[SamuelBRoberts]

(Adapted from "Do it yourself! The Perfect Guide to Myofascial Release" (自分でできる！筋膜リリースパーフェクトガイド) by Dr. Hitoshi Takei)

Introduction

This guide will tell you how to perform myofascial release, the process of applying gentle tension to the myofascia (The web of tissue that surrounds and envelops the muscles of the body). When the body is kept in a period of bad posture, or performs repeated motions improperly, this myofascia can become twisted and lose its elasticity, leading to muscle pain throughout the body. This guide details a series of gentle stretches intended to release pain caused by shoulder tension, bad posture, and pelvic misalignment (particularly the dreaded anterior pelvic tilt ) . A lot of us on the forum spend way too much time sitting on our computers, or leaning over our cell phones, and as a result we're in a lot of low-level pain. Many times it's not debilitating, but it's annoying, and it causes us to feel frustrated and aggravated all day. My hope is that this guide will alleviate some of that.
Some of you will recognize the term myofascial release from things like foam rolling and trigger point therapy, which are very popular in the west. Every lifter I know, for instance, has tried foam rolling at one point or another. Foam rolling is great, but it has limitations: for instance, you can't foam roll your neck (Or at least, it's a terrible idea) and it's difficult to foam roll the pelvic area if you're not already in decent shape. Since the neck and pelvis are the source of so many of our problems, these are pretty serious deficiencies. Also, it hurts like someone is pressing branding irons into your thighs, particularly when you're first starting out. It's worth it, but nobody likes pain, so this is an alternate method.
Trigger point therapy I simply don't know enough about to comment on, so I'll skip.

These stretches attack the problem in a different way, by gently pulling on the myofascia for an extended period of time until it regains its elasticity. At least, that's the theory. I am not a doctor or a physical therapist, and I did not come up with the stretches I'm about to describe for you.
These stretches are adapted from a book I found in a bookstore in Jinbocho, Tokyo. The book is called "Do it yourself! The Perfect Guide to Myofascial Release" by Dr. Hitoshi Takei. I was in Jinbocho, which is a town famous for its huge amount of rare bookstores, when I happened to see this book on the bestseller shelf. I've always had a lot of problems with muscle pain, so I snapped it up for 14$ or whatever they were charging. I went home and started doing the stretches described within, and found that they were vastly, vastly more effective than the ones I've received from the numerous physical therapists I've seen over the years. Even doing them sporadically and irregularly (Since I was on vacation) I saw serious amounts of improvement.

I looked for equivalents in English to share with my friends, but came up with nothing. As near as I can tell, this is mostly unknown in the west, or at least, known only to occupational therapists and personal trainers, many of whom charge outrageous prices. If there are any actual occupational therapists or someone here who has specialized knowledge in this field, I'd love to hear from you. I am translating these stretches from the book so that other people can get the benefits I have.
As for what those benefits are, doing them not terribly regularly (Because I'm a lazy-ass) I have seen the following improvements:

1.) Reduced forearm and wrist pain. Forearm and wrist pain sucks ass, because the standard stretches don't really work. I had this for almost a year and it sucked. It hurt to type. It hurt to play the piano or the guitar. It hurt even to play video games. I had these stupid looking braces I slept with on my hands. One of the stretches I'll describe below was more effective than anything the two physical therapists I saw showed me.

2.) Better posture sitting and standing. I don't have my neck poking foreward like a cave man as much anymore.

3.) Less neck and shoulder pain.

4.) It's beginning to help with my anterior pelvic tilt. Anterior pelvic tilt is an absolute killer for posture. What happens is that your pelvis turns forward and makes your gut stick out, so you look fat even if you aren't. (And if you are fat, you look even fatter.) It also messes up your spine and causes your head to lean forward, again giving you the caveman look. Anterior pelvic tilt is caused by sitting down too much, and if you're a regular on a forum like this, you may very well have it to some degree.

5.) Better sleep. This is probably just me, but I'll include it here anyway. When I do these stretches before bed I get sleepy as hell. I don't know why.
Other benefits can include improving tinnitus symptoms (If the tinnitus is caused by tight neck and jaw muscles) and TMJ, as well as faster muscle recovery, less injuries when lifting, and all the other things that come with a good stretching routine.
Anyway, this intro ran on too long, so time to get started. Here are some things to know before we begin.

