Archive for the ‘Myofascial Release’ Category
All high-level athletes are pushing their limits to the extreme. For a tennis player, the uneven nature of the sport where one side is used more than the other in addition to training every day for hours, and frequently on hard surfaces, the body gets a lot of beating. If you want to remain healthy, you need to spend a lot of time on recreating balance and health in your body. I dare to say that you need almost more time than on playing tennis, especially as you are getting older. You need to stretch after each practice (try this great stretching routine), pay good attention to your body, and listen to its subtle signs signaling you what is happening. You need to be aware of your posture, balance, flexibility, and “evenness” of your both sides, where the right and left side of your body should be equally strong and flexible.
The pro tennis players spend enormous amounts of time on rejuvenating their bodies with massage, physical therapy, and myofascial release therapy. You may not have the monetary means to do that on a daily basis, but you still need to take equally good care of your body in the same way as the professional tennis player does. The self-myofascial release techniques come to your help and they will do almost as good job as a massage, with the difference being that you have to be active.
Myofascial Release Technique
Myofascial release is a technique where you “massage” and stretch the fascia, so it will return to its original soft and subtle texture. Fascia is a specialized, tough layer of connective tissue that surrounds muscles, bones, and joints and gives support and protection to the body from head to toe. Fascia is extremely strong and usually transmits mechanical tension generated by muscle activity and external forces. When there is a chronic tension, the fascia hardens, thickens, and restricts the free muscle movement and that leads to even more dysfunctions. Micro-tears of the tendons can develop.
Trigger Points
Muscular injuries and trauma, improper body mechanics or structural imbalances, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, stress, or overtraining can cause development of trigger points, which are small, extremely painful spots in your muscles. If you push on these spots, you will feel agonizing pain and will want to pull away. Trigger points inhibit proper function of the muscle fibers and therefore create more problems. Generally, once the trigger point exists, it does not want to relax on its own and you have to help to release it. It is difficult to diagnose and treat trigger points, as they often refer pain to other parts of the body. Therefore, it is very important for you to be in touch with your body by always looking for trigger points and releasing them before they can create more problems in the future.
The following myofascial routine will help you to find and release the annoying trigger points. Perform the routine regularly and you will learn how to be smooth in getting into the positions on the ball, how much pressure you need to apply, and where are the spots that you need to address. The more intense your training is, the more frequently you need to perform the myofascial release routine.
Myofascial Release Tools
You can use the traditional foam roller for your myofascial release, but I think you will outgrow it fast, and the release will not be deep enough. I have two favorite tools for myofascial release: 1) the 6-inch foam ball, which has been my absolute favorite until the rumble roller came out, 2) 31 inches long Rumble Roller, which is very firm and penetrating. Each tool serves different purpose, so I do recommend owning both. The foam ball is easily portable and you can have it in your tennis bag or purse all the time. The rumble roller is quite big, not as portable, but it reaches spots in your body just as human fingers would. I get my foam ball on powersystems.com and the rumble roller on amazon.com. Powersystems offer free shipping until October 21, with the code C55005, and rumble roller has a free shipping always.
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Self-myofascial Release Routine
Always give attention to your entire body. However, if you find some specific areas that are more out of balance or more painful, spend extra time on those. The painful trigger points in your body will move around, and you need to pay attention and correct the small problems before they create more serious issues and injuries.
1. Quadriceps. Start your routine with lying on your stomach and rolling your quadriceps. Observe if the right and left side feel different. Make sure to roll the front, inner and outer parts of the quadriceps. Then pull one leg to the side…
2. Adductors. Place the ball on the inner thigh of the away leg. Roll the entire way from the knee toward your groin. Make sure to reach both front and backside of your adductors. When done, transition to the hip flexors, rolling your ball high up into the hip area…
3. Hip flexors. Make sure to relax and let the ball sink deep into the hip area. Pay attention to make both sides even. Then roll over to the side…
4. IT Band, or illiotibial band. Spend a good amount of time on the entire length of the IT band, addressing also the front and backside. Then roll the ball high up on your hip…
5. TFL, or tensor fasciae latae. TFL is very thick and you need to work it deeply. Roll on the ball with both straight and bent leg. Pay attention if both sides feel the same. Then roll over on your back…
6. Piriformis and gluteus. If you neglect it, you can experience nagging lower back problems or “sciatica” issues. Take your time to find all the trigger points. Then slide the ball under your hamstrings…
7. Hamstrings. They are more difficult to roll, because it is hard to put full body weight on the ball, especially if you have limited flexibility. Try to get as much of your body weight on the ball as possible. Then move the ball to the bottom of your spine…
8. Spine feels very good to roll on. Roll from the bottom up toward your neck and down again. Repeat a few times and feel how rejuvenated your spine will become. Move the ball to the upper back area…
9. Upper back. Initially, rest on the ball and relax. Let your shoulders and arms sink. Then roll around the entire upper back area and look for tightness, especially in your dominant side. When done, roll over on your stomach with the ball under your chest…
10. Chest. Roll the entire chest area from the sternum, around the clavicle, and outward to your arm. Continue on your biceps. Then get up on your knees with the ball under your lower leg…
11. Lower leg muscles. It feels very good to massage the outside part of the lower leg—an area seldom addressed. Roll from the ankle toward your knee and back. Then turn around to move on the calves…
12. Calves. They are hard to roll on the ball, because they need deeper penetration. Start on the ball first, and then use your opposite knee to reach deeper.
