The Body Mechanic, Inc.

5 Tests to Determine if You Have a Pinched Nerve in Your Neck

Pain with neck rotation? Sometimes this can be because the upper thoracic spine isn't rotating WITH the neck the way it ought to. To assist, try this stretch. I don't have a video of this and couldn't find one, so here's a description. Drop your head forward and rotate to the side that gives you difficulty. At the same time, reach across with the arm you're turned toward and grab the opposite shoulder with your finger tips (around the area shown in the picture). Let the weight of your arm pull down on the shoulder. This helps the upper thoracic vertebrae rotate with the neck. Hold for 30-60 seconds and repeat as necessary.

There are several reasons one can become tender around the deltoid tuberosity (outside of the shoulder). One I see pretty regularly is when the deltoid muscle becomes stuck to the biceps. It's actually really common. You can work the area as much as you want, but until you get the two muscles moving independently from one another, the area stays tender. ART has a handy way of restoring motion here.

What is Causing Your Neck Pain?

https://theprehabguys.com/do-weightlifting-belts-actually/

https://www.thephysicaltherapyadvisor.com//why-does-my-lo/

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) affects about 15-20% of people and is typically a symptom of another problem such as an ear injury or circulatory disorder. Since the reasons for tinnitus vary widely, so too do the potential treatments. While certainly not a cure, there is a technique from Qigong called "Beating the Heavenly drum" that offers temporary relief to about 50% of the people who try it. Here's how to do it. 1. Place the palms of your hands over your ears so your fing...ers wrap around the back of your head. 2. Set your middle fingers on the top of your neck right at the base of your skull. 3. With your palms over your ears, try to hear your pulse. 4. Put your index fingers on top of your middle fingers and apply pressure. 5. Now snap your fingers on the back of your head over and over like you’re drumming, in sync with your heartbeat. Do this for about a minute. Give it a shot. It just might help!

McConnell Taping for PFPS | Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

BodCast Episode 66: Healing and Optimal Stimulus with Dr. Dan Barrows

Something I come up against in my work with clients is limiting beliefs affecting healing. I've posted about it before. There's a laundry list of them that I look for. One that I find to be particularly... well, limiting is a belief that one "deserves" to have their pain or condition, or conversely that they DON'T deserve to get better. Imagine how healing could be affected if you sub-consciously (or even consciously) believed you didn't deserve to heal. Clearing around these issues often represents a turning point in the healing process.

How to Squat for Health

Do the bottoms of your feet cramp in child's pose? I see this all the time and it's typically caused by restriction at the front of the ankles. Specifically, it's usually adhesion between the tendons at the front of the ankle and the extensor retinaculum. For a helpful DIY, try pressing your fingers in between the tendons at the ankle and pull proximally (towards the knee) as you curl your toes and point your foot.

A Merry Movement Follow Along

Does any of this sounds familiar? Fatigue, recurrent exercise-related injuries, unusually bad PMS or menstrual cramping, increased fat storage, low blood sugar, excess insulin, or bad circulation? These are all potential signs of a problem with the aerobic metabolic pathway. Various compensation patterns stemming from the brain and muscles can result in an aerobic pathway problem, but cranial restrictions commonly underly those. Other potential root causes are essential fatty acid deficiency, over consumption of trans fats, and certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

3 Simple Things Everyone with Knee Pain Should Do Daily

Bob and Brad's Shoulder Pain Stretching Program

One of the more common causes of knee pain with running is weakness of the gluteus medius muscle, the main muscle on the lateral aspect of the hip. To check yourself, stand on one leg. The hip on the up leg side should be a little higher than the other. If not (something called the Trendelenburg sign), you may have gluteus medius weakness on the stance side.

There's a key spot in your lymphatic system commonly referred to as the "waterwheel". It's a spot below the ear with multiple lymph nodes and is a spot to which much of the head and face drains. When congested, it often results in neck, jaw and throat pain.

It's been known for many years that trauma can lead to epigenetic (biological factors affecting how genes are expressed) changes in the body. Newer research also shows that epigenetic changes can be passed down through multiple generations (Skinner). Many believe this means we can actually inherit the effects of not just physical, but also emotional trauma from our ancestors. I see this in my own work with clients. Typically, the effect extends back no further than three generations. The effects vary, but one frequent sign is fear or anxiety that doesn't begin until one reaches a certain age or achieves a particular life milestone.

BodCast Episode 49: Finding Life Through Pain with Jo Belton

BodCast Episode 57: Enjoying the Crawlidays with Aleks, The Hebrew Hammer, Salkin

I sometimes have to rely on more subjective, qualitative assessments to gauge the effectiveness of my work. How does it feel, can you do this, can you do that, etc. It's always nice when I have the opportunity to have objective, quantitative measurements at my disposal. I had a client who had an incentive spirometer at home given to her after a previous surgery. She noted that she'd been observing a decline in tidal volume lately, ie. she was having trouble getting a full breath. In session, I made a correction around the right clavicle allowing the thoracic extensors to fire better. She messaged me later that day saying she saw an increase of about 400mL per breath. That's actually pretty significant. That earned me getting called a "damn voodoo doctor", haha.

5 Simple Strengthening Exercises for Arthritic Hands (Fingers & Thumb)

What many report as low back pain is often actually pain at the sacro-iliac (SI) joint. Here's a useful technique for mobilizing and decompressing the SI joint. This is especially great when someone is actively symptomatic. . . Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://tbme.ch/2HzH5dH

Restriction and pain in the thumb and the joints of the thumb is really common. One pattern I commonly find at play is this -- the tendons for the abductor pollicis longus (APL) and extensor pollicis brevis (EPB) become stuck to the extensor retinaculum of the wrist. Sometimes, this restriction can lead to De Quervain's tenosynovitis. In this case, it leads to inhibition of the opponens pollicis which, in turn, leads to spasm of the adductor pollicis. When people talk about tight thumb muscles, the adductor pollicis is typically what they're talking about. It's the largest and densest of the muscles and is the most capable of limiting motion. In this case, its spasming is just a side-effect of this adhesion. This pattern has become increasingly common as time spent texting has increased.

5 Tests to STOP Back Pain in Sitting, Standing, Lifting, & Bed (You Can Perform Yourself)

https://theprehabguys.com/4-most-undervalued-exercises/

You think bodywork is expensive? Try surgery, prescriptions, co-pays, deductibles, missed work, chronic pain and decreased quality of life. You've got one body. Do right by it.

Dynamic Neuromuscular Exercise Progressions in ACL Rehab | Anterior Cruciate Ligament

How to Stay Young by Moving Often

The severity of your pain isn't always indicative of the severity of the problem. Variations in the inflammatory response and other body responses to the issue can cause pain levels to vary wildly. A perfect example is a rib subluxation. A rib subluxation is a minor issue, usually easily resolved. Yet, the symptoms for a subluxed rib range from barely noticing it, up to feeling like one has a broken rib, all the way up to thinking one's having a heart attack and rushing to the hospital.

Improve Walking with Less Arthritic Pain with 7 At Home Exercises & Therapist Tip, "Walk On!"

When you write a check you can't cover, you get hit with overdraft fees. If you do this with your body, you get injured. A goal with strength training should be to build a level of strength well beyond your typical daily requirements. This makes your daily activities less stressful to your body and gives you a degree of protection against injury when you exert yourself.