Gastrocnemius and Soleus Dynamic Release

Gastrocnemius and Soleus Dynamic Release is a unique physical therapy technique used to improve flexibility and balance. This therapy is used to loosen and release muscles around the calf and ankle that help to promote the flexibility and movement needed for daily activities. With the help of soft tissue massage and manual stretching, the Gastrocnemius and Soleus Dynamic Release helps to reduce tension and restriction in the calf muscles and helps to improve range of motion in the ankle. This technique is an

Transcript

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