As a graduate sports therapist with 20 years of experience, I've witnessed firsthand the remarkable benefits that can arise from treating the often more overlooked areas of the body such as the face, head, and jaw area. In my sports therapy sessions, I’ve discovered that incorporating focused, remedial treatments to the face, jaw and head/scalp area (not only feels awesome), but goes great lengths to relieve Muscular and Fascial tension patterns associated with pain, and can indeed be the “missing piece” for clients dealing with headache syndromes, Temporomandibular Joint issues (TMJ) and/or unresolving neck tension. You might be wondering why I’ve become so passionate about the head & face area, and why I have been directing so much of my Continued Professional Development of late to relevant courses and reading. Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of a treatment and have asked yourself, “Why is she treating my face in the middle of a sports therapy session for my sore neck?” Well, let’s dive into some of these 'whys', and see how addressing these areas may have a big impact on your overall health and well-being, and treat the “bigger picture” of your current pain pattern. The Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ): A Key Player in Head and Neck Pain and how face and scalp tension can impact on headache presentation.The TMJ is where your jaw connects to your skull, and it's one of the most active joints in the body. Whether you're chewing, speaking, or even just swallowing, your TMJ is in motion. But when this joint becomes misaligned or stressed, it can lead to discomfort, pain, and a range of other issues, including headaches, earaches, and jaw stiffness. Sports therapy, when applied to the TMJ, can provide significant relief by addressing muscle tightness and helping to realign the joint. Techniques such as soft tissue release, myofascial release, and joint mobilisation can help encourage healthy movement patterns and relieve tension, making a noticeable difference to presenting symptoms. Intra-Oral work can also help alleviate TMJ symptoms. What’s more, TMJ problems are often linked with chronic headaches. By addressing both the jaw and the surrounding muscles, sports therapists can help reduce the frequency and intensity of tension headaches. Treating the jaw is a holistic approach that often leads to improvements not only in jaw function but also in overall head and neck comfort. Facial and Scalp treatments: An underutilised therapeutic approach for neck pain and tension-related headaches. While the TMJ is an obvious focus, incorporating facial and scalp treatments alongside neck muscles and Cervical spine treatment can be incredibly effective for those suffering from neck tension and tension-associated headaches. The muscles of the face and scalp are deeply interconnected, and tension in these areas can contribute to or even cause headache type pain, and tension within the musculature of the neck can often be “tracked up” to areas of the face and head where Fascial connections interlink the structures. The Facial Muscles: We carry stress in our facial expressions. Think about the way you clench your jaw when stressed or furrow your brow when focusing. Over time, this can lead to tightness and discomfort in areas like the forehead, temples, and jawline. By using targeted techniques such as gentle massage, trigger point release, and myofascial release, sports therapists can help to release built-up tension in these areas, which often alleviates headache pain and promotes overall relaxation and address potential aggravating factors in TMJ disorders. (I will leave the aesthetic benefits to another post ! but think along the lines of botox without the botox). The Scalp: The scalp is another often-neglected area that can benefit greatly from treatment. Tension headaches, which are often related to stress, poor posture, or muscle strain, can be reduced through specific scalp therapy. Techniques such as pressure point release, gentle massage, and relaxation-focused touch can stimulate blood flow to the head and relieve tension. In addition, treating this area helps with overall relaxation and stress management, and can improve sleep quality for clients struggling with chronic pain. Face massage for neck tension.Treating the face musculature can significantly help alleviate potential neck tension patterns because of the interconnectedness of the muscles in the head, neck, and shoulders. Here's how addressing the facial muscles can ease neck tension:
Make Your Sports Therapy sessions more comprehensive.The body is a complex, interconnected system of muscles, fascia, nerve highways and bones acting as pulley systems across joints. One muscle or structure can rarely be considered on its own. By incorporating remedial techniques such as Trigger Point Therapy, Muscle Energy Techniques, Mobilisations and Soft Tissue Therapy to the head, face, and jaw areas within my Sports Therapy sessions, I have seen transformative outcomes for those patients suffering jaw pain, neck pain and headache syndromes. Deeply relaxing to receive, face work can really transport people to another level of relaxation, and the passion I have for learning more about working on these structures has lead to further training and reading the research.
Key take home note? The face & scalp areas are not just for the beauty therapist !!! By Utilising advanced manual therapy techniques to these areas, there is clinical reasoning for including work to these areas in a sports therapy treatment plan, and by addressing dysfunction and tension about the face muscles / and across the scalp and upper portions of the neck, resolution to TMJ / neck tension and headaches may be possible!
