This study found that neuromuscular taping was associated with a decrease in mean systolic blood pressure, mean diastolic pressure, and cardiac vagal tone.
Michael Phelps’ Forward Head Posture and Swimmer’s Shoulder
Swimmer’s shoulder can include several different pathologies, including rotator cuff tendinitis, shoulder instability, and shoulder impingement.
Massage Therapy is an Effective Post-Exercise Recovery Technique to Reduce DOMS
The authors concluded that massage appears to be the most effective method that was studied for reducing DOMS and perceived fatigue.
Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome and Lower Limb Biomechanics
Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome is a movement-related condition, usually caused by abnormal bone formation of the femoral head and/or acetabulum.
How Pilates Can Treat Thoracic Hyperkyphosis, also known as Rounded Back
When a client presents with thoracic hyperkyphosis (rounded back), there are many approaches for how Pilates can treat thoracic hyperkyphosis. And for each of these approaches, many Pilates exercises can be utilized. Before addressing these approaches, let’s briefly review thoracic hyperkyphosis…
The Effect of Foam Roller Massage on Pressure Pain Threshold
Foam roller massage is quite popular nowadays among athletes and being recommended to patients by many health rehabilitation professionals as an intervention to augment other manual therapies or as a warm-up before an athletic activity, or as a recovery after athletic activity.
FREE DCOMT video – Muscle Action Series: Iliacus
In today’s video, let’s have a look at Muscle Action Series: Iliacus. Enjoy! This video plus 100s more are available on DCOMT: learnmuscles.com/product/digital-comt-subscription/
Body Language – From Commons Signs to Spotting Lies
Here is a fun exercise to help you practice your body language reading skills. Turn on a movie or tv show, but turn the sound off. It is amazing when there are no words to distract us, how much better we can read the body language and understand the feelings and emotions of the communication.
Contralateral Effects – Train One Limb and the Other Limb Becomes Stronger
The implications for contralateral effects are tremendous. Any patient/client who has had an injury, and therefore immobilization / disuse for a period of time, should be able to preserve the strength of the musculature of the immobilized limb by performing resistance training of the healthy, non-immobilized limb.
Stretching Reduces Cancer Tumor Growth in a Study with Mice
The fact that simple stretching for only 10 minutes per day could reduce cancer tumor growth by 52% in this study involving mice is pretty amazing! Being a manual and movement therapy physician, author, and educator, it is clear to me that the human body needs movement. But to see a 52% improvement was incredible!
20 Memory Tips to Improve Your Learning
The following is a blog post article contributed to us from Daisy May Hartwell. In this blog post article, Daisy discusses 20 simple and straight-forward tips that we can employ to improve our memory and improve our learning!
How Michael Jackson Defied Biomechanics
The authors stated that Michael Jackson challenged our understanding of the modes and mechanisms of movement, the limits of movement, and therefore mechanisms of spinal injury. Dancers often try to perform increasingly challenging moves that may create stresses on the spine that can cause injury.
Healthy Lifestyle: How To Maintain A Fitness Routine Without Burning Yourself Out
Once your life is more balanced, it will be easier to maintain a workout routine for the long-term. Not to mention, you won’t be missing out on other aspects of your life — or compromising your health. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to self-care and achieving a healthy lifestyle as everyone has different needs.
Can Massage Increase Blood Circulation?
Regardless of the underlying mechanism, there seems to be a growing number of studies that do show a correlation between massage therapy and blood circulation. Although these studies at present seem to be inconsistent in their findings, the fact that many of them do show a causal relationship is encouraging.
Physical Activity Linked to Healthier and Longer Life, but Highly Physically Active Workers Die Early
When working, we place a demand on the body and the body responds by adapting to meet those demands. However, every tissue, has a limit to the mechanical stress that it can accept during physical activity without injury. It would seem likely that the demands of some professions are too great for the human body.
Learning from Dancers to Prevent Non-Contact ACL Injuries
The authors suggested that experienced dancers demonstrate safer landing strategies compared to recreational athletes. Dance training experience may provide protection against high-risk movement patterns. And thus, dance training may be modeled to prevent ACL injuries.
