What is Sciatica?
This is a nerve dysfunction that affects your low back, hip and leg. There are several causes of this dysfunction -- injury to your spine, overuse of certain muscles, posture and even age will do it. Precisely how sciatica affects you depends on the cause of the dysfunction and the cause, in turn, directs how it is treated, if at all.
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body and the largest in your legs. Branches off the main nerve serve all areas of your body from your lumbar spine to your feet, so it's no wonder why a person affected with sciatica would want relief from it.
Find the Cause!
Have you been diagnosed with sciatica or sciatic pain? Before seeking treatment, determine what is causing the problem to begin with. Sometimes, the symptoms alone are used to make the diagnosis. Here's why it's so important to know what's causing the impingement on the nerve. Many branches of the Central Nervous System (CNS) reach out from between the five lumbar vertebrae and several more emerge from openings in the sacrum (the diamond-shaped bones between your low back and tailbone) to form the sciatic nerve. Any impingement of the feeder branches of the nerve from the CNS may cause or result in this traveling pain.
In addition, both the branches to and from the main nerve itself run a course through, between and beneath several muscles from the time they leave the spinal cord until they terminate in your feet and elsewhere along the way. Damage to or tension in any of these muscles may result in squeezing the nerve and issuing sciatic pain.
Compressed vertebrae tend to pinch the nerves, too, and a degenerated disc allows the vertebrae above and below it to put the squeeze on it. So can a bulging disc. A herniated disc creates another whole set of issues including sciatic pain. Poor posture over a long period of time may result in deforming the curve of the lumbar spine resulting in a weakening of the nerve, along with a number of spinal diseases such as scoliosis.
Massage To The Rescue?
Could be!
Should a diagnosis of tight muscles be indicated as cause, especially tension in the muscles of the posterior hip, that is, your backside, a massage therapist trained in the physiology and therapeutic workings of releasing those muscles may well be your ticket to hope! Even a cause not directly related to muscles may be benefited with massage because muscles may tighten around the affected area to splint or prevent further damage to the nerve.
A couple of worthy notes here: First, a massage therapist is not legally able to diagnose, though most of us have an idea what may be at the root of the problem when the symptoms are described. Second, life holds no guarantees and massage is never held up as a cure-all by competent therapists. Our intention is to work the muscles to release their tension. It's up to your body to recognize the change in muscle tension and make the adjustments. That's why we say that we only allow your body to help heal itself, we don't fix things.
Sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome are closely related in that pain symptoms are exceptionally similar. The piriformis muscle is located deep inside the muscles of your rear end and the sciatic nerve runs beneath and, sometimes, right through it. If the piriformis is tight, the nerve gets pinched and pain is felt in the hip, buttocks and down the back of the leg as a steady or shooting pain. Piriformis Syndrome is the keynote to the therapist and is the first targeted muscle we work on to release trigger points (constricted muscle), elongate and relax signals of sciatic pain to the brain.
Other muscles may also be causative to the pain or may simply impede progress of your recovery, so the competent therapist will work those muscles as well. These include the major players of the deep lower back, glutes (your butt) and hamstrings, along with performing assisted stretching exercises with you on the table. Additionally, we may give you homework to do -- exercises you can do at home to help between visits to your therapist to aid and speed your recovery.
Together, these treatments by your therapist may very well be able to do what other treatments have been unable to do for you -- help your body return to wellness!
To your best health,
~ Joel
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Monday, September 13, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Did You Know...
...your body has three types of muscle working inside it? Each type works in a specific way and cannot be used for any other purpose. Each looks different, acts differently, is even powered somewhat differently than the others.
(1) cardiac muscle is only found in the heart. Although cardiac muscle more closely resembles skeletal muscle in looks and structure, it differs in arrangement of fibers and how those fibers make the muscle work. Additionally, cardiac muscle works involuntarily, meaning that you can't consciously make it move.
(2) smooth muscle is found in places like the digestive system, waste removal, blood and lymph circulatory systems and other places. It works differently in that smooth muscle doesn't go through sudden, violent contraction as the other two types do. Instead, contraction happens slowly and takes place over long periods -- even semi-permanently. Smooth muscle is also an involuntary type of muscle.
(3) skeletal muscle is used in body movement together with bone and joints as a system of levers and pulleys. Skeletal muscle is a voluntary type of muscle; you can will it to move. But it can also move involuntarily, for instance, in spasm and reflex. There is much that is interesting about skeletal muscle, but one thing in particular stands out to the layperson even though they may not realize it.
There are two types of skeletal muscle -- fast and slow twitch muscle fibers control strength and contractile ability of each individual human being. All humans have both types of fibers in their skeletal muscle, BUT, not necessarily in the same amounts! That is why some of us are faster runners, higher jumpers or have more (or less) endurance in the use of our muscles.