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First of all, let’s start with the basics. InjuryInjury occurs when the body is exposed to forces that it cannot process, manage or disperse, and are subcategorised into ‘Overuse’ & ‘Acute injuries’ (or ‘micro-trauma’ and ‘macro-trauma’). Performing repetitive actions with poor technique, at regular intervals, may repeatedly overload the structures of the body, minimally, but repeatedly. This regular exposure on the muscles, bones & joints (etc.) result in micro-trauma, as the structures struggle with the repeated micro damage, but fail to repair and regenerate fully, before being re-exposed. This is what is termed Overuse Injury. There are a number of factors involved in developing an overuse injury, as detailed below (see Fig1.) but ultimately the exposure to overload, exceeds the time required for repair resulting in damaged tissue. Understanding the WHY behind the onset of overuse injuries is the biggest challenge for your therapist, and is where our investigative skills come in to play! Fig 1. Risk factors of overuse injuries Predisposing Risk factors for overuse injuries can also be considered as Extrinsic (something external to the body that can cause injury) or Intrinsic (being factors internal to the individual person) Fig 2. The second mechanism of injury is an acute exposure to stronger forces that acutely overload the structures beyond their capacity, moving them in a way they are not designed to move, or exceeding their ability to transmit the forces they are exposed to, resulting in macro-trauma or an acute injury.
Fig 2. Extrinsic & Intrinsic risk factors to overuse injuries But it's not always that simple !(that would be boring wouldn’t it!). The body is a complex machine, and therefore, understanding the mechanism of injury and locating the source of pain is not always a nice yellow brick road to follow. Pain may not necessarily be coming from the site where it is felt. Referred pain needs to be considered, as does the much more complex phenomenon of chronic pain. Some medical conditions can masquerade as injury, with mimicking signs and symptoms so discussing your case with a qualified therapist is very important for not missing any red flags, and loosing time to seek medical advice. If an injury remains unresponsive to treatment, seeking a second opinion or seeing your GP for further referrals is always advised. The area of pain may not be the area of dysfunction! In order for movement to occur smoothly, under full control and in a stabilised manner, the whole kinetic chain must work as a coordinated unit, with the separate body segments, or “links” (above and below the limb actually moving and functioning) all moving in smooth and co-ordinated sequences, starting from a proximal base of support (or stability). This coordination throughout the kinetic chain results in a cumulative effective transfer of force and energy, resulting in controlled and efficient body movement and ultimately safe and effective movement. A “kink” (injury or dysfunction) anywhere along this chain can result in excess strain or loading/over compensation (& therefore injury) to any muscle group/ or body segment further up or down the chain. This is why rehabilitation exercises, and taking responsibility of your own injury is so key in a successful outcome – a therapists’ “hands on” treatment can be an excellent modality in your treatment journey, to ease out tension, release trigger points, stretch contracted muscle, break down scar tissue etc., but ultimately we cannot change how your body moves and stabilises' itself (which is why I like to give exercises to all patients presenting with ongoing or acute issues and why I always encourage ((nag)) for you to do the exercises I set!) (It’s not just because I have turned into my mum). With this is mind, let’s consider how the body moves when running. The Biomechanics of runningThe biomechanics of running is a combination of movements, swings and foot strikes that can be analysed and considered in sections when considering potential trigger factors for running related injuries. Certain abnormal biomechanics have been clinically associated with certain lower limb injuries – and in my future blogs in this Running Injuries Series some of these will be considered – but the science of biomechanics is advancing with some research supporting these clinically noted associations, and some suggesting there is more to consider. In simplistic terms, running with optimum body mechanics should enable the kinetic chain to function effectively and transmit forces efficiently enough to not cause over or mis/dis use. For example, free from excessive motion or restriction (which may cause asymmetrical mechanics and impact somewhere along the kinetic chain) the forces moving though the body should be transmitted effectively, reducing the risk of injury. Now saying that, and completely contradicting myself! we must always consider that each individual has his or her own mechanical make-up and “normal” (due to structural characteristics), so variations will and do occur. Although one person may have excessive “flat feet” (over pronation) they could be symptom free and never have had any issues, meaning although they don’t fit the text book profile of “ideal biomechanics”, we can’t consider their biomechanics to be somehow dysfunctional if they are injury free. To briefly explain the biomechanics of running it is, similar to walking, broken down into stance and swing phases. The stance phase is divided into contact, midstance and propulsion. The swing phase divided into follow-through, forward swing and foot descent. Unlike walking, there is a “flight phase” with running, when neither foot has contact with the ground. These stance, flight and