In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix muscle pain
for good. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I'm going to show you my
go-to personal favorite exercises that I use when I get
muscle pain including muscle spasms, trigger points, muscle
knots, you name it. I'm going to break this up to into
different parts of the body focusing on the neck, into the
upper back, shoulder blades going down into the lower back,
and then into the arms and legs. All of these exercises,
they can be used pretty much anywhere throughout the body
but they work just a little differently. Give them all a
try. Use what works best for you. The only special piece of
equipment that I'm going to be using are a couple ordinary
tennis balls but you may find that these exercises not only
are very easy but can give very quick muscle pain relief even
in as little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started. My go to for
treating neck muscle pain is using what is called a peanut
massage tool. It gets its name because I'm going to take two
tennis balls, place them in a sock. What you want to do is
twist it right at the end right there and make a big knot, so
it's really nice and tight. The great thing about a peanut tool
is you're going to have a groove right in the middle of
the two balls that you can place your spine between. That
way it really will target the muscles off to the side. This
one is best done at the edge of a bed but you can also do it on
the floor. So, let's take our peanut tool and place it right
on the base of the skull, right at the top of the neck. We're
going to start off by attacking what are known as suboccipital
muscles. Those little muscles right at the base of skull that
can cause a lot of issues including tension headaches.
So, I want to pretty much go right to the edge of the bed.
Allow my head to just go off very slightly. Let gravity take
our head weight. At this point, you should already feel a nice
self massage starting to form on those muscles at the base of
the skull. Let's press down with our head just a little bit
to intensify that but not causing any discomfort. Only go
to your comfort level. From there, what I want to do is
take my fingers, place them on my chin like and I'm just going
to do a head rocking motion so I'm doing a chin tuck towards
the chest and then I'm going to go all the way backwards hold
this for about three seconds in both directions what this will
do is allow those muscles to glide over the tennis balls
intensifying that massage and it feels really really good you
want to do this nice and slowly for about 10 repetitions from
there take a breather on the next repetition just try to
drive down a little bit further with your head weight and
repeat you always want to just dig into those muscle to
release anything like a muscle spasm or a muscle knot. You can
do this for about three sets. From there, I'm just going to
move the tennis balls down just a little bit and target the
spot below. Do the same process pretty much from the top of the
neck all the way down to the base of the neck and throw more
repetitions in on any spots that you feel are more tight
and achy. Always focus on the spots that you need the most.
You can also focus on different motions to attack muscles off
to the side. So, let's say that you have a lot of muscle pain
and tightness off to left side. What I'm going to do is just
turn my head to look over my left shoulder and then press
down into the tennis ball. This will intensify more pressure
off to that side and then you can just use your legs right
here to push and pull your neck right over that spot. It's just
a very easy way to focus on a little bit more at that point
but give that one a try. It's just a very easy way to really
help muscle pain in the neck. One of the most common spots to
get muscle pain including muscle knots spasms is in the
upper back across the shoulder blade region. The problem is
it's a very hard area to reach. So, let's make it easy to reach
with this simple trick. I'm going to take a pillowcase and
a tennis ball. Just place the tennis ball right in the
pillowcase like this. At that point, I'm going to have a nice
handle in which I can throw the tennis ball over my shoulder,
raise and lower it to be able to hit those hard-to-reach
spots. So, let's place the tennis ball right over the
center spot of muscle pain, right over that muscle not I'm
going to go next to a door or a wall. From there, I'm going to
put my feet together, space them out in front of me so my
body is leaning. That way, I can press with my legs and my
body weight into the tennis ball to really focus on that
pinpoint spot of pain. Apply enough pressure where it's not
causing discomfort but you're going to get a nice self
massage. From there, I'm going to use my legs, bend the knees,
and go slightly down and a little bit up, kind of like a
nice squatting motion. This will cause that tennis ball
roll over that muscle knot and it feels really really good
right now. I just try to do this nice and slowly up and
down for about 15 repetitions. From there, I take a breather.
If it feels like it needs a little bit more, I'll throw
another set or two in until it finally releases but with each
set, try to press into it just a little bit more to help
massage that muscle tightness out and hopefully get more pain
relief. From there, you can just raise and lower it, go
towards the other side, focus on any spots that you need but
you can also do different motions if it feels like it
needs a little bit more. So, instead of going straight up
and down with it, go side to side. You'll notice that it
hits the muscles just a little bit differently. Give that one
a try. You can also do like circular motions with it. So,
go clockwise with it and then go counterclockwise with it but
it's just a good way to pretty much hit everything from the
top of the shoulders here all the way down to the middle
back. So, here's how we can target muscle pain across the
lower back, the sacrum, and the pelvis. I'm going to go next to
a door a wall. Lay flat on my back. My knees are going to be
bent roughly at 90°. Head goes down like this. I'm just going
to press my feet into the door for a stable anchor point. I'm
going to be using my tennis ball for this one too. Let's
say that I have a lot more pain going off to my left side. I'm
going to take my tennis ball, just lift my body up like this
and center it over the spot of muscle pain. The key with this
is to only put it over muscle and soft tissue. Don't go over
any bony spots like spine because that can cause
irritation. From there, what I'm going to do is take my legs
and my body weight and then lower it down into the tennis
ball until I feel enough pressure where it's giving a
good self massage but not causing any discomfort. From
there, I'm going to do what is known as a pelvic rocker or a
pelvic tilt. I'm going to take my hands, place them right on
my hips like this. The first part, I'm just rocking my
pelvis kind of like tucking my tailbone up like this, holding
it for a second, and then rocking it down just like this.
