stairwell-flowers - Tumblr blog

[stairwell-flowers]

[stairwell-flowers]

“This life with his grandson was about all he could manage. And for that he needed to be flexible, in mind and body, with the courage to doubt what he had believed for over a century.”

— Yōko Tawada, The Last Children of Tokyo

[stairwell-flowers]

[stairwell-flowers]

[stairwell-flowers]

[stairwell-flowers]

Hi! I ran across your post on the scapularis muscle and went 👀 is this my problem?? But alas it was not. I went to the trigger-points website you have pinned and pinpointed that my sore spots are definitely in my right rhomboid. Any suggestions on self-releasing those? They’re kinda…hard to reach directly. Do I need to enlist another person or is there anything I can do myself?

That muscle is chronically tense for me, to the point that I’m pretty sure if I stretch the wrong way it tweaks other muscles that make it hard to move my head. I try shoulder rolls on a regular basis, and stretch the front right side of my torso with a goalpost-arm-then-roll-onto-right-side yoga stretch, but I’ve yet to find anything that reliably helps it release.

I had a therapist once who did a short adjustment in that front half muscle (pectoral maybe? It felt very internal) that made me catch my breath it hurt so much for a half second, but after that I had blessed release for weeks until regular use made it seize up again.

For reference—I’m a regular laptop user and do hunch like a queer shrimp over my phone and laptop, but I’m also a trained opera singer and familiar with body mapping and basic Alexander Technique, so when I’m NOT being a shrimp, my alignment is very good.

(If you’ve already posted about this, please pardon my inadequate searching skills. Damn you, Tumblr search.)

oh i know that pain!

obligatory I'm not a doctor, but with the combined head stiffness, i think the pain you are experiencing might be your levator scapulae alongside your rhomboids (and some trapezius), which work together to raise the shoulder blade (along with head movement)

HOWEVER. i don't think this is the true cause, especially with your mentioning the shrimp posture and your therapist releasing a muscle in your chest.

i think your problem is in the latissimus dorsi and pectoralis minor

the left is latissimus, right is pectoralis. notice how the latissimus loops around to the front of the arm bone. these two muscles work together to pull your shoulder forward and down--they directly oppose the levator scapulae and the rhomboids in function, so it sounds to me like you're pulling on the upper muscles whenever you hunch forward to use your phone or laptop!

so, and it feels a little counterintuitive, but in your case rolling the shoulders back and pulling them up should help counteract that.

but, it's also possible that tension further down your body could be the true source. if you look at that picture of the latissimus dorsi, you can see that it attaches to the pelvis as well. now, say you have tension in the backs of your legs. this would pull the back of your pelvis downwards, and everything attached to the pelvis ALSO gets pulled backwards and downwards, stretching out all those back muscles. then, when you go to lean forward, such as using your laptop, not only would you be double stretching the back muscles, but you would also be tiring out muscles such as the latissimus dorsi, which must expend more effort in order to pull the upper body forward, working Against all those stretched out back muscles.

it's this combination of factors that seems to result in most back pain. which makes sense, since you're basically pulling on your back muscles from two different directions.

so if treating the latissimus dorsi and the pectoralis minor doesn't bring you long lasting relief, the next place to check will be your pelvis/legs!

[stairwell-flowers]

actually speaking of that "everything i love causes carpal tunnel" shirt i know! a muscle that causes carpal tunnel-like symptoms!

the bad news is that it's the underside of the shoulder blade, but the good news is that once you figure out how to reach it, it's quite easy to release!

anyways meet the subcapularis

(all images taken from Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction (3rd Edition) by Travell et al)

the subcapularis helps pull the shoulder forward and rotate it inwards, meaning it's involved in many activities which cause the much dreaded carpal tunnel--yes, even though it's nowhere near the wrist. the anatomy of the shoulder makes it easy for nerves and vessels to get compressed, causing all sorts of fun symptoms like pain, tingling, and cold fingers.

this is the referred symptom zone:

obligatory i am not a doctor, just very autistic about musculoskeletal pain, and can't guarantee this massage will help your carpal tunnel symptoms, but I will say that uhhh every time I do this for myself i can feel all blood and sensation rush back into my arm, and it's always best to try massage before more invasive stuff like surgery

--

1. Find a spot where you can sit, feet planted on the ground, and lean forward and rest your head on something with your arm hanging down between your legs. This will slide the shoulder blade to the side of the ribs, where you can reach the underside.

2. Above is what the subcapularis looks like with the surrounding muscles. Using your fingertips (you might wanna cut your nails) or your thumb if preferred, find the bony edge of the shoulder blade, and start poking around the underside.

3. You'll most likely only be able to reach the edge of the muscle, but that's enough! When you press into it, you will probably feel like you're reproducing your symptoms. Don't worry; you aren't hurting yourself and in fact this means you're in the right spot! Massage it gently, enough to feel it but not enough to wince, until you can't find anymore painful spots (or until you feel better, sometimes you can't get it all in one session).

3.5. If your pain increases overall, don't do it. Though pressure should elicit symptoms, this type of massage should provide pretty immediate relief, and if it doesn't then either some other muscle(s) is involved or it's not muscle related at all.

4. Finish up by rolling your shoulder back, like you're stretching out your chest/reaching behind you, a few times. It's normal to hear clicking--good, actually, that's the sound of your body realigning.

5. I recommend doing this at least daily, even after the symptoms have eased, until it's no longer sensitive to massage. Keep in mind that this muscle has been overused, and that the muscles that oppose it have weakened. It will keep trying to tighten up again until the weakened muscles have recovered, so you need to actively treat it and keep an eye out for habits that cause you to roll the shoulder forward.

And that's it! If you intend to resume carpal tunnel inducing activities ASAP, see if you can take a moment every 30 minutes or so to do a quick shoulder stretch. This helps prevent the muscle from tightening, and you only need to spend moments to do so. Quick breaks like this actually go a long way towards preventing injury, and help you keep working without interrupting the flow to go do some body maintenance :P

[stairwell-flowers]

Read the adventures of Quest Sprout (and friends): https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/swords-the-webcomic/list?title_no=198852

[stairwell-flowers]

"Nymphs Dancing to Pan's Flute" ~ by Joseph Tomanek

[stairwell-flowers]

Me getting more chronic diagnoses in rapid succession while desperately applying radical acceptance and DBT therapy to my mental health like a tourniquet:

[stairwell-flowers]

the queen of Oz is a trans lesbian and she’s dating Dorothy

[stairwell-flowers]

“Pain could be killed. Sadness could not, but the drugs did shut its mouth for a time.”

— Colson Whitehead, Zone One

[stairwell-flowers]

"The Penitent Magdalene" ~ by Francesco Lupicini

[stairwell-flowers]

obsessed with this baby hippo from thailand's khao khew zoo.. she has been so utterly betrayed by the world

[stairwell-flowers]

[stairwell-flowers]

[stairwell-flowers]