CAVEAT 1: I am putting this at the very front because it's the most important. IF THESE STRETCHES HURT WHEN YOU'RE DOING THEM, YOU ARE STRETCHING TOO HARD AND NEED TO LIGHTEN UP. "No pain, no gain", for all the benefits it brings in the gym, does not apply here. These stretches are most effective if they are GENTLE. If you're doing it hard, you are shortchanging yourself and you need to stop.

CAVEAT 2: In the US this is considered "alternative medicine". The wikipedia article in particular is very negative on myofascial release. As near as I can tell this is because some dumbass tried to use it to cure cancer. This will not cure your cancer. These are stretches. They don't cure cancer, so don’t try to use them for that purpose. The person who wrote this book is an actual doctor, whose field of specialty is using high-tech equipment to prove the effectiveness of techniques like this. The book opens with a lengthy and very technical explanation of how the myofascia works and how tools like MRI can be used to see its effects, which I’m skipping because it’s long and nobody is paying me to do this.

Now on with the show…




Section 1: Warming Up

Lying-Down Warm-Up Myofascial Release
Time: 90 Seconds
Step 1: Lying face-up on the ground, looking at the ceiling, stretch your arms all the way out above your head. Fully stretch out your legs as far as they’ll go.
Step 2: Stick your chest out.
Step 3: Keeping your arms and legs fully extended like poles, move them in various different directions for 90 seconds: I.E. one leg crossing over the other, arms going clockwise, whatever works. This is just a warm-up so don’t worry too much about it.

Chair Warm-Up Myofascial Release
Time: 90 Seconds
Step 1: Sit in a chair with legs fully extended outwards (Your legs should form a “v” shape).
Step 2: Stick your chest out and sit up straight.
Step 3: Keeping your arms and legs straight like poles, move your arms and upper torso in various different directions for 90 seconds. This is just a warm-up so don’t worry too much about it.

Standing Warm-Up Myofascial Release
Time: 90 Seconds
Step 1: Stand up with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Fully extend your arms over your head like poles.
Step 2: Keeping your arms, torso, and legs fully extended, move your arms and torso in various directions for 90 seconds. Keep both feet firmly planted on the ground at all times.

Section 2: Full-Body Myofascial Release

L-Shaped Table Full Body Myofascial Release
Time: 30 Seconds x 3
Step 1: Stand in front of a table with your arms above your head, fully extended like poles. You’ll be leaning down forward on the table on this, so make sure there’s nothing in your way.
Step 2: Arms still fully extended, and keeping your legs fully extended as well, bend forward with your torso on top of the table. Bend at the pelvis, and don’t let your knees buckle when you’re doing this (Which is tempting if you’re a tall guy) You want to form your body into an L shape. Keep your head down when you’re doing this. Hold this position for 30 seconds, and repeat 3 times.

Shay Myofascial Release
Time: 30 Seconds x 3 (Per Side)
Step 1: Stand facing forward, with the back of a chair or a table on your right side. (I just use a kitchen chair for this.) Put your right hand on the back of the chair.
Step 2: Cross your left foot in front of your right one and plant it firmly into the ground, making sure that the back of your left leg is in contact with the front of your right leg, and that the soles of both feet are 100% in contact with the ground. Fully extend your left arm above your head like a pole.
Step 3: Keeping your left arm fully extended, slowly bring it over your head towards your right side (Tilt your torso a little when you do this, but make sure your pelvis stays level.). Hold this position for 30 seconds.
Step 4: Do the same thing for the opposite side, repeating 3 times for each.

Neck and Shoulder Myofascial Release


Towel Neck-Bending Myofascial Release
Step 1: Put a towel over your left shoulder, holding it with your right hand in front of you and your left hand behind you. (Fold the towel a few times so it looks like a long strip)
Step 2: Sitting up straight, with chin tucked slightly, tilt your head to the right to stretch out the left side of your neck. This stretch should be GENTLE. If it hurts, you’re doing it too hard and won’t see the benefit. Hold this position for 10 seconds.
Step 3: Tilt your head down and to the right, bringing your nose close to your shoulder, as if you were looking at something below you on your right side. Hold this position for 10 seconds.
Step 4: Switch sides and repeat.

