Jennifer

As a Massage Therapist, tight muscles and muscle injuries on clients are the reason why we are in business. A lot of clients ask why their muscles are so tight when they believe that they are not doing anything to cause muscle shortening. What many of them don’t see is that posture and positioning they do at work can have a direct effect on muscles by shortening them or by making them become weak.

Tight muscles need to be stretched on a regular basis. Your pectoral muscles don’t need bench pressing at the gym on a regular basis to get a work out. If you sit at a desk in front of a computer eight hours a day, they are most likely already tight and short. The opposite affect is done to the back muscles when sitting and typing all day. The back muscles between your shoulder blades tend to be stuck in a lengthen position for long periods of time. These muscles (your rhomboids, mid and lower traps) tend to need more strengthening exercises to help balance out your chest muscles and keep your body in postural alignment. The same issues can arise in the lower body. Your hamstrings (the back of your upper leg) rest in a contracted position for long periods of time while you sit at your desk. These muscles tend to feel tight or sore and need to be lengthened through stretching.

Stretching and strengthening the right muscles can help you live a more pain free life. Massage therapy can also help to relieve achy over used and tightened muscles while stretching between your treatments can help maintain what your therapist has done for you. If you are suffering from tight muscles, book a massage therapy treatment today!

As our lives have become more stationary, back pain has become quite common. The mid back between the shoulder blades can start to ache just by sitting at your desk at work. This area is hard to stretch and impossible to try to rub better yourself. When a client gets mid back pain, most want treatment on their back in the region that is aching, but sometimes this isn’t even the region that is causing them so much trouble in the first place.

Mid back pain can sometimes be caused by tight pectoral muscles. Chest muscles are usually in a constant contracted position during the day when people are working on a computer or at a desk. As shoulders and arms come forward, these motions are held in position by the pectoral muscles. While the chest muscles are tightening up, the mid back muscles (rhomboids, lower and mid traps) are being constantly held in a stretched position and tend to be weak. Pectoralis Minor is a muscle in the chest that attaches from the ribs to the shoulder blade. Its job is to raise the ribs during inhalation or to tip the shoulder blade up and forward. This little muscle may be the root of your mid back pain and may be the area that actually needs to be worked on. Massage Therapy can help target the chest muscles so that they can relax and not cause the strain that they may be putting on the weakened back muscles.

Doing stretches and strengthening exercises at home will also be beneficial in maintaining your mid back health. Stretching out the chest muscles (Pectoralis Major and Minor) will help with tight muscles while also strengthening those mid back muscles with reverse flies, rows, and pull-ups will aid to balance out the weaker muscles.

If you have mid back pain, book a massage today!