How long do you sit in front of your monitor every day?

Whether you’re in a work-from-home or office setup, we can’t deny the fact that sitting for a long time is a struggle for us. And I know how hard it is to find a comfortable position for your hips, butts, and legs. Here’s a DIY for your clients during Lockdown – the Myofascial Release and Stretching Technique for ITB Region and Adductors.

Can’t access your regular massage therapist or can’t afford one? No problem. 

Grab a tennis ball and get a cheap foam roller (simply bind two pool noodles together) and let’s hit that trigger point one more time!

Myofascial Release

We talked about Myofascial Release in my previous blog, but for those who are new, let me describe it for you. Also called the trigger point release or active release technique. Myofascial Release is a technique used for treating skeletal muscle immobility. It involves applying continuous slow and deep pressure to the network of muscle/s that are stiff, restricted, or showing referral pain patterns.

Self-Myofascial Release

The fitness industry, businesses, and experts have embraced this technique because it’s effective. Moreover, aside from being effective, this technique is easy-to-do and accessible.

Why? Because you will do it yourself. And yes, we will be using trigger balls and foam rollers for that. Who would have thought of that, right?

But first, let’s know what trigger points that we will be hitting.

Iliotibial Band Track Region

The Iliotibial band tract (ITB) is also sometimes known as Maissiat’s band. ITB Region is a dense group of fibers that extends from the outside of your hips and knees to the tip of your shin. The ITB serves as an important structure involved in lower extremity stability and in some instances motion.

Hip Adductors

In addition to ITB, we will be targeting your hip adductors as well. The adductors are a group of muscles that function to adduct the femur at the hip joint. Most of them are thin muscles. This group of muscles assists the equilibrium and coordination in your inner thighs.

Let’s Begin! Below are the step-by-step procedures that you should follow:

Trigger Ball for Gluteal Muscles:

1. On your yoga mat or soft flooring, lie sideways. Make sure you are in a comfortable position. See to it that you are taking most of your weight on your elbows rather than having the ball leaving bruises on your buttocks.
2. Place the trigger ball onto the belly of your buttock muscle and locate the points that are probably exquisitely tender. Focus on the parts that cause a referral pain. When you feel that there is a referring pain down to your legs, that’s when you know that you are in the right spot.
3. Inhale and exhale slowly and deeply and wait for the tightness in the muscle to start to soften off. You will feel like you are starting to have the tennis ball sink deeper into your buttock muscle.
4. Repeat the process until you feel that the pain is relieving bit-by-bit. You can find up to 4 or 5 areas that may be tender.

Foam Rollers for lateral thighs/ITB:

1. In the same sideways positions, find your lateral thigh right in the ITB Region and vastus lateralis.
2. Do the same thing, Slide the roller up and down. Apply an amount of pressure that equals your own pain scale. I usually suggest 7/10 as a maximum because we want to be firm enough to relax and loosen the area but not too hard as to create unwanted inflammatory responses.
3. Run the full length of those muscles and band until you feel like you are releasing some tensions on your lateral thighs.

Stretching Techniques for Adductors and Lower Back:

1. Since your inner thighs affect your lower back, let’s do some stretching of the adductors and lateral trunk. Start by sitting on the ground and widening your legs till you feel a good stretch along the inner thigh.
2. Reach your arm overhead and then out to the side of the trunk to reach down to the ankle or lower limb. You will feel the right arm glide down the left leg and vice versa. This will improve cross patterning stretches and locking the “sit bones” down to keep the pelvis stabilized. 
3. Hold each side-bend for a minimum of 10 seconds.
4. Go as downward as possible. In that way, we open up the hip and the pelvis.
5. Repeat 3 times on both sides.

These are the few techniques that you can use to treat yourself without the help of anyone.

If you have aches and pains and want some easy to watch advice, then flick over and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Stay happy and safe folks! 😉