1. Drink more water.

I spend a lot of time touching people’s skin and I can usually tell when someone doesn’t drink enough H2O because their tissues are sticky and hard to manipulate and their skin soaks up the massage lotion or cream at a ridiculous rate. Staying well hydrated is not only great for your overall health, but it’s also a good way to help reduce tension and tightness in your muscles and tissues. I usually tell clients to drink twice as much water as they think they should–especially during the winter months when the cold weather makes you feel less thirsty, and you’re more likely to get dehydrated–because they’re probably currently drinking only half of what their bodies really need each day. Drink up. You’ll feel more energized, loose and prepared to take on those big, lofty goals.

2. Keep your shoulders down.

I’m willing to bet that there isn’t a person in the world that doesn’t need to do a better job of keeping their shoulders pulled down away from their ears. Everyone these days has tight, contracted upper backs and necks. It’s something I struggle with myself, even though I spend so much time reminding everyone else to be more cognizant of shoulder hunching. If you spend enough time at a computer or working at a desk, your body starts to feel like your shoulders belong up around your ears and it’s almost painful to have them pulled down and settled in their correct, natural position. It’s the number one complaint that I get from clients, even more than low back pain. Tight muscles in your upper back, neck and shoulders can lead to tension headaches and migraines. They can lead to other types of back and body pain. This year, make an effort to keep your shoulders down and your neck nice and long. Your body will thank you.

3. Use a footstool when sitting at your desk.

The modern work space and desk chairs (even the really fancy, expensive ones) can pull the body all out of whack. It seems that many people, myself included, have a tendency to lean forward when working at a desk/computer which really accentuates the curve in your lower back and tips your pelvis forward so that the low back muscles shorten and contract. For a lot of people, this problem arises from being too short to fit properly at a desk, or too small to comfortably sit with your back pressed firmly against the chair and still reach your keyboard or other desktop materials. Placing your feet on a footstool forces the front of your body back and rolls your tailbone and the back of the pelvis under, lengthening the low back muscles and reducing the lumbar curve. If a footstool doesn’t work for you, try placing a small pillow behind your low back to help you sit up straighter in your chair. The idea is try to keep your spine straight so that your vertebrae are not compressed together and your low back muscles can remain pain-free.

4. Stretch your pectoral muscles daily.

Before long, we’re all going to be walking around hunch-backed because everybody’s shoulders are pulled forward and in, so that the upper back is rounded and the chest muscles are seriously short and tight. This is a big problem people! A big problem that I see all the time and that I keep telling clients is really tough to correct with massage alone–to lengthen shortened chest muscles through massage, you have to be able to actually massage the muscles, which can be really uncomfortable and even painful. Most people don’t realize that their pec muscles are so tight because it’s their backs, not their chests that hurt. It’s really hard to relieve this kind of upper back tension without doing something to lengthen the pec muscles and open up the front of the body. You’re probably sitting there reading this thinking that it doesn’t apply to you. Let me assure that it does. I think it applies to everyone. We are all rounded forward and turning inward and desperately need to work on opening up our chests with daily stretching. Stand in an open doorway with one hand, opened palm against each side of the door frame. Keep your hands in place and your shoulders back, step the rest of your body through the open door and feel the stretch across your pec muscles and into the front of our shoulders. Do this once, twice, a zillion times a day. Do this until you feel like you spend all of your time stretching your chest, and then do it a little more.

5. Get your blood flowing.

If you spend the majority of your working day sitting, try to move around every couple of hours to kick-start your circulation and keep your blood and fluids from pooling in your legs. This helps keep your lower extremities from swelling and falling asleep. If you have a job that involves standing for long hours, regular, brisk movement throughout the day will help reduce the pressure on the vessels in your legs and actually, finding an opportunity to sit and take the weight off your lower body could help reduce the potential of developing varicose veins or other circulatory issues.

6. Give your eyes a rest.

Getting away from your computer for a few minutes every couple of hours not only helps get your blood pumping, but it gives your poor eyes some much-needed rest. When your eyes are focused intently for a long period of time, the muscles of your head and neck tighten up and before you know it, you’re dealing with one whopper of a headache. Pull yourself away from the computer a couple of times each day and close your eyes while you gently rub your temples, your jaw and your scalp. It’s both soothing and energizing and, like the rest of the items in this list, a habit that is totally worth developing.