In other words, if you have more "fast twitch" muscle, you are predisposed to short-term, sudden bursts of energy and movement. Fast twitchers will do better in such events as short distance sprints, jerking press weight-lifting, high-jumping, etc. Slow-twitchers have more endurance and can run the long distance marathons, do heavy lifting and carrying, etc. Nothing you can do will change that, no matter how much you train, how far you run, how much weight you use to strengthen your legs, you'll never be the long distance runner some people are.
Isn't that interesting? Here's something else: Men have about 46% of their body mass tied up in skeletal muscle. Women have about 36%. Excluding steroids and toning, this is why muscle mass in men is so much larger than in women, even in female bodybuilders.
So, the next time your kids come home disappointed that they didn't do as well as someone else in that school track meet or doesn't have the biceps another guy has or gets winded a lot sooner in that tennis match, it isn't necessarily due to a lack of trying!
Muscles and Massage
Now that you're aware of this information, know also that massage works on all types of muscle and muscle types. Therapeutic massage can be used to affect cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle using different types of massage strokes, depending on the needs of the client.
Massage is good for you! Make an appointment right away!
Website or Book an Appointment!
...your body has three types of muscle working inside it? Each type works in a specific way and cannot be used for any other purpose. Each looks different, acts differently, is even powered somewhat differently than the others.
(1) cardiac muscle is only found in the heart. Although cardiac muscle more closely resembles skeletal muscle in looks and structure, it differs in arrangement of fibers and how those fibers make the muscle work. Additionally, cardiac muscle works involuntarily, meaning that you can't consciously make it move.
(2) smooth muscle is found in places like the digestive system, waste removal, blood and lymph circulatory systems and other places. It works differently in that smooth muscle doesn't go through sudden, violent contraction as the other two types do. Instead, contraction happens slowly and takes place over long periods -- even semi-permanently. Smooth muscle is also an involuntary type of muscle.
(3) skeletal muscle is used in body movement together with bone and joints as a system of levers and pulleys. Skeletal muscle is a voluntary type of muscle; you can will it to move. But it can also move involuntarily, for instance, in spasm and reflex. There is much that is interesting about skeletal muscle, but one thing in particular stands out to the layperson even though they may not realize it.
There are two types of skeletal muscle -- fast and slow twitch muscle fibers control strength and contractile ability of each individual human being. All humans have both types of fibers in their skeletal muscle, BUT, not necessarily in the same amounts! That is why some of us are faster runners, higher jumpers or have more (or less) endurance in the use of our muscles.
In other words, if you have more "fast twitch" muscle, you are predisposed to short-term, sudden bursts of energy and movement. Fast twitchers will do better in such events as short distance sprints, jerking press weight-lifting, high-jumping, etc. Slow-twitchers have more endurance and can run the long distance marathons, do heavy lifting and carrying, etc. Nothing you can do will change that, no matter how much you train, how far you run, how much weight you use to strengthen your legs, you'll never be the long distance runner some people are.
Isn't that interesting? Here's something else: Men have about 46% of their body mass tied up in skeletal muscle. Women have about 36%. Excluding steroids and toning, this is why muscle mass in men is so much larger than in women, even in female bodybuilders.
So, the next time your kids come home disappointed that they didn't do as well as someone else in that school track meet or doesn't have the biceps another guy has or gets winded a lot sooner in that tennis match, it isn't necessarily due to a lack of trying!
Muscles and Massage
Now that you're aware of this information, know also that massage works on all types of muscle and muscle types. Therapeutic massage can be used to affect cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle using different types of massage strokes, depending on the needs of the client.
Massage is good for you! Make an appointment right away!
Website or Book an Appointment!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Massage in Manchester, NH
Greetings from Joel Kouyoumjian, Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)
I've been blogging for almost a year on my website, on Merchant Circle and Facebook, so I decided to get out into the blogging world and post my stuff out here for all to see and get better exposure.
Most of what I'll write here speaks to you as a massage client of mine or, perhaps, a future one. Topics will mainly concern massage and how massage is good for you along with other forms of bodywork and wellness education. I hope you'll find it informative, educational and interesting. I also hope you'll provide feedback on the subjects and how they relate to you.
Please pass on my blog address to your family and friends and be sure to check out my website (http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian) and Facebook page (Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT) and don't forget to "like" my page!
I've been blogging for almost a year on my website, on Merchant Circle and Facebook, so I decided to get out into the blogging world and post my stuff out here for all to see and get better exposure.
Most of what I'll write here speaks to you as a massage client of mine or, perhaps, a future one. Topics will mainly concern massage and how massage is good for you along with other forms of bodywork and wellness education. I hope you'll find it informative, educational and interesting. I also hope you'll provide feedback on the subjects and how they relate to you.
Please pass on my blog address to your family and friends and be sure to check out my website (http://www.imagroupmembers.com/joelkouyoumjian) and Facebook page (Joel Kouyoumjian, LMT) and don't forget to "like" my page!
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