This is Brent, President of B2C Fitness and we're talking about more static
self-administered release techniques. This time we're going to get a little
bit more accurate with a technique that's very common.
Usually this was referred to as a latissimus dorsi static release technique
with a foam roll. We're actually going to call it a teres major static release
technique, and I'm going to show you how to be a little bit more specific if
you do have latissimus dorsi trigger points. I'm going to have my friend, Laura,
come out and help me out here. First, just a little anatomy lesson. So, when we do
this technique, and you will see in just in a second, she's going to be on her side
foam rolling the lateral portion of her scapula, her shoulder blade. Now, your lat,
however, runs primarily on your back, from thoracolumbar fascia, all the
way up into the front part of your humerus. There is a small insertion here
at the bottom angle of the scapula, but if we're doing this lateral border, the
biggest tissue, the most tissue that we affect is probably to be the teres major.
Now, that's not a problem. The teres major is also indicated as short and tight in
our predictive models of upper-body dysfunction. So, whether you're doing
teres major, or lat, as far as affecting posture, affecting movement,
improving the quality of our movement, you're still a good shape either way,
however, we might need to add another technique to ensure that we're getting
the primary point of which we're going to get latissimus dorsi
trigger points, which is going to be right in the middle of that belly of that
muscle, just below the inferior angles of the scapula. So, I'm going to have Laura here
get into a better position. She's just going to lay on her side in a comfortable
position, usually knees bent so you're nice and stable. She's going to get that
foam roll right underneath her scapula there. Good. She's then going to
roll along the entire border of her scapula and look for the most tender point.
-Got it! Alright, once she has, it once she's found that point, I'm going to make sure she's
relaxed, so her legs are relaxed, she's using this arm which is the arm she's
not foam rolling to stabilize herself. This arm should be limp. We don't want
this muscle active, because that will definitely cause muscle guarding. That
will definitely cause that muscle to contract, and then we won't be able to release
that trigger point. Now, she's going to hold that position for 30 seconds to 2
minutes, or until she gets a release. Don't roll back and forth, you're just
going to excite those pain receptors, possibly make trigger points worse. We
want to make sure we hold on that most sensitive point until it goes away. Now,
like I said, this is teres major, an internal rotator, also a tight muscle, but
lats are indicated too, so we need something a little bit more specific for
her latissimus dorsi. I'm sure you have done this technique as well. I'm
going to have a roll over on her back, she's going to
put her hands behind her head, she's going to keep her butt on the ground. Make
sure she stays drawn-in. She's going to go up and down the length of her
thoracic spine there. Now, you could have trigger points in your rhomboids and
those little muscles right around the thoracic spine that might cause some
pain, but what we're looking for right now is specifically those trigger points
that are going to be lateral to her spine, just underneath her scapula.
She's found them. Hopefully she's not guarding, you want to make sure people
can still breathe. If you need to you can put a medicine ball underneath their
head for support, just so that they don't have so much pressure back over the
foam roll, and once again, she's going to hold this position for 30 seconds to 2
minutes, or until she feels a release, a reduction in discomfort, in those trigger
points. So there you go, that's the static release techniques for both the
teres major, as well as a more accurate way to do our latissimus dorsi
static release. I hope you enjoy. Thank You Laura.