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Gastrocnemius and Soleus Dynamic Release

Gain freedom from calf tightness and improve your performance with this video tutorial on Gastrocnemius and Soleus Dynamic Release. Learn the specific technique to help reduce tightness and gain mobility.

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Transcript

00:04 - 00:06This is Brent of the Brookbush Institute, and
00:06 - 00:07in this video we're going to progress
00:07 - 00:09from our static self-administered
00:09 - 00:11release techniques with a foam roll, and
00:11 - 00:14move on to our dynamic self-administered
00:14 - 00:16release techniques, or pin and stretch
00:16 - 00:18techniques. So we're moving on from
00:18 - 00:20addressing those trigger points within
00:20 - 00:22our muscles, to starting to address the
00:22 - 00:25fascial adhesions and layers of
00:25 - 00:26connective tissue. I'm going to have my
00:26 - 00:28friend Melissa come out she's going to
00:28 - 00:30help me demonstrate this technique. She's
00:30 - 00:31going to start in a long sitting
00:31 - 00:33position that she used for her static
00:33 - 00:35release technique for her calf, we're
00:35 - 00:36gonna use her trigger point roller here.
00:36 - 00:39She's going to survey her entire calf,
00:39 - 00:42maybe from calcaneus all the way up to
00:42 - 00:44the back of her knee, and she is going to
00:44 - 00:47look for that most tender spot. Although
00:47 - 00:50there are some other ways to assess
00:50 - 00:52fascial restriction, most of them being
00:52 - 00:54manual techniques, we're going to go
00:54 - 00:56ahead for our purposes here and being
00:56 - 00:57that they're self-administered
00:57 - 01:00techniques, assume that that most tender
01:00 - 01:02spot is also a site of additional
01:02 - 01:04dysfunction relating to connective
01:04 - 01:06tissue. Maybe an increase in cross-
01:06 - 01:08bridging between layers of connective
01:08 - 01:10tissue that we need to free. Once she
01:10 - 01:15finds this most tender spot, I actually
01:15 - 01:18want her to move the foam roll just
01:18 - 01:23distal to that spot. So if this is the
01:23 - 01:27the most tender spot, the little ball of
01:27 - 01:30connective tissue restriction, she's now
01:30 - 01:33got the foam roll abutted against it
01:33 - 01:36like this. My hope is is that i can use
01:36 - 01:40now her tibialis anterior to pull her
01:40 - 01:43foot up or dorsiflex, and pull the
01:43 - 01:46fibers of her gastroc and soleus through
01:46 - 01:49that connective tissue binding, breaking
01:49 - 01:51up some of that cross-bridging and
01:51 - 01:54freeing up that fascial tissue, so that we
01:54 - 01:58increase extensibility. So we started by
01:58 - 02:00finding the adhesive point, moving the
02:00 - 02:02foam roll just distal to it, and now we're
02:02 - 02:05using her tibialis anterior to pull
02:05 - 02:07those fibers through the adhesive point.
02:07 - 02:11Now Melissa is fairly advanced here, so I
02:11 - 02:14need to consider how to progress my
02:14 - 02:17techniques which we go back to that
02:17 - 02:17formula,
02:17 - 02:21pressure equals force over area. To
02:21 - 02:24increase force maybe get a little deeper
02:24 - 02:26within this muscle, all we have to do is
02:26 - 02:30add the weight of her other leg. So she
02:30 - 02:31can start by having her foot on the
02:31 - 02:34floor and only a small amount of the
02:34 - 02:36weight of this leg putting pressure on
02:36 - 02:39this leg, all the way to putting this
02:39 - 02:43foot over her other foot so all of the
02:43 - 02:44way of this leg is adding additional
02:44 - 02:48pressure. One thing I don't like to see
02:48 - 02:51guys is the butt up off the ground,
02:51 - 02:53thank you. If you put your butt up off
02:53 - 02:54the ground what I think you guys will
02:54 - 02:56find is, number one -it's very hard to
02:56 - 02:59hold a static position, hold a nice
02:59 - 03:02position for long enough to finish the
03:02 - 03:04technique. I think you'll also find that
03:04 - 03:06you add a lot of additional tension
03:06 - 03:08throughout your musculoskeletal system,
03:08 - 03:12or myofascial system. It doesn't give us
03:12 - 03:14much of an opportunity to get a good
03:14 - 03:18release. So we've started by increasing
03:18 - 03:20the pressure here and then I would have
03:20 - 03:23her do her 10 to 20 repetitions, with a
03:23 - 03:26two to five second hold at the very top
03:26 - 03:28of this movement, trying to break up as
03:28 - 03:30much of that connective tissue binding
