Other Treatments.

Some other treatments can be added to your routine to help with the balancing of muscles. Below are listed some of the most useful and any considerations to watch out for.

Massage - While massage is very useful for removing trigger points and tender points in muscles be advised that loosening everything without strengthening sufficiently first can be detrimental. Find a therapist who listens and acknowledges instability is part of the problem so they work only the areas you can stand to have extra length. Never increase range of movement at the expense of stability.

Self-Massage - There are a number of tools available to self-massage your muscles, this can be helpful in between treatments with a therapist to keep some of the knots at bay. The foam roller is a larger roll of foam that can be used on certain areas, be warned it is very painful along the IT Bands if they are sore! A tennis ball can be used around the hips or a solid rubber ball (the kind used for dogs to play with are good) but a golf ball is usually too hard and small for anything except the feet. We recommend you purchase a trigger point book if you self-massage so you know where to look for trigger points.

Motor Control Training - Motor control training is vital to your recovery, it teaches you how to use the body in a more correct and less damaging way so muscles that haven't been firing can begin to. Sometimes Motor Control is the bulk of the problem and learning how to move correctly can greatly reduce the amount of exercise you need to do.

Pilates - Again this is very helpful but in cases of severe muscle imbalance some of the exercises need to be adapted to prevent further damage, do not join a class, sign up for one to one sessions with a teacher who understands this. Our program addresses the need for care due to muscle imbalances and can be used alongside pilates or on its own.

Heat and Ice - For inflammation alternate heat and ice for 10 minutes at a time up to an hour. Finish on ice and repeat a few time throughout the day.

Anti-Infammatory Medication - Under the supervision of your doctor this type of medication can help a little but when muscle imbalances are the main problem the relief gained can be minimal. Try to take the lowest does possible and work on the source of the problem to eliminate or reduce the pain.