How stressed are you? That’s a good question to ask yourself regularly, particularly during challenging times. Recognising stress is definitely something you want to learn how to see in yourself, so that you can regulate, and manage, your responses to it.
I am sure you will no doubt be familiar with the fact that stress causes our muscles to tense. Or rather that our brain instructs our muscles to tense in response to stressful event or situations. These muscular contractions are involuntary, they happen automatically, often we are not even aware of them occurring. Like for example, the slow accumulation of stress and tension as a work deadline looms.
Other times it is more blatantly obvious, for example if you have a near miss when driving or get some kind of a fright.
Interestingly, even just thinking about stressful events or situations can trigger this response too. Such as say, ruminating over an argument, a perceived wrong or a nerve-racking interview.
If we know muscle tension is an automatic response to stress, we can use muscle tension as a good indicator of how stressed we are. And conversely, we can use an absence of muscle tension as a good indicator of how relaxed we are.
So How Can We Assess Muscle Tension?
It is really very easy to assess yourself for muscle tension. All you need is your own hands. Tense, tight, contracted muscles feel stiff and hard, they will often be tender and sore to touch too. They make your movements feel stiff and restricted. Knots in your muscles are also merely contracted muscle fibres, small sections of the muscle that are habitually contracted.
Relaxed muscles on the other hand are soft, pliable and pain free. They will not be sore to the touch and they allow for free and easy movement. Fully relaxed muscles also will not have knots of tension in them.
So armed with this simple information we can easily start to identify which parts of our body are the most tense, and where we tend to express our stress, by simple pressing on our muscles.
Let’s Find our Tight, Tense, Stressed Out Spots!
Whilst sitting (or standing) it’s very easy to take your right hand and press the muscles on the top of and to the rear of your left shoulder. Just like in the image below. In fact I’m sure many of you do this kind of thing instinctively already. When you do this, let your left arm hang loosely by your side.
Press gently on the top of the left shoulder moving your hand more inwards towards the neck and then more out towards the outermost part of your shoulder. You’ll likely find that parts of the shoulder are very hard, tight and uncomfortable to press on. That’s muscle tension! Make a note of these areas or spots.
Then, switch sides. Let your right arm hang loosely, then use your left hand to press on the muscles of your right shoulder in the same way described above. Again notice which areas are stiff, tight, hard and tender to touch. There may be some difference side to side. Just make a note.
All those areas that are hard, tight, and tender to touch on your shoulder are areas where the muscles are habitually contracted. Your brain is holding those muscles more tightly than is necessary. In Somatics this is called Sensory Motor Amnesia. Basically you/your brain have forgotten how to let these muscles relax.
Now allowing your right arm to hang loosely by your side, take your left hand again and press on your right chest muscle, from your sternum (the hard area in centre of your chest) all the way out to your armpit, and also all the way along under your collarbone from the centre out. Again your looking for areas that are hard, tight, tender and sore. If you find tender spots, make a note of them.
Then repeat this process on the other side, using your right hand to press on your left chest as you let your left arm hang loosely by your side.
You can do this all over your body, pressing gently and noticing where is hard and tight, and where is soft and relaxed.
You might be surprised at just how much of your body is stiff, hard, and tight. No wonder you feel stressed, and sore right?
By learning some simple Somatics movements called pandiculations ,you can learn to let go of these chronic patterns of tension and maintain a softer, looser and more relaxed body.
How many hours a day do you spend on your phone, on your tablet or at a computer screen? What is your head doing right now? If you’re reading this using your phone, laptop or tablet, chances are you’re hunched over with your head tilted down. Research has found that this position, called ‘text neck’, can lead to bad posture and cause pain in your neck, head, shoulders, spine and even down your arms.
Recent research shows that 79% of 18 – 44 year olds have their mobile phone with them almost all the time – with only 2 hours of their waking day without their phone at hand. Many of us rely on smartphones and tablets to communicate for work and to keep in touch with family and friends throughout the day and we setting ourselves up for a future of pain and discomfort.
