0:04 This is Brent of the Brookbush Instititue and in this video we're bringing you advanced 0:08 self-administered release techniques. In this particular video, we're going to go 0:11 over piriformis dynamic release, or pin and stretch technique. Now, the piriformis 0:17 created a little bit of a logistics problem for self-administered dynamic 0:22 release. Two reasons. Number one, it's a fairly thin band-like muscle and it's 0:28 deep to the gluteus maximus, which is a fairly thick muscle, so I had to find 0:33 something that was going to have a small enough surface area so that I can get 0:38 the pressure per square inch to get deep to the glute max while still maintaining 0:42 my perpendicular width, so that I could block the adhesive tissue as I pull 0:48 the muscle fibers through. That's when I happened to come across these massage 0:52 therapy balls from Trigger Point. This is a 5 inch multi-density foam ball. They 0:58 work quite well. I will warn you guys, once again, these dynamic release, or pin 1:04 and stretch techniques are a progression from static release techniques. One of 1:09 the reasons being is for this particular video, this is not nice. 1:14 This is going to be fairly firm and cause a fairly large amount of 1:18 discomfort. I wouldn't start with this. I would want to progress up to this if 1:23 somebody's already started to desensitize and started to release some 1:27 of those very active trigger points that they started with. I'm going to have my friend, 1:30 Melissa, come out. She's going to help me demonstrate this technique. Now, your 1:35 piriformis, once again, is a horizontal band of tissue that goes from 1:39 tailbone to greater trochanter. So this is like a horizontal line across the top 1:43 of your backside, but it's deep to your glutes. 1:46 So, you're going to go ahead and sit on that foam ball. We're going to start on her 1:51 right cheek. Notice that she's down on her elbows so that she's a little bit more 1:54 stable. 1:55 And then we're going to take this leg and we're going to have her put her 1:59 ankle up on her knee. Now, what that does is it lengthens the glute max, so that if 2:06 that muscle's lengthened, it's also a little bit thinner. It also gets me ready to put 2:12 my piriformis on stretch. 2:14 Now, I'm going to have you find the most tender spot horizontally across the top 2:21 of your backside. She can go from from her tailbone all the way out almost to 2:26 the side of her hip, just posterior to her greater trochanter. Got it? 2:35 Alright, so once she finds that most tender spot, just like all of our other 2:40 dynamic release or pin and stretch techniques, I'm going to have her go just 2:44 distal to that spot. This means just closer to the greater trochanter so that 2:50 she just rolls to the lateral side of that adhesion. You there? 2:56 You're now going to take this hand and you're going to grab this knee. 3:01 How you feeling? And she's going to pull with her arm, get a good 3:07 stretch on that piriformis, hold for 2 to 5 seconds, and relax. 3:14 Make sure she's still got the spot, she's still got the adhesion. Once again, pull 3:20 through. So all we're doing, guys, is using that massage ball to block the 3:28 adhesive tissue as she then stretches her piriformis and pulls the muscle 3:34 fibers through that adhesive tissue, hopefully increasing our functional 3:40 extensibility. 3:44 She's going to do ten to fifteen reps. As you can see, you guys, this is, once again, 3:49 not nice. 3:51 This is going to cause a fair amount of discomfort, so you need to start with 3:54 those static release techniques using something like a Trigger Point Roll, or a 4:00 softer medicine ball. Make sure that you tone down some of those active trigger 4:05 points, desensitize the area a little bit first, and then you can work on some more 4:10 of these fascially based techniques increasing functional extensibility. I 4:17 might have somebody on a foam roll for four to six weeks before I even 4:21 introduce this technique. You ready for the other side? 4:25 Good. Of course, after I did this technique, I would want to see some sort 4:29 of improvement in my movement patterns. To give you guys an idea, if I was doing 4:33 an overhead squat assessment, I might release the piraformis if I saw 4:37 somebody who had knees bow out. If I was doing goniometric assessment, I can 4:43 actually make a good argument for a decrease in internal rotation or 4:47 decrease in external rotation in goniometry, so I would want to retest those. I 4:53 make sure that if I'm going to subject my client or patient to this technique, 5:00 which is a little uncomfortable, that I am getting good results from it. I hope 5:04 you guys enjoy using the new massage therapy balls. I think you guys will find they're 5:09 wonderful for all sorts of techniques. I hope you find good results from dynamic, 5:15 or pin and stretch technique for the piriformis. I look forward to hearing 5:20 about your results.
