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This is Brent, President of B2C Fitness, and we're talking about self-administered release
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techniques for those muscles that lie just above the scapula. In the previous
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videos, we did static release technique for levator scapulae, supraspinatus,
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and upper trap. In this video, we're going to go ahead and progress to active release
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technique for the levator scapulae. Now, in active release, I'm assuming that we've
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already toned down the trigger points. We've used those static release
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techniques that I talked about in previous videos, and now we're going to
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progress. In active release, we're taking it a step further by trying to bind down
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adhesive points within the connective tissue, and then pull the muscle through
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that, improving function. I'm going to have Laura come out and help me demonstrate.
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So you can assume the same position that we assumed for the static release
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technique. She's still going to look for the most tender spot. We're going to assume
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that's where the most adhesion would be. Make sure your standing in good posture. And then to
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make this active, I'm going to have her move the ball just superior to the trigger point.
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Not really off the trigger point, just to the top of the adhesive area. Then I'm
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going to have her go through all of her neck motions that would elongate her
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levator scapulae. So that's going to be contralateral flexion, contralateral
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rotation, a little bit of flexion, as if she's looking into her opposite front
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Back to neutral. Back down into a stretch. So the protocol for this is the same as
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active stretching. We're going to do 8 to 15 reps, with two-second
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holds in the lengthened position. Now with Laura, this would be where I stop. This is
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actually a pretty challenging maneuver for her. She's getting quite a bit out of
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this. But I want to go ahead and demonstrate what the final progression
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of active release technique for the levator scapulae would be. So she'd go down
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into her neck progression, and then she would depress and retract her scapula
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and go into full scaption with her shoulder. She'll go back down and neutral.
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Look at front pocket. Reach up, back to neutral.
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Now what she's doing with that, is she's going through all the lengthening she can in
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her neck, and depressing and retracting her scapula, and with scaption, forcing
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upward rotation, which further lengthens the levator scapulae. She'd still
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do it 8 to 15 times, with two-second holds in each position. What you'll find is
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that you'll release trigger points within a few weeks, moving to this active
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technique, probably another couple weeks, and once you get close to optimal
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extensibility of the levator scapulae, you'll be able to move into that last
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progression, as a way to polish off the last bit of dysfunction.
