There are a lot of muscles that get typical bodywork during massage therapy sessions, but what are the ones that are often missed that can lead to big issues?
In this blog we cover:
Accessing the sternal fibers of pectoralis major
The intercostals for breathing
Tiny muscles of the feet
How the jaw affects your body
Pectoralis Major down through sternum
The pectorals are an important part of the shoulder girdle and can help create support and stability around the sternum and clavicle. Often these muscles can feel tight and restrictions can form around the sternum or under the breast tissue. You can work on this tissue with a V-Drape which creates a almost prom-like dress view which gives access to just the sternum or I highly recommend breast and chest massage to give full access to this tissue if you have a certified practitioner you trust.
Click Here to learn more about Breast/Chest massage including:
Practitioner education requirements
Verbal and written consent in clinic
Draping options
Client Experience: Chest spasms due to tight pectorals:
In the past I had a client bring up that she was suffering from what she thought could be mini heart attacks in the evening. Upon palpation of the pectorals they were extremely tight. We were able to undrape the breast tissue and access the pectoral muscles in full and worked out any adhesions and high tone areas. She has since not had these heart palpations in the evening.
Intercostals
This group of muscles lie between each rib and assist in inhalation and exhalation. The average person breaths in and out around 22,000 - 25,000 times per day. Therefore, these muscles while tiny, serve an extremely important purpose in our daily lives and if they are restricted or not functioning properly it can take a toll on our nervous system.
How do you work on intercostals?
There are many approaches for working on the intercostals. When working on soft tissue many you use: traditional swedish massage techniques, cupping therapy, and gua sha and more.
My favorite way is to use cupping therapy on these muscles as pushing on the muscles usually can create a lot of discomfort on the ribcage. The lift of the cupping is a more gentle as we can create a lift allowing us to work on adhesions in these muscles without pushing on bone.
When working on the anterior (front) this work is best done with chest undrapped as it gives us the most access to all the interecostals, this obviously depends if you have a practitioner you trust, their scope, and your personal boundaries. However, even with a proper breast drape with access to the abdomen you can still hit around 80% of these muscles.
At Level Up we also use P-DTR to assess the overall breathing mechanics of your body and if you are struggling to breath for reasons other than just muscle tensions or soft tissue dysfunctions.
Lumbricals and Interossei of the Feet
Often due to poor footwear these muscles in the feet can become extremely tight as they become used to staying compacted. When these muscles become high tone it can restrict range of motion in the toes and foot mechanics.
Working on these with P-DTR and with massage therapy can help restore a lot of movement. I also love utilizing cupping therapy to help work on muscles between bones much like the intercostals above.
Sometimes these muscles can be locked up neurologically from impacts though so I also often recommend a P-DTR approach to compliment the massage therapy work.
Jaw Muscles
Jaw muscles are perhaps the most problematic/dysfunctional and high tone areas I find on people. However, majority of people do not feel this tightness/tension unless there is pain associated with it; this is because this tightness is their normal and all they know.
When jaw muscles become tight they can cause a variety of issues including but not limited to:
Clenching and grinding (most obvious symptom)
Pain/ and tightness around neck and jaw
Jaw clicking and popping
Poor balance and poor GAIT mechanics
Work on jaw muscles from the outside can yield some great results but does limit what you can work on and the depth/touch. I would recommend working with someone who specializes in Intraoral Massage as it is a great way to work inside the mouth and these healthcare workers often specialize in treatment and assessment of the jaw.
Jaw muscles can often have big emotional tie-ins so working on it from a P-DTR perspective can be extremely important.
Schedule Your Bodywork Session Today:
Learn more about P-DTR here:
Learn more about Massage Therapy here:
Comments