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Originally Posted by MrSelfDestruct
Are you licensed in CT, and if so, how much would you charge to come to Stamford tomorrow (Wednesday) and do ten-minute sessions for students at UCONN for a couple hours starting around noon as part of our welcome week? The guy we had signed up bitched out on us and we have nobody on such short notice.
I don't have Internet access at home, so on the remote chance that this is possible, call us at our office number 251-8545 in the morning, and ask for Ian (me,) Bryan or George (tell them Ian contacted you.) I think we negotiated $75/hr for the guy who bailed, and since we need someone who's licensed for insurance reasons, we could probably go a bit higher since it's such short notice. I forget if they had him booked for 2 or 4 hours.
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I just tried to call you, but it went to voicemail. I'll call again. But either way...
I am Connecticut licensed, but I do not have a chair in order to do onsite massage; I should probably get one. Thanks very much for the offer.
But all is not lost: try
American Massage Therapy Association's Find a Massage Therapist Page. In the advanced form, you can enter your zip code, a search radius, and select "On site/chair massage" as your modality. There's about 40 therapists listed in a 10 mile radius around UConn Stamford, and you have to be licensed in order to join the AMTA.
Also, just to keep in mind - 1 therapist doing 10 minute massages (plus 5 minutes in between for reviewing the intake forms, cleaning chair, etc.) is only 4 massages an hour. You might want more than one therapist.
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Originally Posted by ratbastid
My damn left piriformis is always inflamed and sore. It hurts plenty on its own, and it often activates sciatica on my left side. Chiropractic care and semi-regular massage has helped, but I wonder if there's stretching or exercise I can do to relax it at home?
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This is a tricky situation, since we don't want to exacerbate the symptoms while attempting to treat it. To stretch the left piriformis, lie on your right side on the edge of your bed, facing off the bed. Keep your right leg straight, bend your left leg at least 60 degrees, and let your left leg drop past the edge of the table. (Of course, this is also the test used to check if you have piriformis syndrome, so if you start to feel tingling/shooting pains, back off.) It might help to have one of your lovely ladies support your left hip in a vertical position with one hand and supporting your left knee as it descends.
There is also "contract-relax" stretching, which would definitely require the help of an assistant. For 6-8 seconds, you would press your knee up against her hand (by rotating your hip at the joint, not by raising {abducting} your leg), then release and stretch. Repeat a few times, each time you will get more stretch out of it.
There also may be a trigger point in your piriformis. Here's a
good diagram and description of the trigger point location. You might be able to use the tennis ball on that while lying down; however, piriformis is a deep muscle (underneath the gluteus maximus), you might have to try something a bit firmer and specific if the tennis ball is insufficient.
Applying heat can also be good.
(I said that PI was "better" than sciatica only because a bulging disc is a lot harder to treat without surgery. The pain is the same.)
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Originally Posted by willravel
I used to do a great deal of sparing back in high school and took several pretty devastating kicks to the back. Not only that, but up until marriage, I slept on a futon every night. Needless to say, my back has more than a few issues.
What is the best plan for someone seeking to revitalize all the back muscles in a major way?
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Difficult question: I'd probably start with yoga or something similar, as it should work and stretch everything. You can then identify which muscles are requiring further treatment, and massage (to release tension) or physical therapy (if there is more significant damage) or chiropractic (if the bones are out of line).