This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in April of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/RJ2XxNHMVTk
Brad: All right, so if you're experiencing pain or a muscle knot in one of your shoulders, we're going to show you a technique that has been very successful in releasing it in a very fast manner.
Mike: And the only things you need are a chair and a pillow.
Brad: It's that easy. Good job, Mike.
Mike: Thanks.
Brad: Now some real typical ways of treating these muscle knots to get rid of them is a Thera cane like this, or a hooked cane where you get in and you try to massage that out and it actually works fairly well. Also, massage gun like Mike is doing to get at that spot. It's a little awkward though, isn't it, Mike?
Mike: Yeah, it's a little hard to reach back here, especially if you have a knot right there already.
Brad: So this technique takes an opposite approach that works incredibly well without all the effort. So the technique that we're going to show you is developed by Dr. Lawrence Jones. This was a number of decades ago actually. It has been researched thoroughly and has had positive results, and even more importantly, in my mind, has had positive results in the clinic on a consistent basis.
Mike: So it used to be called strain, counter strain, and now it is called positional release technique. Instead of aggressively stretching the painful area, going the opposite direction, and digging in hard with massaging, we're actually going to shorten and relax the muscle area to give it some relief.
Brad: That's right, it's kind of like the gentle spirit moves all kind of a theory. All right, Mike is going to be the person in pain. He happens to have a nice knot right in that right shoulder. He's been working on the computer wondering why this knot is here, and we're going to use this to get rid of it, and resolve the pain. Then we'll see if it actually works. So the first step is to give this an objective level of pain. So, Mike, you want to show them how to do it?
Mike: So take your good side, palpate the painful area, find it, and press down. If I'm pressing down, and let's say it's an eight out of 10, that's my subjective number.
Brad: So typically what we find is a trigger point right there. Everyone has it. And that's the spot that actually knots up. And Mike actually, when he said palpate, he meant push on it and massage around there. It's a very tender spot over that trigger point, and that's where he gets that pain number from. Okay, now these next steps are very critical to follow in order. Now the muscle actually is from the shoulder blade here to the neck or up to the base of the skull here.
Brad: That's the muscle we want to shorten and relax. So this is why it's called positional release. The position of your body is absolutely critical. The first thing we're going to do is elevate the weight of the arm and the shoulder up here. So we're going to shorten the muscle from this point of view. Go ahead, we're going to use pillows. So you do need a chair with armrest so it can support the pillows and you'll want to use one or two pillows, whatever it takes. And this elevates the shoulder.
Brad: Are you relaxed, Mike? Do you feel good there? So we took the muscle and shortened it from one aspect distal from the spine or furthest away. Now we need to position the head to shorten the muscle the rest of the way. So, Mike, you want to go through? This is specific to how you do it. Go ahead, Mike.
Mike: So first, sit with a good upright posture. I'm going to look straightforward. Now this is saying I have pain in my right shoulder and trap there. So what I'm going to first do is extend my neck. So go backwards. Then I'm going to side bend or bring my ear to my shoulder. Then the last component is I'm actually going to turn and look away. Now this should feel comfortable on this side, should be nice and relaxed. If you're feeling a stretch on the other side, maybe don't turn as far. You should feel comfortable on both sides when doing this. And you're simply going to hold this for 90 to 120 seconds.
Brad: Absolutely a minimum of 90. You do need to take a watch or a clock, whatever, and time it. Make sure that's your minimum of 90, no more than 120 seconds. Now, before you start this, you may want to just move your head around a little bit to find the most comfortable position for that painful spot. That's when you start the timer. Maintain there and really relax. Think about relaxed breathing. You know, 90 seconds, actually it takes a while when you're trying to stay in one spot. So really think about relaxing and just hold it. And when you get done, it's critical that you just don't get up and move around quickly. You get out of that position and back into a neutral seated position, slowly. So you just take your time. We'll take the pillows out. And at that point, you can move that shoulder around a little bit slowly. We're just getting out of there slowly. You can move your head around slowly. If you want to do a gentle massage with the other hand just to kind of massage it gently, we're not getting into it.
Brad: And then at this time, you're going to reassess that trigger point by pushing down on it and comparing the number of pain to what it was when we started. Mike, what do you have now?
Mike: So what you're going to say, is it's a six now. It got better.
Brad: Okay, so went from, what was the first one an eight?
Mike: Eight.
Brad: Eight to a six. Now I've had a lot of people that actually went from eight down to a two or even a one. It could be that dramatic. Now if that's the case, if it did go down, you want to do this technique every hour. Each time you reassess and see how it goes. Now if the problem is from a different area, say you have a problem in the spine or your posture when you're working at the computer is really poor, it may not respond as well. So if you get a good response, continue to do it hour by hour, and within a day or two it should be resolved or even less than that. So this is a really nice technique, easy to use. It's not aggressive at all, and it's been scientifically researched to have worked very well. Now, if it's not working for you, we do have another video that approaches this in a different manner. This is one of Bob's favorite techniques.
Mike: Yeah, so if you're having some pain in that same region while working on the computer, the video is called "Stop Shoulder Neck Pain with This Simple Hack" and Bob explains what he did to fix his issues.
Brad: There you go.
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