Frequently Asked Questions
Things to know about Repetitive Strain Injury, Joint/Muscle pain, and the symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Muscles have one primary purpose – to give you the ability to move. A muscle originates on a bone, crosses over a joint, and then inserts onto another bone. When the muscle contracts it pulls on the insertion point and enables your joint to move. If the muscle has been held in the contracted position (repetitive movement) a knot or spasm can be created and that will shorten the muscle. The shortened muscle will continues to pull on the joint, even when you are trying to move in a different direction. The knots and spasms that are shortening the muscles is what causes your nagging joint pain. The shortened muscle pain is similar to the pain you experience when pulling your hair, let go of your hair and your pain stops. The Julstro Method shows you how to “let go” and release your tight and shortened muscles that are making simple movements painful.
In both cases the pain is felt in the wrist and first three fingers. When the muscles of the forearm are in spasm from a repetitive strain, you will get pain in your wrist. Also, when muscles that cross over the median nerve are in spasm and press down onto the nerve, you get numbness in your fingers. RSI is frequently misdiagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome because of the symptom similarities.
The muscles must be flushed out to remove the toxins that build up because of the repetitive movements. Massage is a key treatment for pressing out the toxins and drawing in the nutrients that heal the muscle fibers. The Julstro self-treatment is a form of Self-massage that will enable you to stop pain on the spot, preventing a build-up of the toxins that cause the painful spasms to occur.
A ligament is a strong fibrous material that connects one bone to another bone. A tendon is a strong fibrous material, which connects a muscle to a bone. The muscle fibers merge into the tendon fibers, and then the tendon fibers insert into the bone, holding the muscle securely in place while still giving flexibility to the muscle allowing you to move the joint.
Most people feel immediate improvement. It is recommended that you do the self-treatments for a few days in a row to be sure the knot or spasm has been eliminated and the muscle is restored to it’s natural length. After that, it will depend on how often you do the self treatment, especially at the first sign of the repetitive strain pain returning.
If the pain you are experiencing is from a repetitive movement than the answer is yes. If you continue doing the movements that caused the muscle strain to begin with, the pain will return because of the repetitive nature of what you are doing. The good news is, regular self-treatments will prevent re-occurrences or if you have not done regular treatments because you are not feeling pain, a few self-treatments will eliminate your spasms or knots much quicker because the knot or spasms have not had the time to fortify themselves and are much easier to break down and be eliminated.
After watching the Julstro Video System you will be able to do the full carpal tunnel treatment in less than 20 minutes.
No, they are both treated the same. The toxins in the muscle need to be flushed out and the spasms treated to release the tension.
For the most part, yes. The majority of people report that they feel an immediate decrease in pain by following the easy to do self-treatment instructions of the Julstro Method techniques. Continuing the self-treatments improves the relief by eliminating the spasm or knot completely. Once your problem muscle has been restored to its natural length, recurrence of new spasms or knots are eliminated in less than a quarter of the time. Many of the techniques can also be done “on the run” or “at the office”. Since people sometimes have other complications that are not muscle related there may be some instances where you will need to stay relaxed while you heal.
RSI stands for Repetitive Strain Injury also known as Repetitive Motion Strain. It is caused by the frequent contraction of specific muscles. The frequent contractions that happen naturally when doing the normal movements of your sport or job, can cause the muscle to spasm and the fibers to shorten. The shortened muscle will now pull on both the origination and insertions points on the bone, creating nagging, dull or sharp pain at either, or both of those points. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a condition where the medial nerve is being pressed at the wrist, causing pain in the wrist and numbness in the thumb and first two fingers.
The primary reason is due to people being more active than ever. Whether it is sports or your day job doing the same types of movements for many hours every day. Most people have no idea how important it is to release the spasms caused by the repetitive movements. Acidic waste and acidic waste products (commonly thought of as “toxins”) builds and need to be flushed from your muscles to prevent spasms and knots from occurring.