The routine takes 20 to 40 minutes to finish, depending on how long you stay on different areas. You will find myofascial release quite painful, initially. As you muscles get healthier and more functional, you will enjoy the myofascial work much more, because it won’t hurt as much. Eventually, you reach the point that you enjoy doing myofascial release as much as you enjoy a good massage.
Keep learning how to treat yourself, especially if you have issues with chronic injuries. Finding and massaging away the trigger points with the myofascial release regularly will prolong your athletic career, increase the functionality of your muscles, and decrease the injuries that you suffer. Keep rolling and play injury-free tennis for the rest of your life. Your performance and tennis game will improve dramatically, too!
Another good exercise to prevent future injuries is to rebalance your hips with this simple exercise described in the past article here. Also, remember to take a good care of your core and keep it strong with these variations of planks.
If you like to have all the fitness tips close to you at all times, you can find a paper or Kindle book on Amazon.com. It is small enough to fit your tennis bag and you can work on your health any time.
Work on your tennis fitness and play great tennis!
Trigger points are small, extremely painful spots in your muscles. If you push on these spots, you will feel agonizing pain and will want to pull away. Trigger points can develop as a result of muscular injuries or trauma, improper body mechanics or structural imbalances, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, stress, over-training, and more. Trigger points inhibit proper function of the muscle fibers and therefore create more problems. Generally, once the trigger point is created, it does not want to relax on its own and it needs to be helped.
Trigger points can exist in the muscle bellies or tendons that attach to the bone. Often trigger points create a referred pain— pain that is somewhere else than the trigger point itself. For example, you push on a trigger point in your hip and you might feel pain in your knee. The level of pain depends on the level of irritability of the trigger point. Sometimes a trigger point in the tiniest muscle can cause the most extreme pain. Even tension headaches, migraines or stiff neck can be expression of referred pain. A lot of chronic injuries are caused by trigger points. It is very difficult to diagnose and treat trigger points, as they often refer pain to other parts of the body. Therefore, it is very important for you to be in touch with your body by always looking for trigger points and releasing them before they can create more problems in the future.
Myofascial release will help to get rid of the pesky trigger points. Muscles (myo) and organs in the body are connected or separated by a band of a connective tissue that is called fascia. Fascia is a specialized, tough layer of connective tissue that surrounds muscles, bones and joints and gives support and protection to the body from head to toe. Fascia is extremely strong and usually transmits mechanical tension generated by muscle activity and external forces. When there is a chronic tension, the fascia hardens, thickens, and restricts the free muscle movement and that leads to even more dysfunctions. Micro-tears of the tendons can develop. Myofascial release is a technique where you “massage” and stretch the fascia, so it will return to its original soft and subtle texture. As a result, the stress on the surrounding tissues will decrease and your injury will go away. You can seek a professional who specializes in myofascial release or you can use this technique on yourself with help of a foam ball.
This myofascial release booklet will teach you how to help yourself, especially if you have issues with chronic injuries. Finding and massaging away the trigger points, and performing myofascial release regularly will prolong your athletic career, increase the functionality of your muscles and decrease the injuries that you suffer. Your performance and tennis game will improve dramatically.
Content
1. Trigger Points and Chronic Pain
2. Foot Myofascial Release for Plantar Fasciitis
3. Lower Leg Myofascial Release for Shin Splints
4. Calf Myofascial Release
5. Quadriceps Myofascial Release for Knee Pain
6. Hip Flexor Myofascial Release for Lower Back Pain
7. TFL Muscle Myofascial Release for Hip Pain
8. IT Band Myofascial Release for Knee Pain
9. Piriformis Myofascial Release for Sciatica Pain
10. Hamstrings Myofascial Release for Lower Back Pain
11. Upper Back Myofascial Release for Neck Pain
12. Chest Myofascial Release for Shoulder Pain
13. Myofascial Release Recovery Routine
Price: $2.99
This is The One-And-Only tool that EVERY tennis player HAS TO own.
It will get you out of trouble when pains and overuse injuries could take over.
Trigger points are small, extremely painful spots in your muscles. If you push on such spot, you feel agonizing pain and you want to pull away. Trigger points can develop as a result of muscular injuries or trauma, improper body mechanics or structural imbalances, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, stress, overtraining, and more. Trigger points inhibit proper function of the muscle fibers and therefore create more problems. Generally, once the trigger point is created, it doesn’t want to relax on its own and it needs to be helped. Trigger points can exist in the muscle bellies or tendons that attach to the bone. Often trigger points create a referred pain (pain that is somewhere else than the trigger point itself). For example you push on a trigger point in your hip and you might feel pain in your knee.
