Our Body Connected

 

As a child, one of the therapists at Cherry Creek Myotherapy in Thompson Falls Montana, recalls singing a great camp song about the “ankle bone connected to the shin bone, the shin bone connected to the knee bone, the knee bone connected to the…” well, you get the idea and hopefully you recall singing the song around a campfire or two yourself! Well, as I’ve grown up and learned more about anatomy, it came as no surprise that there really is no “thigh bone” or “knee bone”. There are however femurs and patellas, scapulas and clavicles… But one part of the song is really true, our bodies are connected together.

What connects our bodies together? Ligaments.  What is a ligament? For some there may be confusion over the difference between a ligament and a tendon.  The basic difference is that a tendon connects muscle to bone and a ligament connects bone to bone. Both ligaments and tendons are capable of being injured and causing pain.  Both play a role in our body connectedness.

Due to the way in which our muscles attach and connect it is possible to have a spasm in one muscle and have the pain appear in another area of the body.  For example, the piriformis muscle, which is a deep hip muscle, can go into a spasm and cause you to feel pain in your thigh or down your leg.  When working with clients who are suffering chronic pain it is common for a massage therapist to do muscle testing, palpate areas of the body different than where the client feels pain and work in areas the client may not realize are involved in the pain they are feeling.

It is due to this referring pain, because of how we are connected together, that your massage therapist may want to check other areas of your body for possible causes of the muscular pain you are feeling.  For example, wrist pain may be related to nerve impingement from tight muscles in your shoulder complex. This is known as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Releasing the contractures in the shoulder can eliminate the symptoms in the wrist.

While we may still sing childhood songs, at Cherry Creek Myotherapy, we understand how the body is connected. And while we may say bicep instead of arm muscle, we are still ready to help you locate the cause of your muscular pain, work on eliminating it, and help you get on with living your life. Call us today and schedule your appointment to get your body connected, and begin to live life in less pain.