Flexibility and Functional Movement

Halfway through the summer and the baseball season, it seems like the perfect time to talk about functional movement, flexibility, and what we actually do here at Superlative Health. Medical massage may seem like it’s just a different way to say massage, but it’s not, there are many different elements that go into medical massage.

           One of the major factors in a medical massage is increasing and improving a person’s functional movement, which is only possible when full range of motion is achieved by releasing contracted tissues. A key way for self care after receiving medical massage is increasing functionality and to focus on stretching and flexibility. Surprisingly, flexibility can be reduced by work or exercise that produces repeated overuse of the same muscles, succeeding in confining joints within a restricted range of motion. Flexibility is possibly the most important factor in the longevity of an athlete, so baseball players beware! The most flexible joint is the shoulder, which also means that the shoulder is very typically injured. Whether you’re throwing out a pitch, or simply repeatedly picking up and moving objects in your everyday life, the shoulder is an important part of the body to protect by practicing proper stretching techniques.

           The primary obstacle to flexibility is the tightness of the surrounding muscles and fascia of the joint. Strong tensile forces of the muscle and fascia surrounding the specific joint determine flexibility. Trauma, overuse, and one's own bio-chemistry are the most common causes of muscle tightness, resulting in protective flexor postures, or over corrective postures that seem to help us feel better, but hurt us more in the long run. This is why stretching and relaxing the muscles is an important and necessary factor that must not be ignored.

A person may come in for a medical massage and expect to be worked and massaged on a table the entire time, but this is not often the case. A person must first be evaluated for their injury or problem area, and then after,  myofascial release techniques, the muscles are ready for deeper findings and use of trigger point therapy to release the contracted soft tissue so they can  recover range of motion, allowing them to stretch.

Making regular maintenance appointments for Medical Massage and learning how to stretch properly will help ease the strain on a muscle, and taking the time for self care means a lot to your body, and it will thank you for it!