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Infraspinatus

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Myofascial pain trigger points from infraspinatus are some of the worst I’ve ever seen in bodywork practice. Having had problems with the area myself, clients aren’t usually very happy when I find problems with theirs. It’s one of the most painful things I’ll work on anyone.

Infraspinatus helps control rotation of the head of the humerus or upper arm. It’s part of the rotator cuff that reaches around the shoulder joint. Releasing this area gives someone a much wider range of motion in the shoulder joint and if you have arm or shoulder pain I highly recommend trying this to see if it helps.

Myofascial Pain Trigger Points

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Myofascial pain trigger points in infraspinatus are a problematic area to work on. They’re hard to reach but this video shows an easy way to access and treat these yourself. Infraspinatus is one of the muscles that make up the rotator cuff. This muscle in particular is an extremely common dysfunction I see in my bodywork practice. Due to its function in moving the upper arm around it means that it’s used when people lift their arms out in front of them. This happens in such common activities as driving, using a computer or many manual labor tasks like hanging sheet rock.

Keeping muscles in the rotator cuff relaxed seems to be good in preventing long term injury or a torn rotator cuff. When you think about tightening a guitar string to the point that it snaps, that is what can happen to a tight infraspinatus. Releasing chronic contractions and trigger points in the area go a long way to helping ease this tension and set things back in good working order.

Remember to go slow, breathe through your nose and relax onto a golf ball or tennis ball when you do this. Take your time and also keep in mind that the area can be extremely tender to the touch. Feel free to fold a rag or towel over your tool of choice to soften the pressure. The area is muscular, not bony and it takes time to get the superficial muscles to relax and allow a deeper tissue to be relaxed and released. Try it first for about 5 minutes, you can extend duration from there.

Trigger points treatment

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I’ve spent years mashing on myself and others trying to unlock the mysteries of the human body. After ten years I still feel I’ve only scratched the surface. Anything I’ve learned I pass on to clients and help others on their healing path.

Years ago while in massage school I developed horrible pain in my shoulder. I’m left handed and working at a large shipping company doing repetitive manual labor I developed severe pain that eventually made me quit and look for other work. Whatever happened at that job has sat with me in some form for the last ten years or so. While in school I realized that my teachers didn’t know what was going on and after leaving school I continued to work on myself and try to figure out how to get it to stop.

There was a low level ache that ran down my arm and never ceased. Months went by and I’d done things that others consider near torture to get it to stop. At a friends house one day I noticed a baseball bat in the corner. Being the explorer I am I lay the bat on the ground and layed down on the knob end where you hold the bat while working what I now know to be my rotator cuff, particularly infraspinatus.

Infraspinatus is one of the most commonly dysfunctional muscles in the human body. I didn’t know this at the time but as I lay on the bat and pressed into my rotator cuff I noticed horribly sharp pain. This felt good, in the way that deep, intense bodywork can feel but it took my breath away. I relaxed, moved my arm around, got as comfortable as I could and continued to breathe deeply. Finding a single solid spot that seemed the most tender I lay down and breathed for nearly 30 minutes.

At the end I was near tears. The sensation was so deep there was nothing else for a time. The stimulation was so core I could explore nothing else. I finally sat up and noticed that my shoulder pain was gone. My rotator cuff was apparently causing the issue I felt. It was sore but the shoulder pain I felt has never returned. Months of agony, gone in 30 minutes. At the time I was unsure what caused this and am only now starting to put the pieces together.

Trigger points treatment is profoundly healing work. The more I explore, the more I’m amazed. I’ll be shooting videos soon to show you how to treat trigger points and how to do self care for trigger points.