Read more
Migraines are now listed in the top 20 disabilities by the World Health Organisation and a survey of over 120,000 households found that four out of ten females and two out of ten males respectively will experience migraine at some stage in their lifetime – most likely before age of 35 and that the greatest frequency of attacks are likely to occur between the ages of 20 and 24 years in females and 15 to 19 in males. The authors reported that these findings were in accordance with previous studies. (Stewart WF, Wood C, Reed ML, Roy J, Lipton RB. Cumulative lifetime migraine incidence in women and men. Cephalalgia 2008;28:1170-1178)
Clearly this is a significant problem for many people!
Read more
By Diane Palliser, Reflexologist
“If you’re feeling out of kilter
Don’t know why or what about
Let your feet reveal the answer
Find the sore spot work it out”
– Eunice D. Ingham
Reflexology is one of the oldest healing practices in the world as evidenced by Chinese and Egyptian texts, illustrations and artefacts. Cleopatra’s lover Mark Antony was reported as being particularly skilled in the area of foot massage, provoking the scorn of his rival Caesar, who, on witnessing Mark Antony massaging Cleopatra’s feet at a party remarked that “it showed his pathetic enslavement to her”. Another, much more recent female icon, Princess Diana is also reported to have had reflexology 3 times a week.
However, Reflexology is not just a luxury treatment enjoyed by goddesses but can also be beneficial to pets, babies, people overcoming addictions, people with and recovering from cancer and those living with Alzheimer’s, to name a few.
Read more
Summer is upon us….well kind of if you don’t include the weather!
Holidays, day trips, sunbathing, swimming, picnics and other such Summer fun!
It’s a fantastic time of year for all the family to enjoy, but for some it can involve the misery of painful acute health issues that go hand-in-hand with Summer fun.
Read more
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a comprehensive system of healthcare that has evolved in China over 3,000 years. TCM has its own profound framework and offers a range of unique therapies such as Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.
TCM regards and treats the body as a whole, existing in harmony with the universe and where all the different parts interconnect and become interactive. Its emphasis first of all is on health promotion and prevention, when one falls ill, the focus of the treatment is on the person suffering from the illness rather than the illness itself.
Read more
Our teenage son has recently had a growth spurt and now he is walking like an old man – what can we do to help him?
Regular trips to the shoe shop and trousers that seem to shrink in the wash are features of living with teenagers. In their teens, children put on an amazing growth spurt to reach their adult height. Girls usually do this more gradually from 8 to 14, but in boys it often occurs more suddenly between 13 and 16 and they can grow taller by as much as 9 cm in a year!
This phenomenal growth starts at the outside of the body and works in. Hands and feet are the first to expand so needing new shoes is often the first sign of trouble. Next the arms and legs grow longer, but even here the ‘outside in’ rule applies and the shin bones lengthen before the thigh and the forearm before the upper arm. Finally the spine grows and right at the end the chest and shoulders of boys broaden out and in girls their hips and pelvis widen.
Read more
By Lynne Midwinter, Chartered Physiotherapist
Watching the highlights from RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week and with gardening listed as a hobby for over half the adult population of the UK it reminded me that there are a lot of people at risk of injury now that the peak gardening season is here.
At Physio & Therapies the first warm weekends in the spring and early summer usually brings us a rash of injuries from back strain to stiff shoulders presenting at our clinic, so here is our advice on how to avoid unnecessary discomfort.
Read more
As a Chartered Physiotherapist with a special interest in pelvis and spine problems I treat many women who have pelvic pain during pregnancy but suffer in silence because they don’t want to take medication that might harm their baby. Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) used to be called Symphasis Pubis Dysfunction and can occur any time during or after pregnancy and affects one in four pregnant and postnatal women.
They present with a wide range of symptoms and the severity can vary widely however PGP is a common and, in most cases, easily treatable condition. It can be treated at any stage during or after pregnancy, so if this applies to you please seek treatment.
Although women are often told that PGP is caused by hormones, up to date research
Read more
The mind is the most powerful tool our body has. In the same way that the mind can make us ill (for instance via stress or phobias), the mind can make us better……
Hypnotherapy utilises a perfectly natural phenomenon known as Hypnosis to use this power of the mind to bring about beneficial changes in an individual.
Read more
In all stages of the disease, a physiotherapist can provide you with advice and education. If required, a physiotherapist will also provide treatment. Physiotherapy treatment aims to prevent, stabilise or reduce movement related problems. You are advised to consult a physiotherapist:
Read more