When doing this, make sure that the shoulder you’re holding down with the towel doesn’t rise up, and that you’re keeping your chin tucked.

Do this three times for both sides.

Stretched-Arm Diagonal Neck Myofascial Release
Step 1: Sit up straight in a chair (Preferably one with no arms) Put your right hand on your left shoulder, and fully extend your left arm downwards and behind you. (As if you were in the front of a car and trying to grab something from the back. Let me know if this analogy doesn’t make sense and I’ll try to come up with a better one.)
Step 2: With chin tucked, tilt your head to the right, bringing your right ear towards your right shoulder.
Step 3: Then turn your head to the right, so that your nose is close to your right shoulder. Hold this position for 20 seconds. Again, do this GENTLY. If it hurts you’re doing it too hard.

Make sure you’re sitting up straight and not bending your body to the right, and that your left shoulder doesn’t rise up.

Do this three times for both sides.

Stretched-Arm Vertical Neck Myofascial Release
Step 1: Sit up straight in a chair (Preferably one with no arms) Put your right hand on your left shoulder, and fully extend your left arm downwards and behind you. (As if you were in the front of a car and trying to grab something from the back. Let me know if this analogy doesn’t make sense and I’ll try to come up with a better one.)
Step 2: With chin tucked, tilt your head to the right, bringing your right ear towards your right shoulder. Hold this position for 20 seconds.

Again, do this GENTLY. If it hurts you’re doing it too hard.

Make sure you’re sitting up straight and not bending your body to the right, and that your left shoulder doesn’t rise up.

Do this three times for both sides. This is the same as the one above, without the final step. This causes it to relax different muscles in the neck.

Crossed Arms Shoulder Myofascial Release


Step 1: Extend both arms straight out in front of you, like poles. They should be perfectly level with your shoulders. Then put your right hand on top of your left elbow, and your left hand under your right elbow to make what looks like a “bar” in front of you. (It should look like you’re forming a square basketball hoop in front of your chest.)
Step 2: Maintaining this position, bring both shoulders as far forward as possible to move the “bar” away from your body. Hold this position for 10 seconds.
Step 3: Keeping the “bar” you formed with your arms level with your shoulders, bring it as close to your body as you can. (Before you were extending, now you’re retracting.) Hold this position for 10 seconds.
Step 4: Keeping your arms crossed in this “bar” position, now extend them at a 45 degree angle upwards and away from your body. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Retract like you did before, holding for another 10 seconds.
Step 5: Repeat step 4, but this time, instead of extending at a 45 degree angle upwards, extend at a 45 degree downwards. Again, hold extended for 10 seconds, then retract for 10 seconds.

Repeat this process three times.


More to come if people are interested.

[komatiite]

I was having lots of nagging shoulder pain in basically every pressing movement, dips, bench and OHP. So I finally sought some help and came across a Chiropractor who does Active Release. After some posture discussion he went to work on me and started jabbing his finger in my armpit and rotating my arm around to break up scar tissue. He was like "wow you have a ton of myofascia in your biceps" and showed me what he meant, it felt like a tight, hard spider web. So he lubed my arm up with coconut oil and pulled out a tool like this:
and started basically scraping away up my biceps and up on to my outer pec to break it down. I am not sure if the active release or the myofascia release tool did the trick but I basically have zero shoulder pain right now, pretty amazing. I tend to sit at my desk with crappy posture so that probably was the root cause.

I will add your techniques to my arsenal of basic rotator cuff band movements and shoulder dislocations, seems like a great rehab method. Plus one!

[SamuelBRoberts]

Interesting. Any idea what the hell that thing is?

[komatiite]

(05-08-2017 10:39 PM)SamuelBRoberts Wrote:  

Interesting. Any idea what the hell that thing is?

I just googled "Myofascial release tools," but it was basically just a metal popsicle stick. I am seeing him on Friday for my final session so I can ask for more details then -- let me know if you have any specific questions because I lack the knowledge to ask anything really intelligent.

since I tend to sit at work with my right hand on the mouse and my left arm on the chair arm rest with my left shoulder hunched up, the myofascia texture was much more obvious on my left biceps compared to my right side. Left shoulder pain was obviously a lot worse as well due to this. Needless to say I have corrected my sitting posture!

