Our Technique
Why Julstro Method?
The Julstro Method is a hybrid of several proven techniques that you may have heard about: trigger point therapy and myofascial release, plus osteopathic techniques Julie learned while taking private instruction from a retired osteopath back in 1991. Julie blended all of these modalities with her unique style of movement and hand/body positioning to develop the Julstro Method of Osteopathic Muscular Therapy (JMOMT).
The Julstro Method is done over clothes, without oils, and this is one of the keys to its success. Convention massage slides on the skin, which prevents the therapist from getting to the muscle fibers that are the very deepest source of pain. Also, the movement of sliding has the therapist glide over the knotted muscle fibers. The Julstro Method focuses on each individual spasm, applying pressure on the knot and forcing out waste products that are triggering the fibers to shorten.
As the fibers shorten, they put a strain on either end of the muscle and you feel the pressure on the insertion point at the bone. It is the shortening of the muscle fibers that prevent you from having your full range-of-motion.
The best analogy to explain this phenomenon is simply pulling your hair. If you pull your hair at the end, your scalp hurts, and if you touch your hair, you’ll see that it is taut. Plus, you can’t turn your head in the opposite direction. If you keep trying to turn your head the pain will increase, and you could pull the hair right out of your scalp. But you don’t have a scalp problem, and you don’t need to stretch your hair, you simply need to release the tension on the end of your hair.
Julie has designed self-treatments for each of the muscles, and has written books that are the roadmaps to treating the source of pain, and releasing the tension that prevents normal movements.
The Julstro Method is far more than just modalities, it is a treatment plan that is designed for the specific muscles that create conditions that cause pain. There is a logic to the body and if you follow the logic, you get results. The Julstro Method works with the logic of the body!
Hand/Wrist
Your hand and wrist are actually the extension of the muscles of your lower arm. There are very few muscles in your hand, the vast majority of movements in both your wrist and your hand are actually caused by contractions in your lower arm.
For example, trigger finger is a debilitating condition that can have a serious impact on your daily life. But it is your flexor muscle (underside of your forearm) that curls your hand into a fist, and your extensor muscles (upper side of your forearm) that opens your tight fist and then lifts your hand up off the table. If either of these muscles get tight you won’t be able to move.
Consider that when your flexor muscles curl your hand into a fist, and then one of the muscles stays tight, when you try to open your hand that one finger won’t release. You’ll be told you have trigger finger, and you do, but the cause of the problem is the tight flexor muscle. To uncurl your finger the tight flexor muscle must release.
It’s the same with every muscle in your hand/wristand actually in every joint in your body. Rarely does the pain you are feeling, or the limited range-of-motion you are experiencing, come from the area where you feel the pain.
Elbow
Your elbow moves because of the contractions in your biceps (bends your elbow) and triceps (straightens your arm). Since your biceps originate in your shoulder, they can cause severe anterior shoulder pain, and pain at the inside of your elbow. Tight biceps will also prevent you from totally straightening your arm.
When your triceps are tight, they will cause pain at the point of your elbow as you try to bend your arm. You may not be able to do a curl or touch your fingers to the top/front of your shoulder. They contribute to posterior shoulder pain as because the long head of your triceps has an attachment on your shoulder blade, and the lateral head is on your arm bone (humerus) close to the top of the bone.
Shoulder
Your shoulder has more muscle attachments than any other joint in your body. Each muscle pulls your arm in a different direction. When you consider the wide range of motions you can do with your shoulder, it’s easy to see why there are so many muscle attachments.
When you are having pain, &/or you can’t move properly, the Julstro Method looks at what movement you are having a problem making and then considers what muscle needs to lengthen.
The shoulder is so complex that it is easier to look at each condition and discuss the muscle(s) involved in that specific condition.
Neck
You can do a head roll because of multiple muscles pulling in different directions. You have muscles that actually originate in your neck and insert in other parts of your body (ie: the levator scapulae), and there are muscles that originate elsewhere and insert into your neck/skull (trapezius).