7. Take care of your feet.

This is probably more for my benefit than yours. I have to touch a lot of feet, and while I’m happy to do it because who doesn’t love a good foot rub, a good many of these feet are cracked and calloused and not particularly pleasant to massage. But taking good care of your feet–moisturizing, softening and rubbing them on your own from time to time–doesn’t just help me out, it’s great for you too. There are so many pressure points in the feet and how you stand and walk and put weight on your feet affects all the other muscles in your body. It all comes up from there. If your feet are sore and achy, you’re going to move differently and less effectively than you would with nice, pain-free feet. Massage your arches. Stretch the skin on your heels and up into your achilles tendon and calves. Rub your poor big toe after you’ve had it shoved into high heel pumps all day. When your feet feel better, your whole body feels better. Apart from drinking water, I think this is the easiest way to make yourself feel better on a daily basis. Fluids and foot rubs. That’s the key to a very happy new year.

Music

As a massage therapist, I spend an awful lot of time listening to relaxing music. While it’s great for helping clients zone out during an hour-long session, most massage music doesn’t make for very interesting everyday listening. When I find that I can no longer stand the sound of birds or the soft flow of a mountain stream, I put on Carla Bruni for my clients.

Carla Bruni’s, Quelqu’un m’a dit is soft and soothing with just enough fun and liveliness that you can listen to it again and again without getting bored. Pair it with some nice bath salts and a good bottle of wine for the perfect gift for the music lover in your life who could use a little relaxation

Ottmar Liebert’s, In the Arms of Love is another one of my favorites.

A great gift for new parents who are tired of the same old lullabies.

Candles

This seems like a no-brainer. I mean, you hardly need me to tell you that, hey, you can give candles to people as a gift! Yeah, obviously. But why not jazz up this simple gift idea by going with candles that turn into skin moisturizer or massage oil when they melt down?

Soi Candles use soy wax instead of paraffin, so they last longer, burn cleaner and are better for you and for the environment. Plus, because they are all natural soy, you can use the melted wax as a moisturizer for your skin to treat the rough and irritated dry skin that is so common during winter.

Or go with a candle that becomes massage oil as it melts. While this is often considered a slightly more sensual gift, I like to let these candles burn while I’m sitting around watching TV and then use the oil to massage my sore hands and feet. If you live in Baltimore and want to buy local, I get my massage oil candles from Earth Alley in Hampden. The Sangria is my favorite!

Books

I don’t generally recommend books that teach at-home massage techniques. I suggest sticking to simple foot and back rubs. Once you start trying to get more technical, you really increase the likelihood that the person giving the massage will end up with aching, injured joints (most likely in their thumbs) and the person receiving the massage will wake up the next morning feeling much worse than the way they started. There’s a reason people go to school to become massage therapists–it’s not something you can just learn overnight.

That being said, there is one kind of massage that I think people can learn easily and effectively from books: infant massage. Massage for babies is not about applying pressure to release deep muscle tension, but about using the soft, nurturing touch that already comes naturally to parents to help calm infants and soothe away their tension and discomfort.

Vimala McClure’s, Infant Massage: A Handbook For Loving Parents is a classic and a great guide for parents who want to learn the benefits of infant massage and how to properly use these techniques with their own children. I love it because it provides specific techniques for treating things like colic or congestion, and because she even takes the time to offer advice on how to talk to your children about good vs bad touch, which I think is such an important conversation and not something that is discussed often enough. The routines are easy to follow and pictures are provided to illustrate specific strokes and techniques.

Suzanne Reese’s, Baby Massage: Soothing Strokes For Healthy Growth, is another great choice for the new parents on your list. It has lots of great pictures and specialized massage routines. It is really straight-forward and to the point and it even stands up so that you can easily look at the book while performing the techniques.

Moving on from the babies, if you’re looking for a great gift for someone on your list who has long since progressed to eating solid foods, I highly recommend Global Vegetarian Cooking.

My husband and I received this book as a wedding present and many of the recipes have become favorites over the years. It offers an amazing variety of easy to prepare vegetarian meals from all around the world. Some of the recipes have only a few ingredients, but you’ll be impressed by the amazing tastes that come out of such simple cooking.

Massage Tools

While I don’t recommend that you delve too deeply into at-home massage, you can get a lot of much-needed relief with a few simple and easy to use massage tools.

Bongers

Wonderful for aching backs and shoulders, Bongers provide a percussive massage that helps to release muscle tension and improve circulation. They’re really quite fun to use and save your fingers and thumbs the trouble of digging into tight shoulder and upper back muscles.