swing phases change in duration depending on the speed of running (jogging/sprinting), as does the portion of the foot that strikes the ground on landing. It are these considerations that may be taken into account depending on the injury you present with, for example depending on your style of running you may be landing on different aspects of your foot, or your swing time and rhythm may be different or may be affected by commonly clinically associated muscular tightness/dysfunctions. Now, finally, in our journey to understanding the concept of running injuries a little bit better, before moving onto specific body areas, and injuries commonly associated with running in the weeks to come, let’ s consider quickly the phenomenon of pain. PainPain is not an accurate indication of tissue injury or damage! Yes, there are many pain-producing structures within the body that contain nociceptors (the receptors that “feel pain” and transmit these pain signals to the brain), but sometimes pain is reported without any detected localised damage or dysfunction, and sometimes pain is ‘referred’ to distant areas Nociceptors (the pain receptors) can be “fired up” by chemical irritation (as present in inflammation in response to injury), and also by localised muscle spasms in response to an injury, or later, from fibrosities and scarring occurring from an injury repair. This type of pain response is seen in acute pain presentations and has a clear physiological founding. Now remember, pain is not transmitted from the site where you feel it, in fact pain is a message from the brain, in response to sensory information it receives, and then responds to (be that information be changes in chemical levels / pressure / stretch on the tissues at the area affected, changes in temperature, but also other sensory input such as sight / sound / touch). Although pain is a useful and vital mechanism to prevent further harm and injury, pain can sometimes be present without any clear tissue damage, and when you enter the realms of chronic pain, things can get a lot more confusing. Patients with no pain can image (XRAY/CT SCANS) with clear disc protrusions or disc ruptures in the lumbar spine, yet be completely unaware of their physical presentation as they are pain free and functioning well. Therefore, pain is not a clear indication of lumbar vertebral issues with these patients. Which leads to question where is the pain coming from and why is it there? Similarly, patients with Limb amputation can still experience pain in the limb that is no longer there. If it is not from damaged structures, then what has caused the brain and central nervous system to overdrive pain signals? And how can this impact of the diagnosis and management of injury? Pain that has been present for more than 3 months is classified as chronic pain, and given that most structural injuries have “healed” within 3-6 months, this persistent pain COULD be attributed to more complex factors. It is important to consider the pain is coming from an over-sensitised nervous system, and there are many factors that could impact on that, to include;
So, as you can see, as I plan to move into more regional pain patterns and injuries associated with running, there are many different factors that may come into play with their management and resolution. However, I hope this has pointed out some of the main pointers that I, as your therapist, is considering when you present with a niggle, and how you can become responsible for your own rehabilitation and injury resolution.
Thanks, and jump over to my socials to stay connected. A ‘Graduate Sports Therapist’ is someone who had undertaken a BSc Hons Sports Therapy degree at University, studying the mechanism of injury, sport specific biomechanics, psychology of injury and manual therapy for 3-4 years. The aim of a Sports Therapist is to “return an athlete to functional fitness as quickly and safely as possible”, meaning we aim to assess, diagnose, treat, & rehabilitate in a safe and effective time frame, so that you can return to doing what you love. But what is soft tissue therapy?I often refer to what I do as soft tissue therapy, but you may be unfamiliar with exactly what this term is. Essentially, soft tissue therapy, is probably what you consider to be “massage”, but it is SO much more. Let me explain why. Yes, it is true that your treatment will include massage, and as a treatment medium, massage can be exceptionally effective at breaking down adhesions, softening areas of tension, releasing restrictions, calming the nervous and muscular system, and allowing patients to access the healing benefit of touch. But a well experienced soft tissue therapist will call on so much more than massage alone when compiling a treatment plan to help. Soft Tissue Release (STR) / Myofascial Release (MFR), fascial work, Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Massage (IASTM) and Muscle Energy Techniques (MET’s) also fall within the brackets of “soft Tissue therapy”. What else ?Additionally to that, a Graduate Sports Therapist can ALSO call on rehabilitation exercise prescription, be it a few simple stretches or some strengthening or proprioceptive exercises, given as “home work”, to consolidate the hands-on treatment and ensure progressions and improvements are encouraged and maintained. Therapists often also have further qualifications, I hold certificates in Medical Acupuncture, Kinesiology Taping, ScarWork and other further qualifications, but there is abundant further education out there for a keen therapist (such as me, the eternal student!). My Treatments, and who they help.My treatments, therefore have strong emphasis on clincal reasoning, and come from a sound understanding of functional anatomy, dysfunction and the mechanism of injury.
