THE PROBLEM
Low Back Pain (LBP) is an epidemic in our modern society. LBP is reported as the #1 reason for missed work and #2 reason for seeing a doctor. According to National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Americans spend over $50 billion each year on the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of LBP. It is the second most common “neurological ailment”; second only to headaches. Many clinicians and…
The Anatomy
There is somewhere around 640 skeletal muscles in the human body. Skeletal muscle is a complex network of muscle fibers, connective tissue, nervous tissue, and blood vessels. The connective tissue forms a framework of support by surrounding individual muscle fibers, bundles of muscle fibers (called fascicles), and finally the individual muscles that are made up of these fascicles. Another type of connective tissue, called fascia, plays an integral…
Stretching helps prevent injuries by increasing the length of your muscles, but it does not improve the quality of your muscles. If you exercise regularly, you are bound to develop trigger points, adhesion, scar tissue, and other negative things in your muscles. When ignored, these things build up over time and can cause pain. The only way to get rid of these is through active release techniques (ART), also known…
