The psoas muscle is a very deep muscle that connects your torso to your legs.  It affects your posture and helps you to stabilise your spine.    In fact, whether you run, bike, dance, practice yoga, or just hang out on your couch, your psoas muscles are involved. A person suffering from IlioPsoas syndrome may have pain in the hip and thigh region, as well as hip stiffness and in some cases a clicking or snapping hip. Other signs which may indicate an unhappy psoas muscle are:

1. Knee pain - if there is no obvious source then it may be your psoas muscle.
2. Constipation - a tight psoas muscle can cause or contribute to constipation.
3. Menstrual cramps - a tight psoas muscle can put pressure on reproductive organs contributing to menstrual cramps.

The reason thatthe psoas is often the hidden cause of lower back pain in our clients is that prolonged periods of sitting cause the psoas muscle to contract.   A deep tissue or sports massage is the perfect way to release a tight psoas.

In a previous post I outlined some of the benefits of the 15 minutes Seated Acupressure Neck & Shoulder massage including the scientific evidence for these claims. But I think their is one benefit that stands out above these.

I know in my previous life as an IT project manage, several times I spent most of a day trying to fix a problem and I just couldn't find a solution.  I had a tendency to get caught up in a problem and its just frustrating -- it can literally stress you out. When you're stressed out, it's harder to think clearly. Emotional stress can send your problem-solving skills into a tailspin.  To make matters worse I used to flip over that fine line between being focused on solving the problem and obsessing over it.

The trick to break this cycle is to shift your focus. The purpose of shifting your focus is to temporarily get your mind off whatever challenge has it tied up in knots.   So when you come back to it you have are re-energised and have a fresh perspective.

Going for a massage, shifts your focus to your body releases anxiety and the seated acupressure massage energises you & improves your mental alertness.  So I found it an ideal way of breaking the cycle of mentally obsessing over problems when I worked in IT.

 

Recently we have treated a few cases of elbow pain. There are two common site for elbow pain, the outside edge of the elbow which is often an indication of tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis and the inside edge of the elbow which is often an indication of glofer's elbow or medial epicondylitis.   With both of these conditions the pain may radiate up the arm and / or down along the forearm. Both conditions can be caused by precise wrist movements from using a mouse or keyboard.  As the name suggests tennis elbow can be caused by faulty backhand technique when playing tennis.  While golfer's elbow can be caused by poor technique when playing Golf or faulty forehand technique when playing tennis. In addition tennis elbow can be caused by carrying heavy shopping bags as it causes tension in the wrist extensors. Most of the cases we see are caused by long hours using computers.  The first thing we do is try and establish the cause of the pain, which can be tightness or spasm in the muscles of the forearm, neck or shoulders and then treat accordingly.  We can also show you simple stretches to stretch out the muscles of the forearm. What surprised us, and prompted me to write this blog is that they all the clients had just assumed that elbow pain was something that they just had to lived with.  In all the cases we dramatically reduced the pain and in most cases after a few treatments the clients were pain free!  So don't sit their in pain, book a massage.

Recently scientists have looked at the impact of abdominal massage on people with constipation. Constipation affects twice as many women as men.  Older people are more likely to be affected and in addition taking certain medications e.g. opioids can cause it. A randomised control trail of 204 patients with constipation (from opioid medication), were split into two equal groups.  The intervention group were taught how to administer abdominal massage on themselves, in a clockwise direction over the intestines on the abdominal wall, which they performed twice a day for four weeks after breakfast & dinner. The control group received standard medical care, such as laxatives, suppositories and enemas. Both groups were asked to keep a diary of their bowel movements and to complete three questionnaires, including the Bristol stool scale for evaluating stools and bowel habits, the visual analogue scale, which contains questions about constipation, including severity, straining & pain. Patients in the massage group reported significant improvements in stool consistency, straining during defecation, the feeling of incomplete emptying after defecation and experienced increase bowel movements.  They also reported a reduction in the severity of constipation, pain, straining, gas & fullness in the rectum.  However, the massage had no effect on the stool amount. The researchers concluded that abdominal massage was an effective approach for managing opioid induced constipation.  So if you suffer from constipation consider abdominal massage. Reference https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31358243

We all know that sports stars take ice baths and I am often asked why they do it, and do I need to do it after I run.  So today I am going to answer that question. Cryotherapy is one of long accepted tools of a sports masseur.  If you have ever watched a football match on telly, you will have seen someone fall to the ground and the coach run on with a bucket of water and the magic sponge and the player then hopefully gets up and hobbles around before taking an active part in the game.  So the magic sponge, (the application of cold water to an injured area) is Cyrotherapy in its most basic form.  The local application of ice or cold water is beneficial because

• It relieves pain
• Reduces muscle spams (i.e. athletes take ice baths to avoid feeling stiff the next day)
• When someone is injured it moderates inflammation

Probably equally important to all those benefits is that the treatment is very convenient, inexpensive and effective. So to go back to the questions should I have an ice bath after training. If you have injured yourself during training you should definitely follow the RICE (Rest Ice Compression and Elevation) protocol

• Rest - by which I mean avoid weight bearing activities and anything that causes pain for 24 - 48 hours.
• Ice - Use either cold water or ice wrapped in a tea towel and apply for 2 - 20 minutes for 2-3 days then 3 times daily.    When applying ice you go through the cold, aching, burning and numbness sensation cycle, it is very important to stop at numbness to avoid burning yourself.
• Compression  - use a compression bandage if necessary
• Elevation - if the injury is to a limb, elevate it to help it heal.

The only exception to using Ice for injuries is for people with a peripheral vascular disease e.g. diabetes, anyone who is hypersensitive or has a physiological aversion to cold if you are frail or if you have varicose veins in the injured area or  the injury is a broken bone. However, what if you haven't injured yourself, should you have an ice bath after training.    Taking an ice bath or sometimes a cold-water immersion is certainly now more popular amongst athletes than ever before.   The key reason is that as it reduces muscle tightness and soreness and it allows athletes to recover more quickly after intense training.   The big draw back is that is uncomfortable and not really scientifically proven.  My recommendation would be only to do it if you are training really intensively and you are not contraindicated (see above exceptions to using ice) and want to, as ice baths are optional.  For me the most important thing to prevent injury and allow you to recover quickly is a well designed training plan where you build up the intensity of the exercise slowly, with adequate warm up routine and a cool down routine and stretching. Remember if you do get injured or have tight muscles after training, a good masseur will be able to sort these out.