intake was not proper. Too many small goods, processed food and low intake of veggies and fruit. A few weeks later I did end up in Tuscany at Poggio Antico farm to do a WWOOF experience. Is there that I had my first and in-volunteer experience as a vegetarian eater. I was picking olives all day long and even if I was requested to work a few hours a day I was pushing myself to make the most out of that work experience. The family that hosts me, was a vegetarian and they would prepare and grow all their food, from Olive oil to cheese, bread, veggies and fruits. After about 10 days of hard work ( I was working voluntarily for about 8 to 10 hours a day) I end up gaining weight and was surprised when I end got back home I did another blood test and my liver was back to a healthy state. That experience gave me the biggest inspiration for food intake. Food is not what I want or what I would crave, but the food is about what my body needs and what Mother Nature has to offer. So soon after the Tuscany experience, I came to Australia and start working in the hospitality industry as Pizza Maker. That’s where I start acknowledging how for the sake of profit, those who sell you ready food to eat, will sacrifice your health in exchange for a bigger profit. In the following years, I stop eating processed food and became vegetarian too. Now, the fact that I choose not to eat animal flash is a personal choice that doesn’t suit all and I don’t think that has to be the choice of us all. I rather think that if your body needs meat/fish you should allow yourself to consume it. But just make sure to buy and consume sustainable products, of high quality and once in a while, not cheap stuff daily. How then be so in tune with the body? Well, the body will maybe not speak our language, but definitely will send out signals on what it does tolerate and what it doesn’t. For example, a daily intake of high sugar will puff the skin up. You will easily notice as the vain of your arms are not visible anymore, your stomach would swell and your breath will become heavy and smelly. These are a few signs of stomach acidity. The colour, consistency and timing of your faeces would not be regular too as your intestine is having a hard time processing the high-acid food. All these body signs will then affect your mood, so you will easily feel grumpy, depressed, or anxious and of how the correlation between body-mind and stomach-brain works you will easily end up in a cycle of eating for craving and not eating for northing your body. One way to break this cycle is to: Observe and also start writing down how you feel when you are craving high process food. As the craving arises, rather than opening a package of highly processed food go for seasonal fruits and raw nuts. Have regulars cycle meals such as Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner and fewer intermediate snacks made of processed food. When you want to buy package food, learn how to read and understand the ingredients that are in it. Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cane Sugar Syrup, Cane Molasses, Golden […]
Jul
In this post we are going to talk about “Dive in, let it go” Often we get told that we should ” let it go “. How easy it is to say such a thing, but how hard it is to do so. When I was studying in Thailand to be a Thai Massage therapist, our teacher, Pichest, was making so much fun of us students when we were trying to approach his massage technique. And he was right to laugh. What students there are trying to do, is copy his movement without having his fluidity in approaching the Thai Massage technique itself. So, how does he teach others to let it go? This is how I did find a way to interpret Pichest teachings. Let’s start exploring the meaning of “let it go”. Let it go stands for no holding back on something/someone. No holding on to a loved one, an object, a situation or a feeling. So how we can recognise the fact that we are holding on to something then? This, I think, is the starting point. Recognize where and when we do hold on to something. From here, we can understand how to let it go. We tend to hold on to situations and feelings that make us feel safe, happy or protected. As these situations get exposed/under threat, we tend to tense up with our bodies. The first step, in order to recognise those tensions, we have to live in a clear state of mind, by reducing the body/mind intoxication to a safe/personal level. As the connection with the body gets clearer and deeper, we can start facing how that attachment affects our being. As you feel the body’s sensation arises, you should learn how to breathe through it. Let your breath be. Often when I do give Thai Massage or teach a Self Thai Massage class I have to recall the client of the importance of the breath. Breathe in and out from the nose and focus on the body area that is requiring your attention. Don’t feed the hunger or the fears that would arise, but do not either feed the excitement and joy of understanding the tensions, just feed your breath. As this cycle of understanding of the body takes place, we will automatically learn how to release the emotional tension/s related to the body’s sensation. Furthermore working from outside, just on the body level such as exercises and work-out is just a shallow approach to the let-go action. The strong work on the body will actually disconnect the body/mind connection. This is because hormones produced during physical exercise will fake up the body’s feelings. In conclusion, that’s how we can dive in to let it go, by slowing down the intake of sensorial input and by focusing on the body sensation that arises from discomfort situations.