Muscle Scraping for Pain Relief & Recovery – Gua Sha
Sponsored Content: This video contains paid product placement. Thank you to Achedaway for sponsoring this video and providing Doctor Jo with free Heated Scraper to use. If you purchase products from these links/ads, Doctor Jo will earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Muscle Scraping, or instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM), can help promote tissue healing, improve motion, and help reduce pain. This form of scraping therapy evolved from the traditional Chinese medicine healing technique known as Gua sha.
With traditional IASTM, a manual tool is used to help get deeper into the tissue for treatment. These scraping therapy tools are made of stainless steel, stone, plastic, or other materials. In this video, I’m using the Achedaway Heated Scraper. It combines a scraping tool with heat as an added benefit. This combination allows for two techniques to be combined into one treatment.
When glutes are weak or not working properly, other muscles overcompensate, which can lead to discomfort, dysfunction and even injury. Here are some more reasons strong glutes are important.
Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions can cause pain all over the body. This is often called widespread pain. The key to finding relief with stretches and exercises with these types of conditions is to find the right amount of intensity for you. Lying down while performing simple stretches and exercises often helps.
Groin pain can come from many things, so it’s important to get a proper diagnosis. Groin pain can be from an adductor strain, labral tear, hip impingement, hip arthritis, or a sports hernia. These simple stretches and exercises should help relieve the pain.
People often have bad posture when they are working at a desk or gaming all day. This video will show you some great tips on what to look for in a chair to give you the best sitting posture to help reduce neck and back pain.
Breathing exercises can be a great way to help relieve stress and anxiety. This video focuses on two relaxing breathing techniques: Square breathing (aka box breathing, 4x4 breathing, 4-part breath, etc.) and Pursed breathing.
Bodyweight exercises are great (especially for beginners) because they can be done without any equipment or an expensive gym membership. Many simple and effective exercises can be done with just our bodyweight. The bodyweight exercises in this video are great for helping to improving strength, balance, and overall health.
Exercising your tendons isn't something most people think about since tendons aren’t muscles, but tendon-specific exercises can improve joint health, reduce pain and stiffness, and improve speed and agility.
When the pectoralis (pec) muscles are strained, overused, or even tightened due to bad posture, it can cause chest pain and tightness. These easy chest pain relief techniques should help, but it’s always important to check in with your doctor if you are having chest pain to rule out any serious conditions.