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June 19, 2004

Muscle Strain Addressed By Massage

A client presents with back pain caused by her weight lifting regime. She lifted lbs with her leg while doing gluteal and low back strengthening. Because this was near the end of her workout and her muscles were fatigued and she arched her back in order to accomplish the lift.

The accompanying injury hurt in her low back around the base of the ribs and up into her shoulder where she had developed knots. I assumed a strain of the erector spinae muscle, but upon further investigation discovered that her multifidus was the source of her pain.

Palpation at just above the sacroiliac joint in the region of the multifidus ranked an eight on the pain scale. Further up was less intense until I got into the shoulder knots. I used hot stones to soothe the knots while I worked my way up the back with kneading and fascial stretching. Then I worked the knots in the shoulder area with deep tissue therapy.

The client reported feeling better, but upon palpation of the multifidus above the sacroiliac joint, there was still a great deal of pain. I decided to leave that alone and let the client rest for another week before seeing her for more work in the low back, which I believe is the source of her injury.

I did something similar back in my weight training days. By listening to a trainer's advice rather than trusting my own limits, I injured myself and then got re-injured. I got out of my exercise routine, switched to yoga, and haven't resumed weight lifting since.

Posted by linda at June 19, 2004 8:00 AM