What it will do is cause the muscles to glide over that
tennis ball and it feels really really good. I just try to do
this nice and slowly for about 15 repetitions. Again, with
each repetition, try to press down into it just a little bit
more to get a better self massage and hopefully relieve
that muscle tightness getting more pain relief. From there,
if it's feels like it needs a little bit more, you can throw
some more sets in but you can also do different motions to
attack the muscles just a little bit differently. So,
let's say that again I have a lot on my left side I'm going
to center that tennis ball over the spot of muscle pain press
down into it from there I'm going to take the side that
side's knee and then bend it back towards me so I'm taking
my left knee like this and just going all the way back what
this will do is offer a nice stretch pretty much in your
legs your glutes into the lower back but it's also going to
cause more pressure to go down into that tennis ball
intensifying this self massage hold this right here
comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds. From there, you can
just relax, take a breather. On the next repetition, try to
stretch more into it, press more down into the ball. I try
to do this for about three to five repetitions. You can also
do more of a rotational movement to again, take this
one to the next level and focus a little bit more on attacking
the muscles differently. So, I'm going to bring both knees
back towards me like this. My arms go off to the side,
kind of grip into the carpet right here or the floor for a
little bit of a stability anchor point. I'm just going to
rock my knees from side to side. This one can become very
intense. So, really only go to your comfort level with this
one but I just go nice and slowly from side to side for
about 10 to 15 reps. From there, you can relax and throw
another set in as needed but after that, you can just switch
this to different spots. Go over towards the right. You
could also target a little bit more below the belt line into
the sacrum, top of the glute buttocks into the pelvis. So,
I'm just going to place it kind of right at the top of the
buttock right here and then just kind of repeat It's just a
very simple way to target muscle knots across the lower
back and pelvis and I hope that that gives you a lot of quick
relief. So, here's my absolute favorite way to tackle muscle
pain in the arms and leg but in fact, you can use this pretty
much over any muscle throughout the body or any joints. So, you
can use this in the neck, across the shoulders. You can
use it in the back. This is known as muscle scraping or gua
sha. We need a couple things. The first being a large metal
spoon. You want one with a little bit more thickness it,
you'll get better results and I'm also going to be using a
form of lubrication. I'm using coconut oil but you can use any
massage lotions. You can also use over-the-counter pain cream
such as Biofreeze or icy hot. So, wherever you're having
muscle pain, muscle knots, whatever. Coat that whole area
in lubrication and when it comes to lubrication a little
bit more is always better. I'm going to demonstrate it on my
calf right here and then move on into my knee to demonstrate
how to do it around the joint. So, I'm going to take my spoon
here. Doesn't matter what part of the spoon you use. You can
use the handle or the rounded portion. I like using the
handle. I'm going to start by putting the spoon roughly about
30 to 45 degrees. The key is with this, we're going to put
enough pressure into that muscle where it's going to
cause a self massage but not causing any discomfort. Also,
with the strokes right here, we're going to go towards the
heart. So, if you're doing this in the lower body, you want to
stroke upwards. If you're doing it above the heart, you're
going to stroke downwards. So, if you're doing it neck, you
want to stroke down. So, let's go right over that area. Let's
say I'm having a lot of pain off to the side of my calf
right here. I'm just going to press into it and then start to
slowly stroke upwards just like this going over the muscle. I
try to do about five strokes in one spot and then I'm just
going to move over and then repeat. Pretty much covering
the whole area of pain. From there, I take a breather. If it
feels like it's still pretty tight, I just go in there and
start to focus on spots that just aren't loosening up and at
that point, I can just pinpoint those spots a little bit more.
When you do this, you may find that some spots just feel very
very gritty, almost like sandpaper. That's adhesions
that you want to focus on. Break that up because it will
help just loosen everything up and hopefully give more pain
relief. Also, while doing this and I don't know if you can see
it on the video right here, you may have redness that forms at
the top of the skin. That is completely normal. That's blood
flow coming in which helps promote healing. That's a good
thing but once you're done with that, I then try to attack it
at different angles. So, instead of going straight up
with it, I'll go pretty much at like a 30° angle and then
repeat this. Just attack those muscle fibers at different
angles. Straight up going towards the side and just
always challenge it to loosen up a little bit more and
hopefully get more pain relief. If we want to focus more
rounded joint, what I want to do is stay off the bony spot.
So, I'm not going to like try to do this over the kneecap.
Instead, I'm going to go around it and then I thing with the
spoon right here is you can use the tip to really just start to
dig in around the kneecap or any joint that you're using I
mean you can do it on an ankle same thing on an elbow and just
really focus on trying to loosen that soft tissue up from
there I just go off to the side and attack the muscle and soft
tissue at that point just nice slow strokes with this two you
can explore by the area right here by using different parts
of the spoon just really focus on exploring the area use
different parts of spoon, use what works best for you. As a
note, I would not do this over any open sores, bruises, cuts,
anything like that. You don't want to cause any irritation
but it's just something that you can use over a spot of
muscle pain and really focus on getting some good blood flow in
there and hopefully get some good healing. Good way to just
target muscle pain throughout the whole body and I hope that
this helps you for a long time to come. If the exercises help,
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