2019 June
Crazy Massage Words – Part 3 of 3
But first, are you keeping covered with sunscreen and UV protective clothing? It has been might intense out there…hot! hot! hot! The plants in the garden don’t know what to do – wilt…stop growing…or fruit! A sweet joy has been to find a few blackberries on the bushes each morning and enjoy their juiciness as I look at how the beds are doing.
I have been reading a book about Harriet Tubman. I learned the first thing she did upon reaching freedom was walk straight to a hotel and get a job. Harriet said she knew she needed to start saving money as she intended to return for the rest of her family (which she did do, stealing a wagon and horse to transport her elderly parents north to her home in Auburn). She returned 19 times accompanying more than 300 others to freedom.
It was also interesting to find out that she traveled armed. She carried a revolver. It is said that should a fugitive become faint of heart and want to return to the plantation that they would feel the steel barrel of the revolver in the back of their neck for Harriet knew one who returned would 1. be punished severely and 2. give away Railroad secrets. She so armed different groups of individuals if she felt they could make it north without her freeing her to return south for others.
Crazy Massage Words
Last month we were talking about TURGOR and LYMPHANGIOMOTORICITY. Well, I have our last two words today. Ready?
Our first word, ETHNESITIS, which is inflammation of tendon/ligament attachment points on and joint capsule points near the bone (called ethneses). A common reason for this is reoccurring stress on the area. How do these areas incur stress? One way is by your muscles being too short. (As I always say, “Lengthening is as important as strengthening.”) When a muscle is too short it exerts continuous tension on the tendon which is attached to the muscle on one side and to the bone on the other. Additionally, this stress causes the body to respond by ‘beefing up’ the area (i.e. building bone) If you feel behind your ear you will find a bony protuberance there, your mastoid process. Born without a mastoid process, you develop it over time because the pulling of your sternocleidomastoid muscle which is attached in that area.
This short video shows points involved. It is targeted to children but points of interest would be the same in adults.
Our second word is THIXOTROPY. Above I mentioned the formation of your mastoid process over time. This is an example of Wolfe’s Law, calcium being laid down in response to stress. In the case of your mastoid process, this is good; however, as I always say “Lack of movement causes pain.” Calcification and fibrosis willy-nilly in the body reduces range of motion and leads to pain. By encouraging thixotropy, the increased viscosity of a ‘ground substance’, you literally become more mobile, more elastic, and more pain-free (think jello in the sun vs jello in the frig). One way thixotropy increases is by the introduction of heat. Massage heats up tissue causing more thixotropy. A heating pad does too but have you noticed resulting stiffness when it is removed? This happens because tissue length was not addressed, cooling in tissue occurred, and vaso-dilation permitted an influx of fluid to the area.
This video is a great visual of non-mobility vs mobility. Notice the mobility of the substance with more thixotropy.