Foot rollers

A golf or tennis ball is an easier way to achieve the same result, but that doesn’t make for much of a gift. Foot rollers relieve tension and pain in the soles of your feet, which helps fight off plantar fasciitis and other painful foot conditions. A perfect gift for the runners on your list!

Lastly, the best gift of all: a gift certificate for a session with your favorite massage therapist! Help spread the joy of massage by giving your friends and loved ones their very own hour-long session. Nearly all massage therapists offer gift certificates for purchase and we are always excited to be a part of your holiday giving. If you already love giving people massages and usually purchase gift cards from one of the spas or massage retreats in your community, this year consider finding a local independent therapist to support with your gift card purchases. Independent therapists work so hard and without the marketing and sales support that is provided by a larger company. This holiday season, purchase your gift cards from an independent therapist and your gift counts twice: once for the lucky person who gets the massage, and once for the therapist who gets to meet a new client that she might not have reached otherwise.

Good luck with your holiday shopping and may everyone have a relaxing, happy holiday!

It’s always heartening for me to read that the simple truth is that we should just run in whatever way comes naturally to us.

Researchers who have no financial ties to running programs or shoe manufacturers say that most of those complications are unnecessary and some of the advice is even risky, because it can make running harder and can increase the chance of injury.

Take, for example, the notion that there is a perfect running form, like striking the ground with the midfoot or forefoot. There is no convincing evidence for this convoluted advice, disinterested researchers say. In fact, studies have found that individuals automatically run in a way that is most efficient for their own bodies. Those who change the way they run naturally are less efficient and more prone to injury.

“There is good evidence that your body is exquisitely lazy and will find the easiest way for you to run,” said Carl Foster, professor of exercise and sports medicine at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Even elite runners have a variety of styles. Some strike the ground with the heel, others with the midfoot. Some look elegant, while others look awkward and clumsy.

{Emphasis mine. From, For Beginner Runners, Advice Can be a Hurdle, NYTimes}

So if you’re like me and constantly worrying about whether or not your foot is landing the right way, or if your shoulders are too high, or your back is not straight enough, perhaps the best thing you can do is just get out of your own head and simply let your body do its thing.

If you are interested and want to check it out, you can listen to the segment at the link.

I’m excited to kick things off by announcing a limited time collaboration with the lovely and talented Naomi Cataldo, of Urban Row Photography. We are teaming up to offer two fabulous massage and photography combination packages that are perfect for any new mom or mother-to-be!

Pregnancy is a time of great joy and excitement, full of moments that you’ll want to remember for the rest of your life; but it’s also a time of increased physical and emotional stress as your body grows and changes and you prepare to welcome your baby into the world. Our Maternity Package is a wonderful way to capture the memories of your pregnancy, and relax away your aches and pains. A combination of 3 prenatal massage sessions (specifically designed to treat your individual needs and the common discomforts of pregnancy), and a maternity photo shoot, the Maternity Package is the perfect way to celebrate and pamper yourself during the remaining months of your pregnancy. It would also make a fantastic baby shower or holiday gift for your favorite mom-to-be!

Those first weeks and months with your newborn are precious and disappear so quickly as your baby grows and changes. They come with many sleepless nights, though, and lots of adjustments to your daily routine. Our Newborn Package helps you freeze time and capture the joy of these early moments with a newborn photo shoot. A pair of 60 minute postpartum massages will help you feel refreshed and restored, while releasing muscle tension that comes from holding your new baby, and providing much-needed relaxation.

Prenatal massages are available during the second or third trimester only. For more information about Maternity and Newborn photo shoots, please check out the Urban Row Photography Blog.

Maternity and Newborn Packages must be purchased by October 15th.  Photo shoots must be scheduled on or before November 30th. Package massages can be redeemed through December 31st.

If you have questions or would like to purchase one of our packages, you can contact me directly or email us at massagephotopackage at gmail dot com.

Wow, it has been such a long time since my last post! This is partly thanks to all of my wonderful new and returning clients who have kept me so busy the past couple of months. But unfortunately, it is also because I have been fighting a bad back injury, and am trying to avoid long stretches of time hunched over my computer. What started as some stiffness in my low back (I blame sitting all day for jury duty–civic duty is so backbreaking!), morphed into a rather significantly debilitating pain that slowly worked its way up my entire back and into my neck and shoulders.  It has been weeks of nearly constant pain and limited range of motion, but thanks to a terrific massage and some well placed cups to help release my upper back tension, I am finally on the road to recovery.

