Muscle knots

S

skatch

Cathlete
Certain exercises cause me muscle pain. Everytime I do rear delts, my back feels all knotted up the next day. Somtimes when I try to incorporate yoga, I get all knotted up in my neck and back from trying to hold poses. Too much time in downward dog makes my neck hurt. A lot of times I need to take a day off to heal. How do I move forward on this?
 
I swear by regularly using my Teeter Inversion table and getting regular, VERY deep tissue...like "ouch!" deep..., massages (every 2-3 weeks). Those two things have helped me manage my chronic neck and trap pain. I wish there was a cheaper solution, but I haven't found it.
 
Tennis balls are magic for me. I get knots between my shoulder blades and spine and I wedge a tennis ball on the knot and lean back againt my couch and press down on it and roll it around until the knot loosens. Works like a charm. I sometimes have to do it a few nights in a row, but it always helps.

I found deep massages made the knot worse and I don't know why, but I would be way worse off after a deep massage.
 
Fitnessfreakk366 said:
Tennis balls are magic for me. I get knots between my shoulder blades and spine and I wedge a tennis ball on the knot and lean back againt my couch and press down on it and roll it around until the knot loosens. Works like a charm. I sometimes have to do it a few nights in a row, but it always helps.

I found deep massages made the knot worse and I don't know why, but I would be way worse off after a deep massage.
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Same. I use lacrosse balls and the ones from the Yamuna self massaging ball rolling kit.
I highly recommend Yamuna or yoga Tune-up fitness for self fascia massage. I've been doing it for years. If possible, attend a class or workshop.

As with anything though, get yourself all checked out (your family physician and a physical therapist to pinpoint your holding/gait etc patterns which might be causing the tension in the first place) before diving into too many self-help modalities.
 
Anytime I do upper body I turn into stone up there! Lumps everywhere. It’s horrible! I’ve done foam rolling and that helps. Massage definitely helps if you are clear with the masseuse about your pain and issues...as well as how hard you want them to press into your muscles.
 
I think my biggest problem with deep tissue massages is that I didn't ice it afterwards (as no one told me too). I heard way after I had a couple of the deep massages that ended up putting my left arm in a sling because I couldn't hold it up with the pain that was so bad in my upper back,that you should ice the area afterwards and take Ibuprofan or Aleve because when muscles are rubbed out, it gets heated up and in turn inflames the muscle. If I would have iced it I might have fared better. However, I will NOT even attempt it again because I'm so afraid of it happening again. That was horrible.
 
Fitnessfreakk366 said:
I heard way after I had a couple of the deep massages that ended up putting my left arm in a sling because I couldn't hold it up with the pain that was so bad in my upper back,that you should ice the area afterwards and take Ibuprofan or Aleve
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Oh no! That's terrible! I'm glad you mentioned this because my massage therapist uses a lotion with a holistic muscle relaxer that contains menthol to help the muscles repair. I think it makes a HUGE difference in the post-massage experience. I am so used to her doing this, but I bet most massage therapists just use regular lotion.
 
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