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December 17, 2007

Muscle Tension In The Chest

I have a long standing client with a heart condition. Shortly before they began to come see me, they had a mild heart attack. They talked about the episode with their heart in somatic terms, so it was easy for them to point to where it hurt or where they felt pulling. Interestingly, they had a significant amount of tension in their chest just over their heart--pectoralis major, to be exact. And while they carried tension bilaterally and in both pectoralis major and pectoralis minor, the area over the heart would always tense up whenever stress aggravated their heart.

Well, their house caught on fire this past April. And for time and financial reasons, their visits dropped off. They needed to be home for the contractors and despite insurance coverage, the house is old and does not meet code. Repairs to the electrical system needed to be updated and I totally understand the need to prioritize expenses. I just worried about their stress.

Finally after nine months, they arrived in my office. Pectoralis major over the heart area was tighter than ever, worse, in fact, than the first time they arrived. It took half of an hour session to get the chest muscles relaxed. I finally had to resort to working in the muscle rather lightly with the fingers rolling in a circular motion for the muscles to respond and relax so I could get down through the layers of tension.

The other significant difference for this client is how much better they felt following the massage. Most people think about their massage in terms of how it makes their back feel better. And they expect the majority of the massage should be performed on their back. But many people, even therapists, forget about the importance of working the antagonist muscle groups for relief of pain. Two major muscles of the back that present pain for the majority of the population is the trapezeus and the rhomboids. The antagonist for the trapezeus muscle is pectoralis major and the antagonist for the rhomboids is pectoralis minor. Be thorough in treating these muscles and your clients will thank you.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health

Posted by linda at December 17, 2007 7:20 AM