For example, a person who plays tennis or golf for hours every day, and then goes home to relax and either works on the computer or plays a piano is using the exact same muscles as they were on the tennis court or golf course. In this case, the forearm and hand muscles have contracted many thousands of times, eventually shortening. These muscles insert into the wrist and they all have an impact on the carpal tunnel and the median nerve causing crippling pain.
The discomfort caused by Repetitive Strain Injury or Repetitive Movement Syndrome, will return because you are still doing the movements that caused the initial problem. When you work with a therapist you are receiving treatment that will last for a certain amount of time (depending on the ability of your own body to heal and the activity you continue to pursue. The Julstro Method is also being taught to therapist throughout the country), however, unless you change your lifestyle, the pain will return. The Julstro self-treatments enable you to stop the discomfort immediately and on an ongoing basis. Relief is available to you when you need it, whether it be at your office or home in the middle of the night. You don’t have to wait for the world to wake up to get the relief you are in desperate need of.
When a muscle is contracted and filled with irritants it is painful to touch. It is necessary to press deeply to flush out the toxins in order to release the knots or spasms causing your pain, but the good news is you are in control. Treatment should always be within your tolerance level. The Julstro Method is showing you how to work on yourself but you regulate the pressure of your treatment. We encourage you to work deeply as you can but always stay within your comfort range and even light pressure done often will give you the relief you are seeking.
Yes. The self-treatment package comes with a specially designed TotalTx Tool, which was originally designed for a stroke victim that had very little strength in his hands. The shape of the tool is unique and easy to hold, which will allow you to do all the techniques you see in the pictures and instructions as well as in the video.
Deep muscle therapy may cause temporary bruising and swelling. We suggest using a cold compress after doing the treatment.
There really isn’t a difference in the techniques, just in the duration of the problem. Many times a “sport injury” appears to build up quickly and then may suddenly be debilitating, such as with Achilles tendonitis or shin splints. Other times there has been a chronic joint pain that hasn’t worsened over time, but never goes away – this is rarely termed “sport injury”. Both conditions result from the same muscle spasms or contractions, it is only the way they present themselves that makes the difference. The treatment is the same in both cases.
Every Julstro product has full color trigger point charts that will show you exactly how to find the spasms. The charts are included within the printed book and eBooks that accompany the Julstro Self-Treatment System for the body and for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The detailed charts make it easy to find the source of your pain and where the spasms are located that are causing pain all over your body. The spasms are not always where you think the pain may be originating from and may be a distance from the area of pain. The charts are a clear map of where to locate the source of the pain your body is experience, so you can quickly treat the source, and eliminate the pain so you can get back into your game.
Forum Question And Answer
Hi Shane,
I’m not a doctor so I want to make that clear, what I’m offering is my opinion. My feeling is when the muscle isn’t hurting, it’s healed. Go ahead and start the trigger point therapy as shown in my book, but only go to the level of “hurts so good.” You should have the feeling that you are benefiting from the treatments, that it feels good to be releasing the spasms in the muscles. If you’re going too deeply it could bruise the muscle. Fortunately, bruises heal, especially when you put on Arnica (a homeopathic remedy gel that you can get in a good health food store)after you finish the treatments.
I think it’s most important not to stretch a muscle until you have released the spasms. If the muscle still has trigger points, and you stretch it, you could tear muscle fibers. However, if you release the spasms first, and then stretch, you won’t be straining the muscle fibers and you’ll be fine.
Hi Annette,
Yes,you can do a lot to release the tension in the muscle fibers that are inserting at your elbow and causing the pain. Elbow pain is frequently coming from spasms/contractions in your upper arm, and even in your shoulder muscles. When the muscle(s) are tight they are putting a strain on the joint, just like pulling your hair causes you to have pain at your scalp. When you stop pulling your hair, you scalp stops hurting — and when you release the knots (spasms) in your muscle, your joint will stop hurting.
You can get some good information from a free guide book that I wrote called “5 Steps to Natural Pain Relief,” which you can get by going to http://www.CurePainNaturally.com. This will lead you to discover how to self-treat all of the muscles in your body, including the ones that you are over-straining as you play tennis.