This 6 inch, high density foam ball will assist you in a self-massage of your overused muscles. The deep pressure will help the muscles to relax, and the special techniques of self-myofascial release will get rid of the adhesions and scar tissue in the muscles. Your flexibility, function and tennis performance will improve, while the risks of overuse injuries will decrease.
Use the ball daily, preferably after your tennis practice. In the beginning, it will be a painful experience, but the more you use it, the better you will feel and the less amount of time you will need to spend with the ball.
Price: $21.95
Read more Articles on myofascial release.
The legendary tennis coach Oscar Wegner (modern tennis methodology) has interviewed me about my book “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it.” We were chatting about the importance of fitness and stretching for maximum tennis performance and life. Watch, listen and enjoy!
You can find more of Oscar’s teachings at www.tennisteacher.com
Click to buy on Amazon.com
To make sure that you are completely satisfied with your decision to buy “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it”, you can view sample material from the book in the resources below. Enjoy the viewing.
Amazon’s Search Inside Feature
Sample Chapter 13 — Calf Myofascial Relase
Tags: tennis fitness
I am glad to announce, that the book “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it. A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis” that many have been so impatiently waiting for, is available on Amazon.com for $14.95. Get your copy here now! For bulk orders, please contact me.
To all the tennis players of any age and skill level, who always strive for improvement and who never stop believing that the impossible is possible, and who know that there are no limits to growth and performance other than the human mind.
It is Never Too Late to Become Functional, Fit and Healthy
It is possible to play pain-free tennis for the rest of your life. One of the prerequisites is improving your fitness. However, it is not just any fitness. It needs to be mindful, purposeful, and perfectly suited for you. Nobody can tell you what is perfectly suited for you, only your body can. Listen to it because it will ask for what it needs. In your pursuit for maximum fitness and tennis performance, you need to be aware, patient, and disciplined.
Carry this little book with you always and reread the chapters often. Each time you will discover something new. Learn to understand your body. Every exercise you do should be performed with the goal of increasing awareness of your body, and gradually building a new relationship with it. Learn how to free up the tightness and how to balance your strengths. The less pain you experience, the healthier and more functional you are, and the more your energy will increase. Treat the moments of stretching and myofascial release as time for meditation, relaxation, and introspection.
Create daily routines that fit your lifestyle and treat them as essential for your fitness, well-being, and tennis performance. Think of your health and fitness in the long term. Be patient and disciplined in applying the new ways of exercising and treating your body. Remember that even modest effort applied over the long term will bring excellent results. Therefore, do not postpone your fitness until tomorrow and start today, even if it is just a little bit. Treat your body with respect and love. Treat the fitness as one of the necessary elements of your tennis game. Become fit for tennis and you will become fit for life, and tennis will be in your life forever. Practice your tennis fitness, for the love of it.
Many people suffer from chronic tension and pain. Muscle tension comes from an injury, stress or incorrect postural alignment. Tension creates pain, pain brings more stress and stress creates more tension, and the vicious pain circle has started. In addition to stretching, massage and mediation, another way to break the pain cycle is using the miracle balls to release the tension in your body.
(Suzanna@Livestrong.com)
The two most common uses of a tennis ball are playing tennis and playing fetch with your dog. However, you can use a tennis ball for many other beneficial exercises, such as self-massage, grip strengthening or foot massage, or use two or more tennis balls for juggling to improve your hand-eye coordination.
(Suzanna@Livestrong.com)
Every high level athlete is pushing his or her body to the extreme – training every day for hours and often on hard surfaces (the concrete courts of Los Angeles are very unfriendly to the tennis player’s body!). Additionally, the uneven nature of tennis where one side is always used more than the other, makes it even worse for your body. You need to spend as much time and effort – if not more – to recreating balance and health in your body as you do playing tennis. You need to 1) stretch after each practice, 2) pay good attention to your body and listen to its even subtle signs signaling you what is happening, and 3) be aware of your posture, balance, flexibility and “evenness” of your both sides – the right and left side of your body should be equally strong and flexible.
It is very common that tennis players have tight hamstrings. You use them when running and jumping on court as they are assisting to bend your knee and extend the hip. And if you are one of the few that stretch the hamstrings regularly, and despite all the stretching they still remain tight, you need to do myofascial release. When you finish your tennis practice, then you probably sit down, or drive in your car, or go to work and sit again. The sedentary life style and sitting for prolonged periods are detrimental for your hamstrings. They get short and stiff and form trigger points frequently. The trigger points prevent the hamstring muscles from lengthening and proper function. Hamstrings with trigger points don’t respond to stretching or warm-up well which increases the risk of strains, pulls or tears.
