What do you do when little things go wrong and you need to be controlling inflammation or releasing those tight muscles?
When you are dealing with muscles that are tight and sore there are a number of things you can do.
- Use a heat pack to heat the muscle.
This will relax the muscle so that stretching and massage work better. - Stretch the muscle.
Try some general neck stretches or some specific stretches for your trapezius muscle or some side stretches for your QL– a big culprit in low back pain. - Release trigger points
These are tender points in a muscle that refer pain to other spots.
Check out our post about a great app to download that helps you locate trigger points called “Real bodywork muscle trigger points“. - Massage the muscle with a massage ball
What if there is local inflammation and the area is already hot and sore?
Adding more heat and doing lots of massage in this case is not such a good idea.
Local application of ice can work wonders. If you’re not keen on something that is ice cold then try some arnica cream.
Check out our download on “Taking care of your body when little things go wrong“.