Fortunately it’s easy to learn how to self-treat the muscles that are causing the pain, it just takes a little bit of direction. My suggestion is that you will focus on treating your shoulder muscles, and all of the muscles of your arm.
You’ll be able to play tennis for years to come!
Hi Stephanie,
I’m happy to say that the odds are you haven’t done too much damage and that you’ll be able to get it resolved with a bit of focused attention. It’s pretty complicated to explain so I suggest you go to http://www.julstro.com and look at the section about the low back.
In brief, the muscles that pull you into the sitting/forward bending position have gone into spasm. This causes your pelvis to rotate forward and down, which in turn pushes your pelvis up in the back. As this is happening it causes the bone to press into your sciatic nerve. Before we would ever do any treatment in your sciatic nerve area (the butt), we need to address the muscles in the front so the pressure is taken off the pelvis.
When you are on the website you will see that I do Skype consultations, so it’s not a problem that you are in France. There is a ton of information on that website, plus you’ll find the blogs to be informative. After you have looked at it, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I truly believe that you will be able to self-treat each of the muscles that are causing this painful problem.
Hi CJ,
The fact that stretching and ART helped occasionally, tells me that we’ll be able to work together to resolve this issue. I am a licensed massage therapist, and as such I can’t advise for or against your physician’s advice, I can only tell you my point of view.
It has been my experience that rest frequently doesn’t cause the spasms to release. Also, I feel that continuing to do the movements that shorten the calf muscles including driving and walking, will only make the problem worse.
As far as stretching, it is important to release the spasms first, and then stretch. Consider this analogy: if you have a length of rope that is 12″ long, and you tie enough knots into it that it is now 11″ long, and then you try to stretch it back to 12″ again, you have made the knots tighter and overstretched the fibers on either side of the knot. In the body, the two ends of the “rope,” (muscle) are attached to a bone. Stretching the tight muscle without releasing the spasm can possibly tear muscle fibers, and put a strain on the bones on either end. However, when you release the spasms first, and then stretch, you will have success.
If you go to http://www.FlexibleAthlete.com you can read why repetitive movements, such as driving, will cause muscles to go into spasm. To release the spasm you apply direct pressure on the knot, and then hold it for 30-60 seconds. I’ve worked with thousands of people over the past 26 years, and I’ve seen chronic pain disappear by simply treating the muscle spasms FIRST, and then stretching. I believe it will work for you too!
Hi Annette,
I once broke my left ankle in half – both bones. It was terrible and after surgery I was non-weight bearing for 3 months. I ended up with severe SI joint pain because of putting all of my weight on my right leg. Your broken foot is very likely the cause of your SI joint pain, and it can be released, but you need to first eliminate all of the spasms from your low back to your foot.
I suggest you take a look at http://www.FlexibleAthlete.com so you can read about the muscles of the low back and legs. Also, you’ll see a DVD program called “Focused Flexibility Training” that teaches how to self-treat each muscle, followed by a 30 minute yoga session.
As a yoga instructor you have a much better understanding of the muscles and how they affect joints. As you were taking your weight off your broken foot, it caused you to jut your hip out in an exaggerated manner in order to maintain your balance. This caused the muscles to go into a spasm and put a strain on the insertion points of each muscle. The key is releasing the spasms before stretching.
On the website you will see how you can learn to self-treat all of the muscles, and then when all of the muscles are free of spasms, I suggest you do your yoga slowly and deliberately. Any yoga postures that stretch your psoas, especially the Sphinx, will help. Lying on a tennis ball (the ball shown on the website is better because it is hard in the center and soft on the outside)that is directly on your SI joint. Move your body to put additional pressure on the ball so you can begin to ease your SI joint back into place. It won’t be an immediate adjustment, but as you keep releasing the spasms, and working on the joint, it will go back.
Hi Christine,
The book that I would recommend is Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living as it has all the treatments for the entire body, with the exception of the muscles that cause the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.
