Hello, this is John. I want to share a simple three-stage process I use with almost all of my clients to rehabilitate an injury. For this example, let's say the client has pain around the front of their shoulder and difficulty lifting their arm past shoulder height without pain.
First, I ask questions to ascertain what has happened. If the client mentions that the soreness has not started after one particular event, I check for tissue restriction. (In other words, I check which muscles are tight and stopping the movement). After the halfway point of the shoulder lift, the shoulder blade (scapula) must vastly increase in movement. If it has issues moving, pain will begin around this point.
After massaging the tissue and freeing the shoulder blade's restriction, the pain should most likely reduce by 70 to 80%. Any remaining soreness may be from the front, or from muscle weakness. Muscle weakness can commonly cause the shoulder blade to tighten up.
Once all the pain is gone, and the shoulder movement is restored, we progress into the three-stage rehabilitation phase. This process can be used for all different types of muscle injury.
Stage 1: Muscle Recruitment In this stage, we identify which muscles have weakened over time and are no longer being involved enough in the movement, relying on other muscles. The body is lazy, and if it can avoid using something, it usually will. This phase focuses on isolating the weak muscle through tailored exercises to strengthen it and prepare it for the next phase. In our example, if the infraspinatus muscle (part of the rotator cuff) is weak, exercises such as cable external rotations would be a good starting point for isolating the muscle in order to strengthen it.
Stage 2: Muscle Adaptation Once the muscles have built-in strength through the isolating exercises, we change the exercises to involve more muscle groups, thus involving that muscle in proper movement patterns. In this stage we would use more involved movements for our shoulder injury, such as reverse pec fly or seated row.
Stage 3: Muscle Reinforcement Once the muscles have successfully adapted to the movement and are being used as they should be, we add more complex movements and increase resistance, giving the body the confidence that when the muscles are needed, they can perform and allow the body to move correctly. Exercises such as lateral raise, shoulder presses, and heavier seated rows would continue to strengthen the shoulder area. Once this stage is complete, the rehabilitation process is complete, and the issue has hopefully been solved.
Remember, if you’re in areas like Tuggeranong, woden valley or queanbeyan region. You don’t have to worry about paying the extra travel fee that North Canberra has to pay. I Just thought to mention it as an added perk of being local. Otherwise areas such as Belconnen and the Canberra city have a travel fee added to their massage.
Enough from me. Thanks for reading.
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John Power
Soft tissue therapist
Remedial2you
Great advice John