Levator Scapulae SA Static Release

Levator Scapulae SA Static Release is a self-care technique designed to help relax and alleviate tension in the levator scapulae muscle. This involves applying pressure to the muscle while it is in a static position. The user will lie on their back with the muscle in a relaxed, neutral position and apply repeated pressure to the levator scapulae muscle. The focus should be on releasing any knots found in the muscle as well as restoring the length of the muscle

Transcript

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This is Brent, President of B2C Fitness,
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and we're talking about
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self-administered static release techniques of those muscles that line
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just above our shoulder blade. Now, we have three muscles up there, we have the
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levator scapulae, the supraspinatus, and the upper trap. Despite the upper
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trap taking blame for most of the tightness in this area, what we find is
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that it's actually the levator scapulae that gets tightest first. This has
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to do with a more detailed explanation of our upper-body dysfunction where the
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scapula goes into downward rotation, and anterior tipping. Now, the muscle that's
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best at that is the levator scapulae, if we take it a little further we find that
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the supraspinatus is next in line to develop trigger points, and the trap is
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actually the least likely of the three to develop trigger points and adaptively
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short. So, in this way, we create a little progression. The first thing I would like
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you to go after is levator scapulae trigger points, then followed by
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supraspinatus trigger points, and then if there're still trigger points left, we'll
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go after the traps. So I'm going to have Laura come out and help me demonstrate
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this levator scapulae self-administered static release. Now, your levator scapulae
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runs from the superior angle of your scapula, up into your neck, so if you
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palpate this upward corner, and then go just above it,
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you'll find those trigger points you're looking for. So I'm going to have Laura
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place the ball where she thinks those trigger points are. She's going to go
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ahead lean up against the wall, and then place her hand there to stabilize the
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ball. Now, notice she's using the opposite hand, but if you use the same hand you'll
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activate the levator scapulae and you're less likely to get a release. Now, when she has
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found the most tender spot by rolling around just a little bit, she can put
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that muscle in stretch, by going into contralateral flexion, contralateral
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rotation, and a little bit of flexion, so she's going to look into her
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opposite pocket. Then, she's going to hold that until she gets a release. That
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usually happens within 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Now, one thing I would suggest
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against is, every once in a while I see somebody try to perform this technique
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on the floor. When you're on the floor, your head goes back into extension
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shortening that muscle way down, and it also makes it much harder to get
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comfortable. So, if you try this technique, once again, we're going to go up against