Newsletter Archive: Stop Smashing Your ITB

From Newsletter 6/28/2020

I'm so glad you decided to my the 3DRunner team. Here is the newsletter which was send last Sunday! I hope you enjoy it. 

Are you constantly rolling your ITB without resolve? Day after day, you pull out your foam roller, sprawl over the ground, "to make your ITB loose", only to do it again the next day. You've been told to "strengthen your glute". You lunge and bridge and squat, always finding yourself in the same position. You are on the ground rolling your ITB.

Try Decompressing the ITB

When you roll over the ITB, the premise is the smashing the tissue will help it loosen. That's what I've been telling my patients for the past 10 years and my runners, even longer, almost 20 years. If you ask me now, I will tell you something different. DECOMPRESSION. There is a nerve, called the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, which is the ITB with branches which goes through the ITB. The locations of where the nerve goes through the ITB, is the same location of "trigger points" that I release for my clients and athletes. Nerves really don't like to be compressed. When you compress the tissue surrounding the nerve, it will let go slowly and painfully. When you decompress the tissue, it provides more space for your nerves to move. Your body will tissues will relax as a response.

Here's a photo of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve from the back view. The white portion on the right is the ITB. The nerve goes through the ITB! The most common tender spot is where the nerve comes out in the middle of the ITB.

What to do?

All right team, you want to DECOMPRESS the area. Use a cup to decompress the ITB to give more space for the nerve. If you don't have a cup, you can use a skin lift technique. Click the pictures below for a link to the videos. Here is the link to the cups I use. (No, I don't get kick backs for sharing this.)

                                                                  Cupping the ITB

                                                            Skin Lift Technique  for ITB 

STOP Squeezing Your Abs AND/OR Glutes

When you squeeze you abs and/or glutes, your pelvis tucks under your body (a posterior pelvic tilt). Referring to the photo below (looking from a front view), a posterior pelvic tilt will bring the top of the photo away from you and the bottom towards you. This position puts tension on the inguinal ligament (which can give you a host of other problems which won't be discussed here). The inguinal ligament has ATTACHMENTS to the ITB. So by tucking your pelvis under your body, again occurs when you intentionally squeeze your abs and glutes, you TENSION your ITB. 

***The circled area is highlighted because those ligaments gets slacked in a posterior tilted position contributing to increase pressure to the sciatic nerve (again, maybe for another post).

So STOP TUCKING YOUR BUTT!

I hope this provides insight into different options besides rolling.

Newsletter Archive: Summer is Coming

Newsletter Archive 6/8/2020

We're already a week into June! When did this happened? There has been so many things going on. 

I would be remissed if I didn't mention the social injustice that is recently in the spot light. I have been listening, watching and educating myself on the different obstacles a Black person has to endure. If everyone is talking, no one is listening. I am listening then doing. For those of you who follow me in Instagram, I have been sharing a bit of information, which for a lack of better words, that has caused a light bulb moment. I am thinking of ways to be more inclusive as a physical therapist. If you are interested, here is a webinar on Anti-racism and Allyship for Rehab and Movement Professionals.

Do You Wear Flip Flops?

It's getting HOT outside. For all you flip flops (sandals, slippers) wearers. I'm sure you've been told that wearing flip flops are bad, but no one ever said why. The reason wearing flip flops can be bad is, your toes curl down to hold on to the flip flop. This will cause over contraction of your toe muscles, especially the muscles of the big toe. The big toe muscle starts at the toe, crosses the foot, wraps behind the ankle and attaches at the outside of the leg. When the muscles over work, it causes poor alignment of the foot and ankle. Here's a video on how to massage your leg.

Exciting News

I'm in the hunt for space to open 3DRunner Performance and Rehabilitation. I'm excited to start the process of finding an in-person location to provide hands on osteopathic techniques for clients. I have mentioned osteopathic in prior newsletters. What does it really mean? To me, osteopathic is taking the consideration of the organs and it's nerves, blood and lymphatic supply, to how they can impact your injury. The picture below is directly from my mentorship with Anna Hartman (IG @movementrev). The slide discusses how the ligaments of the pericardium (container holding the heart) is attached to the spine and the rib cage. When those ligaments are tensioned, it can have a significant impact to spinal movement.

Running Analysis Webinar

I'm hosting a webinar on how to perform a running analysis! If you want to know how to do a running analysis, this webinar will provide you all the fundamentals and more to get started. I will discussed how to set up your camera, identify running form deviations which contribute to injuries, where to draw your angles and lines to show dysfunction and generalized exercises to improve running form. I'm hosting this on Saturday June 13th at 10am PST ( YES THERE WILL BE A REPLAY LINK SENT AFTER THE WEBINAR). The cost is $15. Below is the link to sign up. This is perfect for a runner who is interested, a coach or movement professional. 

UPDATED LINK HERE!!!