“What the heck are cups?” you might be wondering. Based on an ancient healing practice using fire heated glass to create a vacuum effect on the skin, modern cupping involves the application of plastic cups and a suction pump to soften tight muscles and detoxify the body’s tissues.

When a muscle goes into spasm and tightens, blood flow to the tightened region becomes restricted and the tissues lose access to vital nutrients. Over time, the tissues become unhealthy and harden and begin to affect the surrounding musculature, leading to broad regions of muscle tension and pain. Stagnant blood and toxins build up in the contracted region. Through the suction effect, cupping massage pulls the stagnant blood and toxins out of the muscles, loosening the tissues and creating space for new, fresh blood to flow in and deliver nutrients to unhealthy tissue. When coupled with a full massage session, cupping massage allows a massage therapist to more quickly and efficiently access deeper muscle layers. The cupping process alone releases a lot of the tension and tightness in superficial muscles and tissues, allowing more time to work into the body’s deeper muscles and relieve any underlying tension.

While it can feel a bit uncomfortable at times (there is a bit of pressure and an occasional pinching sensation), cupping massage is a safe and largely pain-free way of releasing tension and reducing pain. The movement of blood out of the muscles does leave significant marks on the skin. While these marks look and act like bruises, they are not painful.

The results of my first ever cupping session.

The marks last upwards of eight days, slowly losing color over time before fading away completely.

If you have never experienced cupping massage before, it can seem very foreign and kind of scary, but I assure you that it is one of the greatest ways to experience immediate tension relief. Cupping massage is not for everyone. If you are thinking about trying cupping, be sure to discuss any side effects and contraindications with your therapist.

If you live in the Baltimore area and would like to try cupping massage, I offer it free of charge when included in any regular massage session.

Earlier this year I earned my certification in pregnancy massage. Pursuing this modality is one of the best decisions I have made for my business. I love working with expecting mothers! They are always so excited to be getting a massage, and I am extremely happy that I’m able to offer them a bit of relief and relaxation. We all suffer from daily stress, but compound that with the physical and emotional stress of becoming a new mom, and it’s easy to see why pregnancy massage is such a wonderful, beneficial therapy.

Extreme stress is bad for everyone, but it can be particularly problematic for expecting mothers. Not only can it lead to problems like elevated heart rate and high blood pressure for moms-to-be, it has also been shown to affect fetal development and can lead to premature labor, low birth weight, and possible delays in infant cognitive and neuromotor development. The greatest benefit of prenatal massage, like all massage, is stress reduction. Obviously not every mother-to-be is going to be able receive the stress relieving benefits of massage therapy, but it is important for all expecting mothers to find activities or hobbies that help reduce their stress. Prenatal yoga, swimming or other gentle exercise, meditation, and developing a support group of other new and experienced mothers are just a few ways that expecting mothers can help reduce stress and anxiety.

It all starts with stress reduction, but the benefits of pregnancy massage don’t stop there.

As pregnancy progresses, a woman’s body goes through a lot of changes, many of which lead to increased muscle tension and soreness, and create postural imbalances that place extra weight and stress on joints and muscles. Pregnancy massage focuses on releasing tight muscles and decreasing chronic tension, as well restoring postural balance to reduce pressure on joints and elongate short, contracted muscles. It’s a wonderful way to reduce back pain and stretch the torso.

Pregnancy puts a lot of pressure on blood vessels, decreasing the body’s ability to effectively transport nutrients, and occasionally leading to dizziness or feeling light-headed. Pregnancy massage speeds up blood and lymph circulation, which improves the body’s ability to bring nutrients to tissues and eliminate waste. It also helps reduce swelling, a very common problem during pregnancy.

A growing uterus forces the organs and structures in the abdominal cavity to shift into smaller, compact spaces. This places increasing pressure on the diaphragm and other breathing muscles, which leads to shorter breaths, and heavy or even difficult breathing during pregnancy. Prenatal massage focuses on enhancing deep breathing and internal respiration. The calming environment and restful quality of massage helps to slow a woman’s breathing, and encourages fuller, easier breaths.

Massage therapy is not going to eliminate or fully reverse the uncomfortable and sometimes painful effects of pregnancy, but it will help alleviate some of that pain and discomfort, while reducing stress and promoting beneficial outcomes for both mother and child.

