Arm and trapezius relationship
If you have pain at the junction of your shoulder and neck, on the outside of your arm, or in the middle of your shoulder blade, it may be related to the shortening and tension of your trapezius muscle. Do you want to stretch and massage your trapezius muscle at this time?
But we need to know that the trapezius muscle is relaxed in the static state, but in dynamic situations such as walking, our use of the trapezius muscle can easily return to the past mode.
muscle chain during walking
When we walk, we activate the chain of the whole body. As one arm swings back, the upper trapezius muscle on the same side descends, the scapula comes closer to the spine, and the pelvis swings in the opposite direction.
The girl pictured here swings her arm back as her left trapezius descends. The ribbon on her body represents the participation of other muscle groups in the body when walking with the arms backward.
Looking at the picture on the back, of course, our swing range is generally not so large when walking, but it can be seen that the most ordinary walking of a person every day involves so many muscles in the body:
According to the principle of the muscle chain, the overuse of the trapezius must be related to other muscle groups, such as rhomboids, serratus anterior, latissimus dorsi, pectoralis, etc.
If there is a problem with these muscles connected to the shoulder, the movement of the shoulder and arm will be disrupted, causing more muscle tension, so relaxing the trapezius alone will do little.
How does the Feldenkrais method work?
When more and more muscles are disturbed, all the muscles connected to the shoulder must work hard to counteract this tension. Then in the Feldenkrais method, let the brain nerves distinguish the muscles related to the shoulder, especially It is particularly important to differentiate and distinguish the muscles that move the arms back and forth and the shoulders up and down.
Therefore, the relaxation of muscles is very important, but if it is passive relaxation, rather than active recognition and changes of brain nerves.
When you stop training or passively relax and return to the dynamic environment, the control of the nerves to the muscles will slowly return to the previous habit, and it may also be changed after a large amount of long-term training, but it takes a long time .
The Feldenkrais method, by directly stimulating the neural regions that control certain muscle groups, can make rapid and long-lasting changes.
Left: Penfield brain motor cortex topographical map
Right: Body-mind interface diagram
10 Minute ATM Mini Practice
We use the following exercises to improve the tension of the entire muscle group related to the shoulders and arms, and at the same time change the way the brain nerves use the inherent mode of the muscles, so that you can feel the excessive muscle force release both statically and dynamically. This is the Feldenkrais method.
Now let's start this little exercise! You can repeat this exercise 2 to 3 times in 1 hour.
In practice, you simply need to:
- Lie down in a quiet place and follow the guidance of the rehabilitation teacher in the video. You can skip any parts that are difficult to complete or cause pain, and wait for the next movement instruction;
- For the first practice, it is recommended to place a thicker book or towel roll on the head;
- Let go of the ambition to complete the action, just follow the instructions and explore the process.