[SamuelBRoberts]

I'd be interested in knowing what it is and how it's used, yeah. I think this stuff has a lot of value.

[redbeard]

(05-08-2017 10:37 PM)komatiite Wrote:  

I was having lots of nagging shoulder pain in basically every pressing movement, dips, bench and OHP. So I finally sought some help and came across a Chiropractor who does Active Release. After some posture discussion he went to work on me and started jabbing his finger in my armpit and rotating my arm around to break up scar tissue. He was like "wow you have a ton of myofascia in your biceps" and showed me what he meant, it felt like a tight, hard spider web. So he lubed my arm up with coconut oil and pulled out a tool like this:
and started basically scraping away up my biceps and up on to my outer pec to break it down. I am not sure if the active release or the myofascia release tool did the trick but I basically have zero shoulder pain right now, pretty amazing. I tend to sit at my desk with crappy posture so that probably was the root cause.

I will add your techniques to my arsenal of basic rotator cuff band movements and shoulder dislocations, seems like a great rehab method. Plus one!

Coconut oil?



Edit: PS: I had a terrible ankle sprain a few years back. YUUUGE amounts of swelling. They hit it with a scraper like this? Holy shit, painful but so relieving.

[komatiite]

Ok I'll remember to ask for his general take and if he suggests regular "scraping" of the myofascia with the coconut oil / release tool combo.

I too was skeptical when I saw the negative Wikipedia article immediately after my first appointment with him and assumed that my progress was due to solely active release therapy but who knows if the myofascial release had more impact. Regardless, this guy has a couple signed thank you cards framed on his wall from pro athletes, so it's not like he is some quack. Convenient you posted this thread because I am quite obsessive about this shoulder issue I have and really want to maximize the amount of info I get from this guy since he is expensive to go to

[SamuelBRoberts]

Many of these stretches are identical to ones I've been shown by personal trainers and physical therapists over the years, except more intricate, detailed, and effective. There's a lot of science in the start of the book which I didn't translate (Because it's far more time consuming to translate stuff about fiber elasticity and make sure you're getting it right than write "hold your arms out like poles" a couple times.) The one for the arms was life-changing for me in particular, and I can vouch for its effectiveness hard.

[IstillLoveVistaBaby]

I've seen that iam metal thing before, they use it to dig into your trapezius / shoulder to release muscular knots and tension, hurts like hell but it makes a difference.

[ascotpudding]

Quote:

Stretched-Arm Vertical Neck Myofascial Release
Step 1: Sit up straight in a chair (Preferably one with no arms) Put your right hand on your left shoulder, and fully extend your left arm downwards and behind you. (As if you were in the front of a car and trying to grab something from the back. Let me know if this analogy doesn’t make sense and I’ll try to come up with a better one.)

SBR, this a great post, exactly what I was looking for to deal with my chronic shoulder pain. I'm still not clear on where to position my left arm in exercise above.

Is the hand on the left arm staying low, so that is swings past my waist on the way back?

Or should my left hand be high, where it swings past my left ear on the way back?

Thanks and would love to see any other useful exercises!

[SamuelBRoberts]

It's downwards, so below your shoulder. Imagine you're in the front passenger seat of a car, and you want to grab something off the back seat.

[ascotpudding]

(05-09-2017 11:17 AM)SamuelBRoberts Wrote:  

It's downwards, so below your shoulder. Imagine you're in the front passenger seat of a car, and you want to grab something off the back seat.

So, the palm of the hand should be facing down when it's behind you, then?

[SamuelBRoberts]

Yeah. You'll feel it intensify the stretch.

[Kona]

I'm on the towel trick stretch and it does make my neck a little flexier. Lots of cracking. Feels good.

Aloha!

[komatiite]

Hey Sam I just got out of my appointment.

- The tool he uses is called a Graston. He told me to check out the website because there are lots of FAQs and techniques that even clinicians can learn from: http://www.grastontechnique.com/home

-He refers to the issue as "myofascitis" which is a good word for more research. He said the worst case he ever saw was a student-athlete Scholarship Pitcher in the NCAA. Big lanky kid who would throw fastballs then attend class or study in the library all hunched over sitting all day. The transition from the forward slumped shoulders to the big extension of pitching was constantly tearing up his shoulder and biceps muscles. The chiropractor said it was like rubbing heavy courdoroy pants in the wrong direction whenever he did Graston technique on him - really loud sounding. But it ended up really helping him from his injuries.