This is terrible for our backs and necks, and when combined with the effort of applying fresh paint to four rooms, the tension becomes nearly debilitating. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve started each morning by pulling my shoulders down as low as I can get them and massaging from the base of my skull all the way down to the upper corners of my shoulder blades. I go through a series of neck stretches and slow, purposeful neck circles. Throughout the day, as I feel my shoulders begin to creep back up toward my ears, I refocus on pulling them down and lengthening my neck. Only just now, after two weeks of daily emphasis on stretching and lengthening my neck muscles am I beginning to feel some relief.

There are two main enemies in my battle against short neck: the upper trapezius, and the levator scapulae.

{Click image for source.}

Levator scapulae

Upper traps

Both of these muscles attach to the neck and the scapula and function to lift the shoulder when the muscles fibers contract. Since the tops of my shoulders are very well acquainted with the bottoms of my ears, both my upper traps and levators spend most of their time in a shortened, contracted position. It has reached a point where having my shoulders down, so that these muscles rest in their natural positions actually feels unnatural.  And I know I’m not the only one. Elevated shoulders is probably the most common problem I treat. Sometimes I feel like a broken record, telling client after client to keep his/her shoulders pulled down, and to work on stretching these muscles each day to help elongate the neck and release painful shoulder tension.

And now I am telling you the same thing, because I have little doubt that as you sit there reading this, your shoulders are closer to your ears than they should be. Focus on pulling your shoulders down. Stretch your traps and levator by gently pulling one shoulder down and pushing your opposite ear toward the other shoulder.

By doing this stretch a couple of times each day, and avoiding excessive house painting, you’ll help to correct and lengthen these chronically shortened muscles, which will reduce neck and shoulder pain, and decrease your likelihood of developing painful tension headaches.

When the alarm goes off at 5:30 in the morning, I roll over in bed and think, “have I completely lost my mind?”

It was an idea first presented, like so many ideas that are equal parts good and positively nutty, after a few too many glasses of wine at a Friday night dinner with friends. Somebody says, “so we’ve been trying to get up early to go the gym before work,” and someone else chimes in, “oh yeah, we do that from time to time. It’s a bit rough, but energizing,” and then suddenly, before you know it, the idea is out there: “we should get up early and go running together in the morning!” Great idea, you think, because you’re tipsy and excited, and because next week is still a whole weekend away, and you like to go running, and wouldn’t it be nice to have your exercise over and done with before your day has even really started? And hey, at least you’ll have company! A sense of solidarity! A shared goal! “Let’s do it,” you all agree excitedly. Then before you know it, it’s 5:30 on a Monday morning and your alarm is blaring, and you really have to wonder if you’ve completely lost your mind.

Two girlfriends and I have formed a small, early morning running group. We pick a day each week, usually Monday or Wednesday, and meet up at 6 am to go for a run. You may be thinking, “what one earth is she going on about? I’m up by 6 every morning. I always exercise before work,” but this is truly a noteworthy experience in my life for two reasons.

1. I love to sleep. Love it. It is great. There is no moment in life more perfect than that moment when, completely exhausted in both mind and body, you’re head hits the pillow and you just know, oh yeah, this is going to be a good night of sleep. Best. Thing. Ever.
2. I work for myself. I don’t have an office that I need to be in by a certain time each morning. No clock to punch. If I wanted to, I could choose to schedule clients no earlier than 3 in the afternoon and just sleep all morning. I don’t, because that’s not really my style and I’d probably lose out on a lot of clients that way, but the point is, I don’t have to be up early every morning. And I certainly don’t have to be up and out the door by 6 am.

And yet, I keep doing it. I keep setting my alarm for 5:30. Keep rolling out of bed and groggily pulling on my running clothes, fumbling to tie my shoes, and stepping out the door into the early morning air. The truth is, I am absolutely loving it. I am not a morning person. I’ve got four family members and a husband who can easily attest to that. But I am loving getting up early and going on these runs. I love meeting up with my friends and catching up on what happened the previous week, and hearing about what they have planned for the week ahead. I love getting back to my house and discovering it’s only 7 o’clock: I’ve got a whole day ahead of me and I’m completely awake and energized. I’m loving it so much that on our non-meet up days, I still get up early to run or workout–not 5:30 in the morning, but no later than 7 so that I can be sure I’ll be done before the day’s heat starts to set in. I could have been doing this all along, for years now, but I wasn’t. It was knowing that two other people would be waiting for me, expecting me, that pushed me to make this change to my schedule. It’s helpful to know that we’ll be out there together, pushing and supporting each other through the runs. It’s helpful to know that there are two other people who hear their alarms at 5:30 in the morning and think to themselves, “have I completely lost my mind?”

