Overview
Ms. Sue Hitzmann developed a self-treatment system to manipulate and rehydrate the connective tissue. (MELT stands for Myofascial Energetic Length Technique.) Once you learn the method, she said, just 10 minutes three times a week is all you need (Lawlor, 2021 )
“The MELT Method focuses on rehydrating your connective tissue and rebalancing the nervous system to eliminate stuck stress and improve whole body efficiency.”
Sue Hitzman
MELT Method creator Sue Hitzmann defines it as a hands-off approach to dealing with pain and injury that increases your strength, balance, and flexibility by restoring the stability of your connective tissue.
WATCH: Paula Nutting with Sue Hitzmann, Myofascial Energetic Length Technique
3 Methods of the Myofascial Energetic Length Technique
Rebalance with a Soft Body Roller/Foam Rolling
According to Chertoff (2019) Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique. It can help relieve muscle tightness, soreness, and inflammation, and increase your joint range of motion. Foam rolling can be an effective tool to add to your warm-up or cooldown, before and after exercise.
Here are some benefits of using foam rolling (Chertoff, 2019);
- Ease muscle pain
- Increase range of motion
- Temporarily reduce appearance of cellulite
- Relieve back pain
Rehydrate with a Foot Treatment
For this foot treatment, try to keep your head up and not look at your feet.
Instead, use your body sense to feel if you have the ball in the right spot.
You can stand next to a wall or chair to help you balance, if necessary.
Keep the pressure tolerable, and if you feel pain, back off (Miller, 2017)
Rehydrate with a Hand Treatment
Sue recommends doing the self-treatment techniques three times a week — even better, every day — to get immediate relief by rehydrating this tissue and reacquiring space in your joints (YOM Staff, 2020)
- Position-point pressing
- Gliding
- Shearing
- And friction on your hands and arms.
“The MELT hand and foot treatment are designed to rehydrate connective tissue which is a real missing link to pain and learning how to address connective tissue in a very efficient way is what this methodology all about. In rehydrating connective tissue you could actually rebalance your nervous system and get your body’s natural healing mechanisms back on track. . . . . so in just minutes you can self treat your hands and feet and improve whole body communication and balance”
Sue Hitzman
Rebalance with the Neck Release
According to Lindber (2021) The neck release is a gentle way to loosen tension in both your shoulders and neck.
Here’s how to do it for MELT Method;
- Slowly turn your head from right to left
- Next, go to a sideway position
- Use foam roller and place it underneath your head
- Then, start to create small circles using your head while in sideways position
- Repeat on the other side.
Here are some possible benefits of Rebalance with the neck release MELT Method:
1. Improved posture and alignment
2. Decreased neck pain
3. Increased range of motion in the neck and shoulders
4. Reduced tension headaches and migraines
5. Better sleep quality (reduced stress on your muscles)
The idea is that you don’t have to hurt yourself to get rid of the pain. The MELT method is a self-treatment technique that encourages your body’s innate ability to stay healthy by rehydrating the connective tissue system.
Did You Know?
Fascia connects all of our muscles and tendons into one cohesive system and plays a part in everything from our posture to balance to digestion.
When it becomes dehydrated by daily stress, poor diet, and lack of exercise, it works less efficiently, resulting in aches, pains, tension headaches, poor posture, and stiff joints and muscles.
Myofascial Energetic Length Technique is used to reduce inflammation in the fascia system by activating the myofascial meridians. The fascia system is made up of connective tissues throughout your body that help your organs function properly.
When these tissues become inflamed or injured due to repetitive movement patterns or prolonged bouts of stress, they can become painful and restrictive to movement.
Conclusion
Myofascial Energetic Length Technique has been shown to increase circulation and relieve pain in the muscles and joints by increasing the length of their meridians through self-massage therapy using pressure points along their length. This increases blood flow through these pathways which helps improve range of motion and reduces pain because there are fewer restrictions on how far you can move each joint (and therefore how much force it can bear).
The MELT technique can be done anywhere at any time as long as you have access to a chair or wall for support. You’ll need some room in front of you so that you have enough space between your hands and feet during each movement.
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References
Lawlor (2015). Rolling and Flexing to Massage Away Pain and Stress. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/arts/a-class-in-the-melt-method-of-body-work.html#:~:text=the%20same%20effect.-,Ms.,week%20is%20all%20you%20need
Chaudhry et.al (2017). Effect of MELT method on thoracolumbar connective tissue: The full study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28167175/
Ruback (2020). Validation of a Mindful Practice: The MELT Method. https://search.proquest.com/openview/f1f710c2f2ff7f9edd3eb7be92187ac4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Chertoff (2019). What Are The Benefits Of Foam Rolling? https://www.healthline.com/health/foam-roller-benefits#back-pain
Miller (2017). Do This Foot Treatment Tonight Before You Go To Sleep. https://www.womensrunning.com/health/do-foot-treatment-before-sleep/
YOM Staff (2020). Improve Your Hand Strength with MELT. https://www.yomreporting.com/blog/blog/post/improve-your-hand-strength-with-melt
Mansour (2019).How to use a foam roller to relieve neck, back and knee pain. https://www.nbcnews.com/select/lifestyle/how-use-foam-roller-relieve-neck-back-knee-pain-ncna978301
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