-He said to avoid, you obviously need good posture, and balance out pushing workouts with pulling. Rows, face pulls and even deadlifts help due to the postural gainzzz.

-Stretches: he was more about the mobility work, so he gave me two. One, swing your arm front to back - keep your arm straight in the backswing so you feel a bit of a stretch in the biceps and in the front swing, bring your arm up and over your head as if you were doing the bent arm triceps stretch where your hand touches your shoulder with your elbow pointing to the sky. The second movement is just swinging both arms back and forth where you give yourself a hug in one swing and then backswing both arms like you have wings, then back to the hug with alternate arm on top as the last time. Gets the blood flowing to prevent the strains that cause when you go work out after sitting with shitty posture all day. Hard to explain the stretches without diagrams or video but I don't even know what words to google to find them!

[komatiite]

Also I should add. He had no idea about how myofascia treatment originated in Asia -- so in reality there could be some differences between his interpretation of the malady and yours. Do you think my chiropractor is on the same page as what you're talking about?

[SamuelBRoberts]

(05-12-2017 07:16 PM)komatiite Wrote:  

Also I should add. He had no idea about how myofascia treatment originated in Asia -- so in reality there could be some differences between his interpretation of the malady and yours. Do you think my chiropractor is on the same page as what you're talking about?

I don't know that it "originated" in Asia, it's hard to say for sure. It just seems to me that it's more scientific and accepted over there, whereas over here it's considered (completely unfairly in my opinion) a kind of alternative "woo-woo" therapy for people who don't like doctors.

[The PerSev]

Looks interesting. A friend of mine is into a similar(at least to my eyes, I could be talking out of my ass though) program called Code of the Natural and he swears by that stuff.

Maybe you could make a short 1 minute video for each of the exercises since it's hard to grasp the all the subtleties from just a short description.

[SamuelBRoberts]

I'd love to do that but I don't have an easy way to do so. I'm not keen on exposing my identity just because I've posted some pretty non-PC things on this forum over the years.

If I ever get unlimited money I'll hire a cute model to do it for me...

[xmlenigma]

I saw it being raved about by some people on some legit Fitness Forums - Is there any way to Self Administer with maybe Coconut Oil/ Butter and a butter knife ha ha!?

Or a workout partner/ friend?

(05-12-2017 07:10 PM)komatiite Wrote:  

Hey Sam I just got out of my appointment.

- The tool he uses is called a Graston. He told me to check out the website because there are lots of FAQs and techniques that even clinicians can learn from: http://www.grastontechnique.com/home

-He refers to the issue as "myofascitis" which is a good word for more research. He said the worst case he ever saw was a student-athlete Scholarship Pitcher in the NCAA. Big lanky kid who would throw fastballs then attend class or study in the library all hunched over sitting all day. The transition from the forward slumped shoulders to the big extension of pitching was constantly tearing up his shoulder and biceps muscles. The chiropractor said it was like rubbing heavy courdoroy pants in the wrong direction whenever he did Graston technique on him - really loud sounding. But it ended up really helping him from his injuries.

-He said to avoid, you obviously need good posture, and balance out pushing workouts with pulling. Rows, face pulls and even deadlifts help due to the postural gainzzz.

-Stretches: he was more about the mobility work, so he gave me two. One, swing your arm front to back - keep your arm straight in the backswing so you feel a bit of a stretch in the biceps and in the front swing, bring your arm up and over your head as if you were doing the bent arm triceps stretch where your hand touches your shoulder with your elbow pointing to the sky. The second movement is just swinging both arms back and forth where you give yourself a hug in one swing and then backswing both arms like you have wings, then back to the hug with alternate arm on top as the last time. Gets the blood flowing to prevent the strains that cause when you go work out after sitting with shitty posture all day. Hard to explain the stretches without diagrams or video but I don't even know what words to google to find them!

(05-22-2017 12:26 PM)The PerSev Wrote:  

Looks interesting. A friend of mine is into a similar(at least to my eyes, I could be talking out of my ass though) program called Code of the Natural and he swears by that stuff.

Maybe you could make a short 1 minute video for each of the exercises since it's hard to grasp the all the subtleties from just a short description.