03:30 - 03:34as we can. But again Melissa is a very
03:34 - 03:38advanced exerciser, I don't think this is
03:38 - 03:42intense enough for her, painful enough
03:42 - 03:44for her because you know, I'm just a
03:44 - 03:46little sadistic as a trainer and
03:46 - 03:48therapist. So we're going to find a way
03:48 - 03:51to not only increase force, well let's
03:51 - 03:54decrease area. Now one thing you guys got
03:54 - 03:55to remember with these particular
03:55 - 03:58techniques is we don't want to decrease
03:58 - 04:02the perpendicular width of whatever
04:02 - 04:06we're using for this dynamic release
04:06 - 04:08technique. We need to decrease the
04:08 - 04:11surface area this way, so that we
04:11 - 04:14increase pressure, without decreasing
04:14 - 04:16what we're using to block that adhesive
04:16 - 04:19point. So although in some videos you
04:19 - 04:22guys see me to go to a softball, softballs
04:22 - 04:24are a little rough to use to increase
04:24 - 04:27pressure for dynamic release, or pin and
04:27 - 04:29stretch; because you get the adhesion
04:29 - 04:31pinned and then as soon as you go to
04:31 - 04:34pull the gastroc and soleus through
04:34 - 04:36it, it just goes right right around the
04:36 - 04:38ball. So that's where this stuff comes in
04:38 - 04:41real handy. This is a quadballer and
04:41 - 04:42this is a footballer, and you guys can
04:42 - 04:46notice that I get to keep the
04:46 - 04:49perpendicular width, but decrease the
04:49 - 04:50surface area. So i'm going to have
04:50 - 04:53Melissa try this one first,
04:58 - 05:01go ahead and put her foot over and add
05:01 - 05:03as much pressure as she needs. See now
05:03 - 05:05we're getting a little closer to that
05:05 - 05:08that tender area, that site of
05:08 - 05:12dysfunction, and she's going to do the
05:12 - 05:16same thing here to second holds 10 to 20
05:16 - 05:19repetitions, hoping to break up some of
05:19 - 05:21that fascial binding, that connective
05:21 - 05:23tissue binding and increase our
05:23 - 05:26extensibility. You want to try this one?
05:26 - 05:30Great! So all these products are trigger-
05:30 - 05:32point products guys the trigger-point
05:32 - 05:35foam roll, the quadballer, the footballer
05:35 - 05:38come in very handy for these dynamic or
05:38 - 05:40pin and stretch techniques. I know this
05:40 - 05:42isn't an assessment video but let's
05:42 - 05:43quickly break down why I would use this
05:43 - 05:45particular technique, number one I would
05:45 - 05:48assume that I've already done static
05:48 - 05:51release with Melissa for probably four
05:51 - 05:53to six weeks. I've gotten everything I
05:53 - 05:54can at a static release and now I need
05:54 - 05:57to progress this technique. Why I would
05:57 - 05:59address this muscle at all, if I'm using
05:59 - 06:00the overhead squat assessment it would
06:00 - 06:03be things like feet turn out, feet
06:03 - 06:06flattened, knees bow in, knees bow out,
06:06 - 06:08excessive forward lean, and potentially
06:08 - 06:10an anterior pelvic tilt. That stuff can
06:10 - 06:14all be related to lower leg dysfunction.
06:14 - 06:17If i was using goniometery I'd have a
06:17 - 06:20restriction in dorsiflexion that I had
06:20 - 06:23already tried to reduce with static
06:23 - 06:24release techniques and perhaps
06:24 - 06:28stretching, and I still needed maybe an
06:28 - 06:31extra 3-5 degrees. Let's say I got
06:31 - 06:33Melissa to 12 degrees of dorsiflexion
06:33 - 06:35and my goal is 15 to 20 degrees, maybe
06:35 - 06:37I'll progress to this technique and see
06:37 - 06:39if I can get a few more degrees of
06:39 - 06:41dorsiflexion out of it. Or if I'm using
06:41 - 06:43that gastroc soleus muscle length test,
06:43 - 06:46I can look at that test and if I see
06:46 - 06:50that there's restriction primarily in
06:50 - 06:53the gastroc complex, that would help me
06:53 - 06:56narrow down what I need to release to
06:56 - 06:59just the upper half of the calf complex;
06:59 - 07:01as my gastroc does not continue all
07:01 - 07:02the way down to my
07:02 - 07:05calcaneus. I hope you guys enjoy using this
07:05 - 07:07technique. I hope you guys see additional
07:07 - 07:10benefit from progressing from static to
07:10 - 07:14dynamic release, or pin and stretch, and I
07:14 - 07:15look forward to hearing all about the
07:15 - 07:17outcomes you guys get with your clients
07:17 - 07:18patients and athletes. I'll talk with you
07:18 - 07:20soon.
07:26 - 07:28you

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