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The Lower Body
As a general rule, when working, lifting and exercising we are stressing the same muscles and movements. This repeat stress can lead to overworked muscles and consequently tightness and trigger points. Most of us sit all day long, and then go to the gym and do the same things day in day out. We are going to look at some of the more common places where almost everyone is tight. |
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1. The Peroneals
These are tight in quite a few people. Tight peroneals can lead to knee pain. Let’s get them loose.
How To: Lay on your side, place the ShiatsuBag under the outer side of your lower leg. Roll up and down slowly, and stop whenever you feel a tender spot. If you don’t feel any, thats great, keep rolling. You may also place the ShiatsuBag on the between your lower legs and squeeze them together treating the inner shins. The inner areas can also be treated by placing The ShiatsuBag on a low elevated surface such as a coffee table while laying on the floor. |
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2. The Calves
Your gastrocnemius and soleus are bound to have trigger points. Most of them you wont even know about until you find them.
How To: While laying down or seated (the more of your body that is raised off the ground, the more pressure can be applied) and place the ShiatsuBag underneath your calves. Roll right from the achillies up to under the knee. Slowly. Stop on any tender points and hold. |
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3. The ITB (Iliotibial Band)
The ITB is actually a long tendon. (Tendons connect muscles to bone.) It attaches to a short muscle at the top of the pelvis called the tensor fascia lata. The ITB runs down the side of the thigh and connects to the outside edge of the tibia (shinbone) just below the middle of the knee joint. This tight band of fascia along the side of your leg is almost always tight, and can often have trigger Up closer to your hip there are some trigger points.
How To: Roll on the ShiatsuBag, from the knee right up to the hip. If you come across a sore point stop and hold. The ITB is often very tight, and rolling on it can be painful. |
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4. The TFL (Tensor Fasciae Latae)
This muscle is often tight in people who are sitting down a lot. It gets put into a shortened position and over time will adjust and stay in that shortened state.
How To: Locate the TFL first. It is between your ITB and the top of your hip bone, slightly more anterior. Put the ShiatsuBag underneath it, put as much body weight onto it as you can handle and begin searching for the dreaded trigger points. This thing is almost always tight in people, and you will feel quite a lot of pain and release even if you don’t find trigger points. |
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5. The Glute Medius and Maximus
How To: Similar area to the TFL, but slightly more posterior. A lot of people tend to be tighter up the top of the glute med, where it attaches. |
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6. The Hip Rotators
You may or may not have heard of a little, painful and annoying muscle called the piriformis. This is one of a few hip rotators that you will be working through, but seems to be the one that causes people the most problems.
How To: Basically sit on the ShiatsuBag concentrating pressure thoughout your hip region. Move around a lot and I will guarantee you will find the piriformis. When you find it you may get pain shooting down your leg. Hold it and you will feel enormous benefits from this one. If the pain is too sharp, straighten your leg out and sit in he same spot, this means the hip rotators aren’t on as much stretch. |
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7. The Pelvis
The pelvis is often tight from people sitting down at work all day and having it in a shortened position.
How To: Pile the Shiatsuballs or arrange them flat and lie face down on the ShiatsuBag with your feet against a wall or other immoveable structure. Move yourself back and forth or even in a cirular motion. Test out each area of the Pelvis and find where you are tightest. |
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8. The Thighs
The thigh is one of the most actively used muscles on the body and generally remain flexible and functional with few trigger points. Yet, the ShiatsuBag offers an stimulating deep tissue massage that is sure to bring enjoyment.
How To: Place he ShiatsuBag flat on the ground or other flat surface, a bed works nicely allowing the Shiatsuballs to wrap around your thigh. Lie face down on the ShiatsuBag and remain stationary or using your hands to support your upper body, move back and forth or even in a cirular motion. You may also pinch the ShiatsuBag between your inner thighs and move your legs as if you were pedaling a bicycle. |
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9. The Knees and Shins
How To: The back of the knee is best massaged by placing one or two of the balls on the edge of a sofa, chair, or table and then placing the leg on top of them.
You can sit on top of the ShiatsuBag with your legs folded. You may sit on one leg or both and move back and forth. |
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10. The Foot
The foot doesn’t have any trigger points but as we all know it is under tremendous stress depending upon the amount of time we spend on our feet and the type of activities. Your foot is your plantar fascia. How this functions directly affects the rest of your leg. Most of us are tight here, and we are going to start from the bottom and work up.
How To: While seated with the ShiatsuBag on the floor, place one or both feet upon it, after working the entire foot, especially the arches, you may increase the pressure by standing on one or both legs. Roll around on for about 30 seconds. You may also place the ShiatsuBag atop your foot and manipulate it with the other foot, swiching back and forth. This exercise can also be done while laying on the floor or a sofa with the ShiatsuBag against a support such as a wall or armrest. |
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What You Should Know After
After the session stretch the areas you found trigger points in. You may be bruised, probably not, but if you are doing it for the first time this could be a side effect. Again, for first timers, you can be a little sore after it. It is pretty localized work.
Now that your lower body is sufficiently sore and angry at you for poking around, keep at it. These things don’t happen over night. Most of us get trigger points from repeated movement patterns or being in the same position for lengths of time (i.e sitting down all day at work). The same goes the other way. It will take time to release everything, but I guarantee after one session with the tennis ball, you will feel the difference.
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