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Working on the Abdominal Muscles
How often do you work on the abdominal muscles? What do you do? When using SMRT, we teach therapists to balance left and right abdominal muscle tone by working directly with each of the abdominal muscles.The Respiratory Diaphragm
We begin with releases for the respiratory diaphragm. The respiratory diaphragm is of major importance to abdominal muscle balance. This is because a tonal imbalance in the respiratory diaphragm muscle can change the alignment of the rib cage. All four of the muscles in the abdominal wall attach to the rib cage, each side of the muscle wall to its respective side of the rib cage. So if rib cage alignment is uneven, tension in each side of the abdominal wall will be different.
Misalignment of the rib cage or of individual ribs can translate into mid and upper back, as well as contributing to lower back pain. Additionally, tonal imbalances from right to left in the abdominal muscle wall can cause issues with hip alignment, which can contribute to lower back, hip, and knee pain.
Tonal Imbalances
The respiratory diaphragm has an origin on the anterior bodies of L1-L3. Psoas major has an origin on the anterior bodies of T12-L5. The tendinous fascia of the respiratory diaphragm and the psoas major muscle blend with one another at the anterior bodies of L1-L3. This means that tonal imbalances in the respiratory diaphragm can affect tonal imbalances in psoas major.
Tonal imbalances in the respiratory diaphragm will directly affect lumbar vertebrae alignment and secondarily affect lumbar vertebrae alignment by affecting the tonal balance of the right and left psoas major muscles.
Using SMRT on the Abdomen
All of these fancy words mean that tonal balance in the respiratory diaphragm is crucial to alleviating lower back pain, as well as hip, knee, and both mid and upper back pain. In Full Circle’s SMRT: hips, lower back, & abdomen class, we teach you to quickly and painlessly create tonal balance in all of the muscles in the abdomen. SMRT abdominal work is contraindicated for almost nothing. We can work with and positively affect the majority of abdominal issues.
Register for this class and others here.
Tags: abdominal muscles, massage therapy, massage therapy continuing education, respiratory diaphragm, SMRT, spontaneous muscle release technique
