|
Muscle Release Technique/ Repetitive Use Injury Therapy Muscle Release Technique (MRT) is highly effective in treating repetitive use injuries, or any other painful condition that involves tight muscles. More than massage, MRT combines compression, extension, movement, and breath. With this therapy, scar tissue is broken up, tight muscles are lengthened, muscle memory is restored, and relief from pain starts immediately. MRT will help people suffering from:
When muscles and joints feel stiff and sore, it is often because the muscles are shortened and tight in a continual state of partial contraction. This may be a result of repetitive use, stress, trauma, or injury. Circulation to and within the muscle is restricted and toxins and cellular waste cannot be effectively removed. The tight muscles are pulling at the tendons that connect to the bone. The tendons and the joints become tense and sore. A session of Muscle Release Technique is a "moving" experience, with the therapist using compression and stretch and the client playing a part in giving valuable feedback and in breathing with the stretches. Rather than spend an entire massage session applying these stretches, I most often insert this technique into a general Swedish massage for focus on a particular area that is in need. |
|
Muscle Release Success Stories:
Sarah and her New Legs:
A young woman named Sarah came to see me for massage. She had been suffering with pain which started in her feet a few months before, then spread upward to her lower legs, then her knees, then hips, and was now in her low back. She had seen a doctor and a physical therapist but had gotten no relief and no answers besides recommended surgery.
She came to me in real despair... and I am not exaggerating. She had been in increasing pain for months. She could hardly walk at times. Her lifestyle and activities were seriously curtailed. Before doing anything she would have to decide if it would be worth the amount of pain she would feel afterwards. Finally she said that she felt that God sent her to me. In being at such a loss with the medical professionals she had seen so far, she said she was praying about it all, and my name kept coming up. I explained to her that I had recently learned a technique specifically to treat pain caused by tight muscles. I asked her if she would like to have just a relaxing massage today, or would she like to devote the whole appointment to trying this technique on her feet and legs. She voted for the muscle release technique. As I worked with her, I told her more about 2-second stretches, about tight muscles taking a long time to reach the pain threshold, about muscles losing the memory of what they were supposed to be like, etc. We did the breathing together, she gave me good feedback about the pain/stretch level. After one hour on the table she got up and walked and proclaimed "The hobble is GONE! My legs feel NORMAL!." We talked about daily stretching. She knew that it was not the hour that she spent with me that was the most important, but her own stretching every day... she made an appointment to come back the next week for a follow-up session. To see the immense relief in her face and the rebirth of hope in her eyes was a miraculous experience for me. When Sarah came back for her follow-up appointment, she came in my door and cheerfully announced: "I´m here on my new legs!" She told me that when she had arrived home after her last appointment she actually started to dance in her kitchen, she was so excited about the new feeling in her feet. She did the stretches everyday, even when she didn´t feel like doing them. The relief from pain was a strong motivating factor. She said that she felt as though her feet and legs were progressively "coming back to life". "I can do things I didn´t used to be able to do!" she told me. She was experiencing some temporary muscle-soreness due to the stretching, which I had learned in the seminar was normal. "But", she said, "It's nothing like the tight, swollen, awful feeling in my legs…that nobody would believe that I had." "This is like a miracle for me…" Sarah said. "I was praying for a miracle…so I don´t know why I´m so surprised." Sarah´s story is one true example of how Repetitive Use Injury Therapy/Muscle Release Technique can take tight muscles out of pain, and how regular stretching can keep them there. Relief For Herniated Disk
One summer a gentleman contacted me to schedule a massage. He was desperate. He had continual pain in his neck and shoulder, radiating down his arm. He thought perhaps he had strained a shoulder muscle during his workout.