Or you could find some online examples and link to them? Harder to read an infer..

(05-22-2017 10:09 PM)SamuelBRoberts Wrote:  

I'd love to do that but I don't have an easy way to do so. I'm not keen on exposing my identity just because I've posted some pretty non-PC things on this forum over the years.

If I ever get unlimited money I'll hire a cute model to do it for me...

[white22]

Great write up SBR! I'll add my experience to the mix.

I have been going to chiropractors since I injured my neck one week before the state wrestling tournament my senior year. I have been a fan of them ever since because I wouldn’t have wrestled in the tournament otherwise and they always fix me up after an injury or a long stretch of sitting or terrible posture…..BUT they have never fixed my underlying issues, though they have relieved a great amount of pain.

I have been tough on my body (wrestling, rodeo, wake boarding, motorcycle racing, snowboarding, four-wheelers) particularly my neck and shoulders. I also have extremely strong bones ( as told to me by multiple ER doctors). This is a good and bad thing; Obviously good, I’ve never broken a bone, but bad because when I have an incident that would normally break a bone it instead finds the weakest link and stretches or tears muscle, tendons and ligaments. I was on a constant routine of stretching, going to the chiro, trying to always relax my muscles, improve my posture and was still in near constant pain ranging from barely noticeable to annoying to unbearable.

One day I went to a new chiropractor on the advice of a friend with similar chronic pain issues. The guy uses the Graston techniques and tools mentioned above and was a game changer for me. I went from weekly chiro visits to every 6 months (though I shouldn’t wait as long as I do). A normal visit consists of 15 mins laying with a heat pack on the area to be worked on, approximately 15-20 mins working on the affected area(s) and 2-5 mins adjusting/aligning your body (bone cracking). This has made such a difference for me. I’ve come to the realization of the majority of my issues being scar tissue/myofascia related, that realigning my body wasn’t working, because it would just get pulled right back and also all my scar tissue and myofascitis was still there causing more problems for me.

Having butchered deer and cattle I had a decent and visual understanding of the myofascial tissue/layers that muscles are wrapped in. This chiropractor took it a step further and gave the best description I have heard and it made a ton of sense to me…I will attempt to regurgitate his description: Imagine your muscle is wrapped in saran wrap, but the saran wrap is made up of fibers like a dress shirt. There are multiple layers that run in different directions and as you move these layers “glide” smoothly against each other and your muscle tissue in perfect harmony. When you have an injury, bad posture…ect it is like taking a hook and pulling a thread or two of that dress shirt material. It doesn’t just pull that thread it bunches all the threads around it through multiple layers having a ripple affect. Now the layers no longer “glide” as smoothly because there is friction…… which causes pain. This pain causes reactions in your body…..inflammation and tightening…… which then transitions to shortening of the muscle and less range of motion…... which leads to alignment problems and more pain…..which leads to more inflammation and you can see an vicious circle has formed. Hopefully I didn’t butcher that description to badly and it is understandable. He uses his tools to smooth out the damage/impefections in the myofascial tissue so they will glide smoothly again. Kind of like smoothing out crumpled up tinfoil and making it flat and smooth again. That is the “spider web” of scar tissue you feel or the popping noise heard from the NCAA pitcher.

I am a huge proponent of Graston techniques, myofascial release, active release therapy/technique, foam rolling, self massage, soft tissue therapy…. the list goes on and on. Like I said it has been a complete game changer for me. Mike Cernovich’s friend Jay Campbell is a big believer also. He has talked about it on podcasts with Mike and has a fair amount on his fabfitover40 website and some videos about it.

I would really like to find a massage therapist who’s focus is on myofascial repair/therapy, possibly even using the Graston techniques and tools rather than a typical massage or deep tissue. I think this could be very beneficial for me. Anyone know if there is such a thing or a good search term or way to find a massage therapist of this type??

[Vaun]

I get weekly massages. If I were wealthy I would have multiple per week. Bob Hope had them everyday of his life before bed, for several decades. He live until 100, after leading one of the most successful and hectic lives.

I think the balance of getting massages consistently, is finding someone you can afford. Also, finding an ART practitioner near you, is good for any injuries you might have. But a good massage therapist, who is skilled in the deeper myofascial release, is mostly all you need.