I suggest you do all of the treatments for the neck, especially the posterior neck and the sternocleidomastoid (SCM). The posterior neck muscles put a strain on your cervical vertebrae, impinging on the auditory nerve. The SCM muscle puts a strain on your mastoid bone and has been proven to be a cause of ringing in the ears, as well as vertigo and ear pain.
The book is available as an eBook so you can have it immediately, and without paying expensive international shipping and duty charges. You can order it by going to http://www.julstro.com.
Feel free to come back and ask other questions if necessary.
Hi Debbie,
Yes, it sounds exactly like the masseter muscle. The masseter muscle is the thick muscle you can feel when you clench your teeth tightly. When the muscle relaxes you open your mouth, and when it contracts you close your mouth. So every time you talk, yawn, chew your food, etc., the muscle is being used. Obviously it’s easy for it to go into a spasm from repetitive strain. This is especially true if you chew gum or clench your teeth from stress or while you are sleeping.
If one side goes into spasm you get pain in that side of your jaw and you can’t open your mouth fully. If you try to open your mouth your jaw will move over toward that side because the muscle isn’t lengthening to allow for the open jaw.
I suggest you go to http://www.julstro.com and read more about how muscles cause pain, and how you can easily self-treat the muscles to release the tension.
The good news is, this is quite easy to fix by just applying pressure to the muscle. You’ll understand as you read the website.
Hi Annette,
There is a muscle called Tensor Fascia Lata that is located on the outside of your hip. The muscle contracts every time you take a step, and because it merges into your iliotibial band (ITB) that inserts on the outside of your knee joint, it is vital to prevent your knee from collapsing when all your weight is on one leg/foot. If you put your fingers on the muscle and then press in, you’ll feel it contract as you walk.
This muscle is repetitively strained when you are walking, and if you are fast walking you are taking even more steps so the muscle is being used rapidly, without giving it time to release.
If you go to http://www.julstro.com/hip-joint-pain-relief/ you can read more about the muscle, and how it causes hip pain.
Fortunately you can easily treat this muscle at home, releasing the tension of the fibers and taking the pressure off your hip joint.
Hi Annie,
I LOVE Irish dancing, and I’ve always appreciated how grueling it is for the dancers from their hips to their feet. I’m happy to tell you that it is easy to treat each of the muscles, but it’s more than just your hip joint and hamstrings, this pain pattern actually starts from your quadriceps, specifically your rectus femoris.
It will help you follow this discussion if you first go to http://www.julstro.com/hip-joint-pain-relief/. You’ll see that your quadriceps cause your leg to go straight after you bend your knee, so it is being repetitively strained from all of the dancing. The rectus femoris is the only one of the four quadriceps that originates on the tip of your pelvis, so when it is being repetitively strained – and therefore shortening – it is pulling DOWN on your pelvis and UP on your knee.
As your pelvis rotates down from this strain, it causes the muscles of your hamstrings to become OVERSTRETCHED. The worst thing to do is to stretch your hamstrings without first treating the muscles that have caused your pelvis to rotate. The overstretching occurs because the origin of your hamstrings are on the base of your pelvis, so as your posterior pelvis is going your hamstrings, which have their own spasms occurring and tying the fibers into knots, are now being overstretched as the pelvis moves.
The muscles of your hip become involved because they are twisted as your pelvis pulls them down in the front, and contracts them as your pelvis moves up in the back. This puts a great strain on the top of your thigh bone, called the greater trochanter.
When you read the website I mentioned, you’ll see that you need to do the treatments in a specific way to release them in a manner that will reverse the domino-effect your rectus femoris is putting on your pelvis. You’ll get more information about the domino-effect by going to http://www.15MinuteBackPainSolution.com
In any case, you can certainly have the muscles treated by a qualified muscular therapist who is trained to do trigger point therapy and myofascial release, or you can learn to treat yourself. Since you dance for hours and hours, it is beneficial for you to learn how to self-treat. I am certain that you can eliminate this painful problem and continue with your dancing.
Do you ever come to Florida to dance? I’ll keep watch, in Sarasota there is an excellent theater that brings in many beautiful artists, maybe you’ll come one day.