Alright, what’s up everybody, this is Dr Pat from the Springfield Wellness Center. And today we’re going to be talking about Relieving Muscle Tension After Whiplash. We are going to focus on the soft tissue side and the care that we provide here at the Springfield Wellness Center.
So when we’re talking about whiplash, we’re talking about rapid head movement as a result of some type of accident or trauma. And what that does is it causes a great deal of damage to the muscles, the ligaments, the tendons, that are in the neck, attaching to the back of the head, all the way down into the shoulders and upper back area as well. What happens is this compromises a lot of everyday movements that we have to do such as, turning our head, which can certainly have implications for things like driving when it comes to changing lanes, and just looking at where you’re going. This also impacts everyday work tasks, everyday life tasks such as taking care of kids and taking care of your household. Whiplash tends to have a pretty drastic effect on people’s lives. And it’s something that causes a lot of pain and, and definitely a loss of function comes with that. So we always want to be mindful of those soft tissue injuries and how they’re healing.
The Active Release Technique
One of the things that we do to help facilitate and supplement our care as chiropractors is work on the soft tissues. So whenever we refer to soft tissue care, it just means we’re working with our hands or with devices to help us with those muscles, ligaments and tendons. So for today’s video, we’re going to demonstrate a little bit of active release technique. This is a hands on movement that takes us through some different dynamic stretching patterns. With this technique we can control the amount of force, the amount of tolerance or the amount of pressure that we are using. This is always good for a patient who’s in a lot of pain. It doesn’t take a lot of pressure to accomplish what we need to do. We want to make sure it’s to the patient’s tolerance and comfort level. In addition to active release technique, we also do Graston, which is utilizing a metal tool to help break through some of those adhesions that can develop in the muscle. We also utilize massage therapy, which Dana here is one of our massage therapists here at the Springfield Wellness Center.
Massage Therapy For Relieving Muscle Tension
Massage therapy is something that’s hugely beneficial to helping those soft tissue injuries heal and heal in the right way. And so, Dana and Maddie are fantastic at what they do, and that makes our lives and our jobs as chiropractors a lot easier. But just to demonstrate a little bit of active release for you real quick, we’re gonna be focusing on the trap muscles here in the shoulders. And so what we do with this is we bring the head to the side, so we can shorten that muscle up really good. That way we can get a good amount of tension in that muscle. And then we want to take it through his range to help elongate that muscle. So she’s going to be feeling a stretch from the shoulder, up through the neck, even all the way up here into the base of the skull there as well. And so as we go through those movements we are helping that muscle to relax to let go of some of those knots and those adhesions in there. We are just taking it through those passes, it’s not a lot of pressure and doesn’t have to be. And really what it does is just help these muscles relax a little bit more. Now we can also go into the levator muscles, which are more in the back area, around the top of the shoulder blade area. And with this, we’re going to need more tucking of the chin to accomplish that stretch. So again, we’ll apply some pressure, and we’ll tuck the chin forward. And so she’ll get a nice stretch from the upper back, reaching up into the neck and base of the skull as well. This is something we do a lot of work with in addition to our chiropractic care to our exercises. You know, at the Wellness Center here, we have so many different exercises that can help with your care. And so it’s our job just to figure out what the right ones are and the right path forward for you. And a lot of times soft tissue is right at the forefront of that.
So you know if you found this video informative or useful, please share it with someone or share it with everybody because I’m sure there’s people you know who have this kind of stuff going on. If it’s something that you’re dealing with personally, please reach out to us because we can definitely get you help. But otherwise, I hope you found this useful and I will see you in the next video.