Differences in Knee and Hip Adduction in Runners with Iliotibial Band Syndrome
This study seems to show a relationship between iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome and knee adduction (genu varum) and the activation of the TFL. A relationship can be two incidents that occur together, termed a “coincidence.” Or there can be a causal relationship between them; i.e., one causes the other to occur.
FREE DCOMT video – Mortons Test for Mortons Neuroma
In today’s video, let’s have a look at Mortons Test for Mortons Neuroma. Enjoy! This video plus 100s more are available on DCOMT: learnmuscles.com/product/digital-comt-subscription/
Decreased Ankle Dorsiflexion is Associated with Dynamic Knee Valgus
A proposed biomechanical explanation is that restricted ankle joint dorsiflexion directly results in overpronation of the foot, which causes internal rotation of the lower extremity, which strains the external/abductor musculature, which can then no longer prevent femoral adduction; hence genu valgus.
How Can Tight Muscles of the Hip Joint Cause a Scoliosis?
So, if hip abductor group on one side is tighter at baseline tone than the hip adductor group on that side, the pelvis will be pulled into depression on that side, resulting in a lumbar scoliosis that is convex on that side. Similarly, tight opposite-side hip adductor musculature can cause the same scoliotic curve.
Absence of Evidence – Do Parachutes Actually Help Skydivers?
Absence of evidence is not evidence of the absence. Following is how a research review of the effectiveness of parachutes might be concluded: “There is no conclusive evidence that parachutes are effective at helping skydivers.” Ridiculous? Yes. Yet accurate and absurd!
Does Carrying a Backpack Cause Back Pain in Adolescents?
And perhaps the biggest problem I have with this study about backpacks and adolescent back pain is that an overuse syndrome usually does NOT cause pain in the early stages. When the body is physically stressed by something like carrying a backpack, it often requires many years before the overuse results in pain.
Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance
Dynamic stretching’s improvement seems to be related to the increased tissue temperature and increased neural facilitation. Therefore, if the goal of a warm-up is to increase joint ROM and to enhance muscle force and/or power, dynamic stretching seems to be a preferable alternative to static stretching.
FREE DCOMT video – Childs Restorative Pose with Lumbar Flexion Joint Mobilization
In today’s video, let’s have a look at Childs Restorative Pose with Lumbar Flexion Joint Mobilization. Enjoy! This video plus 100s more are available on DCOMT: learnmuscles.com/product/digital-comt-subscription/
The Effect of Massage Therapy on Blood Pressure in Prehypertensive Women
The results indicated that the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the massage group were significantly lower in comparison with the control group. The results also showed that the lowered blood pressure was still observed 72 hours after the treatment.
Healthy at Home: Maintaining a Balanced Lifestyle with Diabetes
Diabetes is no longer a dreaded condition that confines people to a life of bland foods, self-injections and the constant monitoring of glucose and insulin levels. By observing some basic dietary rules, individuals with diabetes can lead perfectly happy and normal lives.
Thoracic Hyperkyphosis – The Critical Component of Upper Crossed Syndrome
For most of our clients who present with the postural distortion pattern known as upper crossed syndrome, it is important, perhaps absolutely necessary, to include thoracic spinal joint mobilization technique into extension as part of the treatment plan to address the thoracic hyperkyphosis.
What Makes A Great Teacher?
I would like to propose that there are certain tangible factors, and perhaps a few intangible factors, that make a teacher great. I believe these factors are knowledge, clear and linear presentation, passion, entertainment, the ability to apply, and caring.
FREE DCOMT video – Bilateral AC Stretching for the Neck
In today’s video, let’s have a look at Bilateral AC Stretching for the Neck. Enjoy! This video plus 100s more are available on DCOMT: learnmuscles.com/product/digital-comt-subscription/
Five more Do and Don’t Precautions for Massage Therapists
One precaution is that when we do need to use the thumb or fingers, it is a good guideline to always try to contact the client with the pad of the thumb or fingers, instead of the tips of the fingers. In other words, do not lead with the fingertips.