I had an inkling that there was maybe more to it than that. From my own experiences of working with necks and shoulders for many years I wondered if the problem was related to nerve impingement in the neck rather than a strained muscle. I knew that he had an appointment to see a doctor, so I merely did my best to relieve his pain through massage. At the end of our first session together I loaned him my office copy of the Stretch For Health video, available from www.mrtherapy.com and suggested that he might want to do all of the stretch exercises for the neck. The doctor he saw confirmed my suspicion that his pain was related to a pinched nerve in his neck caused by a herniated disc. He was facing physical therapy and possible surgery. However, he did the stretches daily (with an okay from his physical therapist) and continued to come for weekly massages. After twenty-one days, the exact time described in the video for seeing improvement in such a case, he noticed that the pain was beginning to decrease. (Before that point, pain relievers had been totally ineffective, now they were sufficient to keep him comfortable.) Stretching the muscles in his neck, which were tightened and pulling his spine out of alignment, helped to put everything back in place and take the pressure off the vertebral disc. At his appointment the following week, he reported that he was feeling almost back to normal, not taking pain medication. He attributed this turn around to the stretching and massage. Annette´s Shoulder Success:
One summer, I had a very dear friend come to visit and stay overnight. In the morning, she joined me for my stretching routine. She told me that she had been having some shoulder soreness, a rotator cuff problem. She was seeing a doctor about it and was considering surgery. After doing the stretches with me, she went home and ordered a Stretch For Health video for herself. Later I received this e-mail from her:
"Hi Laura! Guess what!? My shoulder is all better now and without need of surgery! I did do about three weeks of seeing the physical therapist, faithfully doing the stretching and strengthening exercises. It was very painful to start, but as the weeks progressed, the pain lessened and my range of motion increased to the point that I was released from care by the orthopedist. I must tell you that I attribute my recovery to two things...prayer, and the stretching technique you showed me. I made sure to hold each stretch for two seconds...and I watched others doing the same stretching at the doctor's office not holding the stretch at all! I mentioned the technique to my physical therapist and he said that he gave up coaching patients because they just didn't listen or want to! They just ran through their exercises as quickly as possible in order to get out of the office. I am so grateful for the knowledge that enabled me to get better so quickly! THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT WITH ME!!!!!" A.M.L. Centerville, Oh Melinda´s Knee Relief:
A young woman came for massage. She had been suffering from chronic knee pain off and on for eight years. She had had arthroscopic surgery some time ago, which temporarily relieved the pain. But the problem would still occur from time to time. Six months before she came to see me, she had a flare-up of knee pain that would not go away. She saw a doctor, then an orthopedist. She had X-rays, an MRI, and a bone scan. Nothing showed up. (That´s because tight muscles don´t show up on these scans!) She went to a pain clinic, was told she had a nervous condition, and was prescribed medication that made her sick. By this time she was pretty desperate.
At her first massage session, we focused almost exclusively on her feet and legs. I showed her some stretches she could do at home. The pain was much relieved, but only for a few days. She came back for a second session within a week. We focused again on her legs, and she continued with the stretches. When she came back for her third appointment two weeks later, she told me that she was continuing the stretches and now no longer needed her pain medication during the day. After two more massage sessions and continued stretching at home, she reported that her knee was feeling fine, even at night. From Laura Lander
I love these true stories not only because people I care about have been freed from debilitating pain, but also because they illustrate such a wonderful approach to wellness. These folks were each willing to make taking care of themselves a priority by investing time, energy, and money (for a series of massages, for the Stretch For Health video, and for daily stretching at home). It also demonstrates the reality that muscles that are progressively tightened over a period of months or years can cause problems that are manifested in the joints. But the origin of such problems (and the solution) is in the muscle, not in the joint, bones, tendons or ligaments. So everybody stretch!!
Stretch For Health videos are available on-line at www.MRTherapy.com Laura Lander Massage Therapy 7000 Houston Rd. Bldg 400 Suite 39 Florence, Kentucky 41042 859-283-0044 |
|
 |
Muscle Release Technique:
|
|
|
Maintained by: Mind Imaging.com™
|
|||