If there’s something you’ve been thinking about doing or have wanted to try, but you can’t get yourself to do it, I highly recommend trying to find a like-minded buddy who will do it with you. Whether it’s taking on a new hobby, starting a daily gym routine, training for a race, whatever–ask some friends to join you. Sometimes being accountable to someone else, and knowing you don’t have to do it alone, is all the motivation you need to get started. If you’d like to start running, but don’t have any friends who share that goal, check out your local running groups. If you’re interested in cooking and eating healthier meals, lots of community colleges and rec centers offer cooking classes, or buy a cookbook or search for recipes online and host a weekly dinner where you can test out your new skills on your friends’ taste buds.

Knowing that there are two other people lacing up their running shoes and expecting to see me at 6 am doesn’t make me question my sanity any less, but it has kept me from hitting the snooze button over and over again.  As a result, I feel healthier and more productive, and I think my life is better for it.

To every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

-Sir Isaac Newton

The human musculature relies on opposites. A muscle’s force, its active movement, can only go in one direction. Your bicep can contract to bend your elbow and pull up your forearm, but it cannot push your forearm back down and open up your elbow joint. Instead, the triceps are responsible for that action, contracting to extend your elbow joint to its fully open position, and pulling your arm back and behind you. The biceps and the triceps work as a team, or an antagonistic pair, always reacting to the other’s actions. One (biceps) flexes your elbow joint, and the other (triceps) extends it. When one of these muscles contracts, the other must relax. You cannot contract your biceps and your triceps at the same time. So whenever you flex your biceps to show off your tickets to the gun show, your triceps relax and stretch back to their normal position. This is fairly intuitive and common sense, but it’s important to keep in mind when it comes to treating muscle cramps and spasms.

Anyone who has shot upright in bed from a dead sleep and helplessly clutched a throbbing calf muscle knows that muscle cramps are serious business. They can be incredibly painful and debilitating, and apart from gritting your teeth and breathing deeply, it’s hard to know what to do to stop them. The natural inclination seems to be rub and stretch the cramping muscle. This is a good thought, but when a muscle is in spasm, it can be incredibly difficult to make it relax and stretch. Oftentimes, trying to force a stretch, particularly one that is not easy and gradual, can actually increase the spasm as the muscle reflexively contracts in reaction to the stretch.

A better technique for treating a sudden, painful muscle cramp or spasm is to activate, or contract the opposite muscle in the antagonistic pair. Because opposite muscles cannot contract at the same time, activating the antagonist muscle will  help the spasmodic muscle to relax and slowly return to its natural position. Let’s use the calf muscles as an example, because this area is commonly affected by muscle spasms.

Click for source

When the calf muscle (the gastrocnemius and the soleus) contracts, or shortens, it plantarflexes your ankle, meaning your foot and toes point toward the ground. To stretch the calf muscle, your foot must dorsiflex, or point up, so that your toes come back toward your shin. A muscle responsible for dorsiflexion is the tibialis anterior.

Click for source

If the tibialis anterior contracts to dorsiflex the foot, the spasm in the calf muscle will have to release so that the muscle can relax and return to its natural position. To contract the tibialis anterior, focus on tightening the muscles in your shin so that your foot begins to pull up and back toward the front of your leg and knee. I often find that it is helpful to create a counter pressure so that contraction is more strongly emphasized. To do this, use your hands to apply force (or have someone else apply the force for you) against the top of your feet, pushing your feet down toward the floor. Contract to counter the pressure of your hands and keep your feet pointing upward, toes toward the ceiling. You should feel your calf muscle stretching as you work to contract your tibialis anterior and the other muscles that dorsiflex the foot.

I am using my fist and leaning forward to apply a downward pressure against my foot, while contracting to pull my foot back to counter the force of my hand.

Next time you experience sudden, painful muscle cramps or spasms, remember that your muscles work as pairs of opposites and use that knowledge to help reduce your pain and relieve discomfort. And stay tuned to this blog because I’ll be posting more about muscle pairings in the near future so that no matter where you feel spasmodic pain, you’ll know how to counteract it!