All posts by David Emery
Piriformis Stretch for Sciatica and Low Back Issues
Tax Season is over. Tip for getting rid of the stress.
Videos
Health and Stretching Videos
This page is dedicated to excercises and stretches that I use on myself to relieve pain.
Common Rules for each Stretch
Like most things in life, you should savor the moment. Take in the realization that you are not going to fix anything in a split second, so go slow and steady. The tortoise always…ALWAYS wins the race.
Spend at least 3 minutes in a stretch. Readjust as the muscle loosens up.
Look for a slightly painful, slightly blissful balance to the stretch. It is a fine line you are aiming for.
Headaches
Five kinds of headaches: Tension, Migraine, Sinus, Mixed Headache Syndrome, and Cluster headaches.
Back Issues
Upper Back Tension
Stretch for the back of the Shoulder (Posterior Shoulder Stretch)
Front Shoulder Stretch
Back Pain (Psoas Related) Stretch
Slow Neck Stretch
Glute Stretches
The Glute Stretch
Use these Glute stretches to release tension from working out or daily life from your hips and glutes.
These stretches work your glute max, med, and minimus muscles and are the most effective and easy to utilize.
This is the Best Stretch for Glutes and
How to Perform Glute Stretches for the Hips
Start off by going slow and utilizing your sensory perception and feeling into the hips and all the muscle at the top of the leg. Again ALWAYS go slow. When YOU go slow, YOU understand your body better and you gain vast amounts of insight into your strengths and weaknesses. You will appreciate the work so much more, because you will feel so much better.
Going Slow with the Stretches
When you work the hips slowly, you are developing a connection with the area. You are forcing yourself to tune into the problems and you are allowing your self to confront the issues face on. Now, some of you will not want to do that right away. Maybe you aren’t ready or the problem is extremely painful, the reasons are numerous and that is why going slow allows one to feel out the situation before you bring on additional pain (glute stretches) to the area.
What I mean by not being “ready” is actually meant concurrently and by that I mean, some of you have physical issues that spawn from accidents and blunt force trauma. Those things need more time to recuperate. Others have emotional trauma/stress from the past that is locked away in the hips and low back areas. Either way the issues can and will release over time and all things are possible when allowed.
I believe, because I’ve seen. So go slow and feel for the moment and feel for the experience. It’s all good. What is most important is that you are moving things via the glute stretch and you are gaining momentum and energy from the experience.
The release will happen when you are ready. Need more help?
Knee Pain
Strengthen for Knee Pain
If you’re a runner or a very active person and you have knee pain, this might help you out.
Causes of Knee Pain
With active an lifestyle comes wear and tear. That can include falling down and bumping your knee causing bruising, over stretching the ligaments or tendons (sprain/strain), repetitive use, or overly tense muscles pulling around the joint.
When a ligament tear or over stretch happens (sprain), there isn’t much to do to save the joint beyond surgery. The ligaments don’t recover well due to lack of circulation through the area and recovery is prolonged and greatly diminished. Knee surgery is one possible way of handling the issue. With a couple different procedures, doctors can do a very good job rebuilding the knee.
When Strain happens the tendons have been over stretched or torn and they do take time to heal, but nothing like a strain. In a worse case scenario the muscle or tendon is completely severed and the muscle is contracted back towards the origin and insertion of the
7:20:13 Mary: Compression Stretches for the Forearm and Low Back
7:20:13 Mary: Compression Stretches for the Forearm and Low Back
License #15814
7:20:13 Joseph: Office Work Neck and Shoulder Tension
7:20:13 Joseph: Office Work Neck and Shoulder Tension
License #15814
Cervical Vertebrae Stretch for Neck Pain
7:20:13 Thoracic:Cervical Vertebrae Stretch
If you have Neck Pain
This video was made for people looking for relief from neck aches and issues. It can help with relieving stress in the vertebral joints. I hold lightly and for about 3 minutes. The way it works is by using the chin as a lever against the side of my table and to move my head above and away from my shoulders, increasing the distance between the cervical vertebrae.
If you continue to have neck pain, get checked out right away. Something could be wrong with a vertebrae or nerve ending around the joint. After accidents Bone Fragmentation and swelling are common. If that is the case it is best to catch it quickly before the issue worsens.
Swedish Massage
In a lot of cases, Swedish Massage is prescribed to help relax the muscles and reduce neck pain. But, not only does it help reduce neck pain, Swedish Massage works by increasing the blood flow throughout the head and neck area. This helps the overall recovery time of the healing muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The fresh blood delivers nutrition to the healing muscles, by depositing the materials the injured area needs to reconstruct it self.
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep Tissue is helpful for neck pain when the muscles are hyper-tense from over use. Some examples of hypertension and over use are: when your neck hurts from using your smartphone to much, looking downward all the time, using the computer in bad form by slouching and or not giving yourself enough breaks from the job, personal/work/driving/stress related anger, stressful work or home environments and physical exercise. The phone issue is becoming more and more common. As we tend to text more than call nowadays, people are looking downward more often and tend to keep there phone low and close to their bodies, so the efforts of lifting the phone upper closer to the head is diminished.
What Deep Tissue Massage does is almost like steam rolling the muscles of the neck. The added pressure feels great to most people and the benefits are similar to Swedish yet multiplied across the board as the greater pressure from Deep Tissue Massage forces the muscles to stretch further and helps the muscles breath deeper (increased blood flow) by allowing for increased space within the fibers.
If you can not rotate your head, talk to your doctor and or chiropractor. They can point you in the right direction.
Kirsten: Neck Stretch for increasing the distance between the vertebrae
Vertebrae Neck Stretch
This is helpful for creating distance between the vertebrae of the neck.
I would use it as slow as possible and relax into the movement.
Then, I would hold it for 3mins.
Consult your doctor before trying.
The main concept behind this neck stretch is to allow space in between the joints and to relieve nerve impingements and also to increase blood flow to the area.
While doing these stretches, this area is highly sensitive to the extra pressure and many other factors can arise, so caution is highly advised.
The most beneficial things I have seen to help sore necks are; stretching and resting, as they allow the muscles to relax and the joint a chance to breath.
Why the Neck Stretch Works Better Than Deep Tissue Massage Portland
Deep tissue can be an issue when dealing with vertebrae issues like herniated disks (slipped disk) because the bulging of the disk outward toward the surface (or other directions) creates a sensitive area likely to become irritated if worked upon. Think of some one rubbing on a cut that hasn’t healed. It will not help the cut heal. Resting will, however, and the same is true for a herniated disk by most means.
If a nerve is impinged due to a herniation, then light stretching, could help resolve the issue, as theoretically, pressure would be taken off of the area allowing the herniation to breath.
In the Video You Will Find a Neck Stretch
that is incredibly easy to do. Just lay on a bed and allow the chin to hang over the edge just a little bit, so the bottom of the chin is resting on the edge of the bed. Next, relax the neck and allow the pressure from the head weight at the top of head to pull through to the bottom of neck, as the chin is tilted downwards and back toward the edge of the bed and the chest.
Hold this position for 3 minutes then slightly turn/ rotate/ or twist the neck to find addition areas and muscles thought the neck that are tight, fighting back and need to be stretched.
After a few minutes this should greatly increase range of motion within the neck and relief a lot of pain also. If it isn’t relieving pain after a few moments and pain is increased after performing the stretch, discontinue the stretches and relax.