Your neck is another complicated joint. Some muscles are pulling your head so you can look at the ceiling (ie: splenius capitis & splenius cervicis), and muscles cause you to look down at your cell phone (anterior scalenes). Another muscle turns your head to the side (sternocleidomastoid). Add them all together and you have a head roll. You can see the complexity of the body, it’s a beautiful system of pulleys.
If one or more of these muscles shorten due to a repetitive strain injury or other problem, you won’t be able to move in the opposite direction, and you may suffer from headaches.
The Julstro Method examines each of the muscles, figuring out which muscle is the first to be treated and then the logical order of treatment for all the other muscles.
Back
The long muscles of your back (erector spinae group) affects your entire spine. Your ribs insert into your spine and it’s the movement of the muscles on your ribs that bend you to the side and enables you to stand up straight. Plus, the muscles pull on the individual vertebrae and are frequently the cause of problems such as a slipped disk, impinged nerves, and a long list of other problems.
There are also tiny muscles (intercostals) that are directly affecting your ability to breath. If one of these muscles goes into a spasm, for example when you have had bronchitis and did a lot of coughing, you won’t be able to take a deep breath. You may even have a “side-stitch” that feels like someone is pushing a pin into your side.
The Julstro Method treats each of these muscles separately, focusing sustained pressure on the spasms (knots) that shorten the muscle fibers. As the knots release, the fibers lengthen, and the strain is removed from the insertion points.
Pain in your low back, hip, groin, sciatica, and knee are all caused by a specific order of muscle spasms. Treating some of these spasms, but not the others, will give less than optimal results. In some, the areas of pain won’t release at all. This is one time when the order of treatment, or self-treatment, is vital. A therapist trained in JMOMT and the Julstro Protocol, will be able to give pain relief. You can also discover how to effectively self-treat these muscles by reading Julie’s book The 15 Minute Back Pain Solution.
Knee
You probably are familiar with your quadriceps and hamstrings, but knee stability and movement are impacted by many other muscles. Muscles from as far up as your low back have a direct relationship to knee pain, and muscles you’ve probably never heard of (popliteus) will cause pain deep inside your knee joint when you try to straighten your leg.
If you’ve been told you have a medial meniscus problem, this can be caused by a muscle that originates on the tip of your anterior pelvis (sartorius) or one that originates on your pubic bone (gracillis), so it’s good to search for the various sources of pain and not just focus on the symptoms of pain.
The Julstro Method looks at what you are specifically saying is the site of your pain, then figures out which muscles are involved. You can either go to a qualified JMOMT therapist, or self-treat them effectively. Julie will show you the way!
Hip
Second only to the shoulder, the hip has so many muscles that originate or insert into the area that it’s impossible to narrow it down to just one muscle. Fortunately, it’s simple to treat all of the muscles of the hip and get benefits you may not even be expecting.
There are hip muscles that cause pain in your foot, and muscles that cause pain and limited range-of-motion from your low back to your feet. As you treat the area in general, and then focus on specific muscles that are taught in Julie’s books, or done by qualified JMOMT therapists, you’ll get the relief you are seeking.
Ankle/Foot
Like every other place in the body, problems in your ankle and foot are likely coming from other parts of the body. In this case, your lower leg muscles make almost all of the movements in both your ankle and foot.
Conditions such as Plantar Fasciitis and Sprained Ankle are successfully treated by working on the muscles of your lower leg. Fortunately, this is easy to do yourself by reading either Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living or The Pain-Free Athlete.
You Are Your Own Best Therapist!
Julie is currently teaching more massage therapists nationwide how to be specialists in her unique techniques: the Julstro Method of Osteopathic Muscular Therapy (JMOMT). Every month new therapists are trained, but for now it’s best to learn how to do the JMOMT treatments to yourself. Contact Julie to see if there is someone trained in your area.