However, with my roots in holistic therapies (I trained in reflexology when I undertook my initial sports massage diploma training), I am uniquely able to bring an intuitive and holistic approach to sessions, in order to offer a fully-rounded treatment suitable to all populations, which brings me on to my next point; Who is soft tissue therapy for? In todays' demanding lifestyle, with occupational, emotional and personal-life demands high, both physical and emotional pressure is presented by and stored within the body. Therefore, EVERYONE could benefit from a Sports therapy treatment, and unlike popular belief, it is not solely for the sporting or active person. Your occupation could place repepitive physical demands that overload structures within the body (I have treated numerous trades men presenting with "tennis elbow" who have never touched a racket). Desk work, parenting and prolonged stress states can lead to chronic musculoskeletal conditions, negative postural adaptations and strain on the body which may benefit from treatment. Still unsure? Away Pain Therapy are at the end of the phone, or email - get in touch for a no obligation chat or to have any questions answered. What is Ayurvedic Face Massage? |
Ever feel that you're running on empty, or that you are just too busy juggling life's balls to even stop and think about how you're feeling? Momentary periods of stress are common in this day and age, (and in fact, stress & the stress-response is what drives us to get out of bed, move forward, meet deadlines, achieve goals and function at high levels). But di-stress, or prolonged periods of high stress can be seriously detrimental to our health and wellbeing. Failure to take note of the signs that you may be pushing things too far, and storming ahead toward your own burn-out break down, is something that too many of us are guilty of. Read on for the common signs that you may be about to burnout |
If you are suddenly finding that your nearest & dearest are rubbing you up the wrong way, or you're wondering where that cool, calm, rational person you used to be has disappeared to, then chances are your threshold to manage stress is rapidly declining. When the little things appear un-manageable, and a sense of being over-whelmed is the norm, the balance has swung in favour against your health.
PROBLEMS WITH YOUR SLEEP?
Waking up in the early hours, and not being able to drop back off are a key sign we are succumbing to stress. An overactive mind has a tendency to kick in when we are not distracted with the busyness of the day, and anxieties can haunt us at night. Raised cortisol levels (which should be at their lowest by the end of the day), can make winding down from the day near impossible, and dropping off the sleep can become a task in its own right.
If you're running through your to-do list at 4am, or struggling to drop off at night, read on, as this may indicate something needs to change for you and fast, because it is only when we sleep that our bodies regenerate & heal.
SUFFERING WITH A GENERAL FEELING OF "C.B.A"?
"Cant be a**ed" is a red-flag phenomenon that you're about to hit burn out ! If you're suffering from a generalised lack of motivation for anything and everything, or turning into a social recluse, it could be a sign you're lacking vital energy. Cant find your mojo to work through your to-do list, or do that pile of ironing? Finding excuses not to attend those after-work drinks.? Motivation requires a bit of get-up-&-go, so if you've found that your get-up-and-go and got up and gone, then take a step back and consider giving yourself some TLC & downtime.
So, what should you do about it?
Make some you time, and don't feel guilty about it !
Whatever floats your boat, do it. If its a having a cup of tea in the middle of the day, taking a power nap or going for a run.
If your vice is crystal healing or a deep tissue massage then prioritise it. Whatever gives you back your sanity and helps you to recharge your vital energy stores do it, but remember, it may not be a quick fix. Invest the time to recuperate properly and make taking care of yourself the new norm. (Depending on how long you have been neglecting yourself, it may take more than one days rest or one treatment!) Allowing yourself some hands-on therapy, or the time to exercise should not be seen as an indulgence, it should be considered as self-preservation.
Eat well, and try to follow a healthy lifestyle plan. Get lots of fresh air and exercise for the mental clarity, not just the physical exertion.
You cannot give from an empty pot. Looking after yourself allows you to look after the others in your life. Remember that and avoid feeling the burn!
Author
Fanatic about functional anatomy, and mad about massage ! My home often resembles a students study area, with journal articles & reference books strewn about on a regular basis. I like to keep abreast on the industry's lateset, and when time allows in-between mum/life-duties, I read trade magazines, articles & books that help me prepare treatment plans & devise rehabilitation programs.
After copious amounts of travelling & 'debt-clearing / ticket-funding' jobs in my twenties, I finally discovered my true passion for helping others to avoid, recover, & rehabilitate from injury, and began my training & qualifications in body work.
I love to write about all things therapy, mostly to learn more about my industry & be a better therapist for my lovely peeps. Practising therapist for 20 years.
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