Myofascial Decompression Certified!

Congratulations Lexi!!!

You may remember last year, when we posted here about Ila and Kirsten becoming Myofascial Decompression Certified.  We have blogged the past few years (here, here, and here) about our commitment to furthering our physical therapist's education in the field of myofascial decompression. Last week, we were at it again and Lexi became Myofascial Decompression Certified!

 About a week ago, one of our physical therapists, Lexi, took the Level 2 MFD course in San Diego, CA. Level 2 focused on a different way to use the cups - to inhibit a muscle! Why might you want to inhibit a muscle? A few common areas that need to be inhibited are upper traps, quadratus lumborum (a muscle in your lower back), and hamstrings. Let's say you are trying to perform an exercise to strengthen your middle or lower trap, but your upper trap keeps "taking over" and doing the work, making it difficulty to know what the correct movement pattern is to activate your middle/lower traps. One way you can help learn the correct movement pattern is to apply the inhibitory technique using cups to the upper trap and performing the exercise again. This inhibits the upper trap from doing the work so the work comes from the muscles that the exercise is meant to target! 
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One of the fun things about taking these classes is finding out where we need to work on ourselves! Pictured above, Lexi is working on stretching her right hip flexor. Without the cups on, she was unable to feel the stretch in her hip flexor because she was arching her back too much (using her quadratus lumborum, QL). With the inhibitory technique applied to both of her QLs, she was able to immediately feel the stretch in her hip flexor. 
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After taking Level 1 and Level 2, Lexi was eligible to take the exam to become certified. She took the exam last weekend and passed! We are so happy to have the opportunity to gain new certifications and learn new techniques to help our patients reach their goals. Ask your physical therapist for more information if you are interested in learning more!