Daily Maestroism

DM #120

Tuesday, September 20th, 2016

DM #120: Sometimes the answer to an area feeling “tight”, is to compress it.
It's not always all about stretching, and gapping, and lengthening, and traction. My good friend @pilatesprinciple had an absolutely awesome analogy that I thought was too good to not share. “Like closing the stuck door harder before it'll open.” Sometimes ya gotta shorten or compress something before it'll relax and give you what you want.
For those of you familiar with strain-counterstrain, this makes sense. But, I know that it took me a while before I transferred this sort of thinking over to joints. Learning takes time!

If you've been following my recent posts, you know that I hurt my hip a few weeks ago. I've been diligent with my rehab, and things are moving along nicely. However, I have been experiencing some discomfort that a younger, less-informed me might have continuously attempted to treat with banded hip mobilizations and distraction techniques. I found that exactly the opposite improved my functionality and decreased my pain. Compression for the win!

Long axis force applied through the end of my femur (knee was bent) and directed at compressing the femoral head into different parts of the acetabulum (ball into the socket ?) turned my frown upside down.
If we take a more neurological, and less mechanical approach to understanding the mechanism through which this could be working, I contend that said compression helps to alter the neural drive to the surrounding tissue, and can help restore normalcy and allow for successful activation of tissue. Sometimes, traction will accomplish this, sometimes, distraction is needed. Want to figure out which one you need? Get assessed.

#MoreThanOneWayToSkinACat

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