Muscle & Joint Tightness & Pain

This includes:

- Neck / Upper Back / Lower Back
- Shoulder / Arm / Elbow / Forearm
- Wrist / Hand / Fingers
- Hips / Thighs / Knees
- Lower Leg / Ankle / Foot / Toes
- Jaw Pain
- Traumatic Injury
- Head Injury or Concussion
- Hypermobility / Laxity
- Pre-Surgery Preparation
- Post-Surgery Rehab
- Joint Replacement
- Sciatica / Piriformis Sydrome
- Ankle Sprains / Plantar Fasciitis
- Trigger Finger / Hand Conditions
- Complications from Congenital Issues
- Scoliosis / Degenerative Discs / CAM
- Supplementation of Physical Therapy

This is a difficult question to answer because everyone is a "Study of One." We cannot learn anything about you by working on someone else. You could feel a difference after your evaluation session, or it could take several sessions to experience change. It is unpredictable and your response will be uniquely yours.

What we do know is that if you give the system back something it is missing, it tends to give indications that it likes you. This may be a functional change or a change in sensations. Which comes first is completely unique to your case. Either way, be patient. It took a while to get here, so you must hang in there and work with us. We rely on you to provide direct and honest feedback to your kinesiologist in order to guide the next steps in the work.

The short answer is YES. We have put in a tremendous amount of time both in studying and treating the effects of head injury, stroke and neuromuscular conditions.

In the case of head trauma, a large single blow or an accumulation of blows to the head, can cause big disruptions in the ability to create muscle forces directionally and control body orientation. The effects of such head trauma can have a major impact on the muscle system for many many years. I can relate, having had head injuries as teenager, myself.

All joint movement is controlled and stabilized by muscles. Muscles stabilize joints and transfer forces through the body and into the environment. If those muscles lose the ability to contract at optimal levels, the integrity of the joint is compromised as joint stress increases due to the lack of muscle stability.

The result is the joints become irritated and inflamed. By restoring the contractile capabilities of the muscles back to optimal levels of responsiveness and strength, the health of the joint can improve as the inflammation has a chance to subside.

Arthritic conditions and joint instability can be helped or prevented when muscles are prepared to function properly. As long as the structures are intact, all that is needed is to create proper connections between the brain and the muscles.

Well, pain sensations are really the alarm bells for your movement problems.

And, “tightness” is just one type of sensation.

“Tightness” is something that you feel or perceive, and not something that is structurally wrong with you.

A “tight” muscle is not a problem with your materials. Neither your muscles nor the connective tissues surrounding them are “tighter” or “shorter” than they used to be. They cannot simply shrink on their own - to do so would require a weird surgery involving cutting, tightening and heat shrinking tissues.

The purpose of sensations is to alert your brain about a problem in your movement system before you make it worse. Therefore, until the true causes of your movement problems are solved, there will be no end to your tightness, pain and movement restriction. Pain gives important information about your movement health and sustainability, but does not give the solution.

Although we are a hands-on practice, it is more akin to corrective exercise. Your kinesiologist will use his hands to manually apply resistance at angles and intensities to stimulate you to actively engage the muscles in areas of weakness.

We are NOT a chiropractic practice. We do NOT perform any “manipulations” that are characteristic of chiropractic; nor do we use massage, or techniques of joint manipulations used in a physical therapy clinic.

Your kinesiologist will NOT be assessing not your skeletal system; but instead, will be assessing the function of your neuromuscular system as it relates to possible problems that could be leading to your pain and restriction. This comprises a complex process that is not limited to a single session. Your kinesiologist will be collecting and acting on data from session to session to uncover the causes of your issues and restore stability and control to the muscles.