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Olympics Part 3

  The preliminary round of the men’s 1500 meter run occurred Friday, and my athlete finished first in his heat. He had 48 hours to recover before the semifinal round Sunday evening. In terms of sports...

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Research: Menthol Analgesic vs. Ice to Reduce DOMS

I saw an interesting journal article the other day, where researchers were looking at ways to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).  It is very common for athletes to utilize ice or ice baths as...

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Fun with Kinesiology Tape

Here is a little case study using kinesiology tape.  I had the chance last week to apply kinesiology tape to a large bruise on an athlete’s hamstring.  Surprisingly, the bruise was not from a sports...

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Treating Muscle Cramps

“What is the best way to release a muscle cramp?” This is a question I have been asked numerous times in my sports massage workshops.  The instinctive treatment to relieve a calf cramp is to stretch...

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Lessons From The Past

In my youth, I was a huge baseball fan. I played all the time, knew the stats of all the Detroit Tigers, and even read books about historic players. One story of a bad toe ending a player’s career...

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Working with Recreational vs Elite Athletes

At my sports massage workshops, people ask me if it is hard to work with elite athletes. They are surprised when I tell them the opposite is true. I often find it more difficult to work with...

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Under-Appreciated Muscles

In the past, if I was asked what is the most under-appreciated muscle in massage, my reply would be: “latissimus dorsi.” This has been my response due to a few reasons: It connects the pelvis to the...

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Sports Hernia

With the news of NFL running back Adrian Peterson undergoing surgery for a sports hernia, it is a good time to talk about this injury. First, the term sports hernia is misleading, as it is not a true...

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Finding the Root Cause of the Injury

AKA:  Searching for the “WHY” With the increased use of assessment in massage therapy, It is important to think about what tests give us usable information that can effect out treatment plans and make...

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Re-Evaluate How You Work

Performing massage every day, over and over, it is easy to get into a routine of techniques that you use on most every client. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, you may find yourself getting...

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The Rotator Cuff = Stability Cuff

When we learn the functions of muscles in our anatomy books, we tend to focus on the primary movements generated by the muscles.  However, understanding the secondary actions is what gives us that...

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Causes of Iliotibial Band Pain – Part 1

A painful iliotibial band (ITB, IT Band) is one of the most common lower body injuries (1).  However, treating this injury is not as easy as massage or stretching to the injured tissue.  Unfortunately,...

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Causes of Iliotibial Band Pain – Part 2

In Part 1 of the IT Band, we looked at the TFL, gluteus maximus, and the IT band itself. Now, we’ll address some biomechanical dysfunctions resulting in increased stress to the IT band. Figure 1: By...

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IASTM

In an earlier post about using kinesiology tape to reduce bruising, I mentioned the bruise was due to treatment performed by a therapist using a hard-edged scraping tool. This technique is known as...

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Anything Can Be Sports Massage

One of the biggest issues is what constitutes a “sports massage.”  People usually consider it to be a deep, uncomfortable massage, most likely with stretching. Wrong.  Well, partially.  These...

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Chaos of Sports Massage

I’ve worked with athletes for over 25 years as either a massage therapist or athletic trainer and learned you not only need to know about the mechanics of the sport, but also must be comfortable in the...

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Hamstring Strains

As a sports massage therapist, you will see hamstring strains all the time. In treating this injury, it is important to look beyond the site of pain. The hamstrings perform two key functions: knee...

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Don’t Recommend Shoes

Through my education as an athletic trainer and massage therapist, I’ve been instructed on different ways to evaluate a person’s feet to determine if they are a supinator or a pronator. Some people...

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Make Your Clients Move

One of the best things I’ve done to improve my results is to employ movement and re-assessment during my sports massage sessions.  In a typical relaxation massage, the client simply lies on the table,...

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Ankle Sprains – Restore Dorsiflexion

When treating a client with an inversion sprain, a key step of the therapist is to restore their dorsiflexion.  This may sound strange, as the typical complaint is pain and stiffness with inversion....

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