Muscle Medicine: The Revolutionary Approach to Maintaining, Strengthening, and Repairing Your Muscles and Joints by Rob Destefano, Joseph Hooper
Authors: Rob Destefano, Joseph Hooper
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movement, then the strengthening work to build up the resiliency of the treatment area’s musculoskeletal system.
THE PROGRAM
We’ve discussed these ideas in a general way in chapter 1 . In this chapter, we’re going to distill our strategy into a program the reader can use at home. Our program has the same three parts: muscular self-treatment, stretching, and strength work. It’s designed for several different groups of people: for the person with no health problems whatsoever who uses our muscle treatment and conditioning work as a prevention strategy; the person with minor aches and pains who has been cleared by a medical professional to work on these issues on his or her own; someone who’s currently being treated by a doctor but who has been cleared to supplement that treatment with our program; and lastly someone who has completed a course of medical treatment and has been cleared to do maintenance work on his or her own. Almost everybody can use it!
But, before we go any further, let’s take a closer look at those three areas—treatment, stretching, and strengthening—so you can see how our program evolved.
MANUAL THERAPY TREATMENT
A whole universe of hands-on therapies and therapists exists to treat your muscles. There is no central organization, so seeking out help can be daunting, even though there is no shortage of talented people. What follows are a few of the schools or traditions most accepted by modern medicine. Acupuncture and acupressure target precise spots on the body at which to apply therapeutic pressure, using needles (acupuncture) and manual pressure (acupressure). Chiropractic mobilizes joints and relieves nerve entrapments and muscle spasms. Physical therapy is an umbrella term. Some physical therapists are essentially rehabilitation specialists focusing onmuscle conditioning, while others use a range of hands-on techniques. Some individual styles of manual therapy have mostly emerged in the last six decades or so, often blending old and new techniques, and are practiced by health-care professionals from many different disciplines. A few of the most well known are Active Release Techniques (ART), Graston Technique, Myofascial Release, Orthopedic Massage, and Trigger Point Therapy. The granddaddy of hands-on work is therapeutic massage, which has been around in one form or another for centuries.
All of these approaches, from ancient to modern, have their particular methods
----
AUTO MANIPULATION
We have many patients who try to treat themselves by “cracking” joints, with self-massage, and by overstretching and pulling on their muscles and joints. There are several reasons why the wrong self-care is wrong for you:
1. “Cracking” your neck and back yourself is counterproductive. The reason patients have the feeling that they want to “crack their spine” is usually because there is an area that is immobile or too tight. Whenever there is an area of immobility, however, there is usually an area of hypermobility, or an area that’s too loose. So when a patient tries to release an area of tightness by “cracking” their neck or back, they’re usually causing the loose joint to move instead. This creates even more hypermobility, which loosens ligaments, destabilizes the joints, and makes the patient susceptible to calcification of the soft tissue around the joints, which may lead to osteoarthritis.
2. Pulling joints and muscles by overstretching can aggravate an existing problem or even a healthy joint. Stretch once or twice a day, after a warm-up or after exercise. Be specific with your stretch routine, and don’t overdo it or hold the stretches too long. See our description of proper stretching on page 72.
3. Constantly rubbing, pressing, and kneading your sore muscles can inflame and irritate them. When a professional works on your muscles, it’s for a short time, in a precise area, and in a precise way. A good practitioner should give you the proper self-care to give you
THE PROGRAM
We’ve discussed these ideas in a general way in chapter 1 . In this chapter, we’re going to distill our strategy into a program the reader can use at home. Our program has the same three parts: muscular self-treatment, stretching, and strength work. It’s designed for several different groups of people: for the person with no health problems whatsoever who uses our muscle treatment and conditioning work as a prevention strategy; the person with minor aches and pains who has been cleared by a medical professional to work on these issues on his or her own; someone who’s currently being treated by a doctor but who has been cleared to supplement that treatment with our program; and lastly someone who has completed a course of medical treatment and has been cleared to do maintenance work on his or her own. Almost everybody can use it!
But, before we go any further, let’s take a closer look at those three areas—treatment, stretching, and strengthening—so you can see how our program evolved.
MANUAL THERAPY TREATMENT
A whole universe of hands-on therapies and therapists exists to treat your muscles. There is no central organization, so seeking out help can be daunting, even though there is no shortage of talented people. What follows are a few of the schools or traditions most accepted by modern medicine. Acupuncture and acupressure target precise spots on the body at which to apply therapeutic pressure, using needles (acupuncture) and manual pressure (acupressure). Chiropractic mobilizes joints and relieves nerve entrapments and muscle spasms. Physical therapy is an umbrella term. Some physical therapists are essentially rehabilitation specialists focusing onmuscle conditioning, while others use a range of hands-on techniques. Some individual styles of manual therapy have mostly emerged in the last six decades or so, often blending old and new techniques, and are practiced by health-care professionals from many different disciplines. A few of the most well known are Active Release Techniques (ART), Graston Technique, Myofascial Release, Orthopedic Massage, and Trigger Point Therapy. The granddaddy of hands-on work is therapeutic massage, which has been around in one form or another for centuries.
All of these approaches, from ancient to modern, have their particular methods
----
AUTO MANIPULATION
We have many patients who try to treat themselves by “cracking” joints, with self-massage, and by overstretching and pulling on their muscles and joints. There are several reasons why the wrong self-care is wrong for you:
1. “Cracking” your neck and back yourself is counterproductive. The reason patients have the feeling that they want to “crack their spine” is usually because there is an area that is immobile or too tight. Whenever there is an area of immobility, however, there is usually an area of hypermobility, or an area that’s too loose. So when a patient tries to release an area of tightness by “cracking” their neck or back, they’re usually causing the loose joint to move instead. This creates even more hypermobility, which loosens ligaments, destabilizes the joints, and makes the patient susceptible to calcification of the soft tissue around the joints, which may lead to osteoarthritis.
2. Pulling joints and muscles by overstretching can aggravate an existing problem or even a healthy joint. Stretch once or twice a day, after a warm-up or after exercise. Be specific with your stretch routine, and don’t overdo it or hold the stretches too long. See our description of proper stretching on page 72.
3. Constantly rubbing, pressing, and kneading your sore muscles can inflame and irritate them. When a professional works on your muscles, it’s for a short time, in a precise area, and in a precise way. A good practitioner should give you the proper self-care to give you
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