Cauda Equina syndrome is a spinal condition that its worth being aware about. Its uncommon, thankfully, but life changingly serious hence why I thought I’d write about it. Anyone who walks into the clinic with lower back pain gets this lecture. When the spinal cord gets to the lumbar spine (L1) it starts to splay […]

Hip Flexors…Part 19 of the Grumbly muscle blog What are hip flexors? Hip flexors are a group of muscles which flex (bend) the hip, the opposite to Gluteus maximus (glute max), which extends the hip. They also tilt the pelvis anteriorly. You have Psoas major & minor muscles and iliacus…together they are the ‘iliopsoas’. Anatomy […]

Erector Spinae Muscles…part 18 of the Grumbly Muscle blog… What are ‘Erector Spinae’? Well, they do what they say on the tin – they keep the spine erect. They’re a group of muscles, 3 in fact; Spinalis, Longissimus and Iliocostalis. Longissimus is, unsurprisingly, the longest of this group. What do they do? They are the […]

The common extensor tendon…part 17 of the grumbly muscle blog… What does a common extensor tendon do? It is the tendon implicated in Tennis Elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and becomes our forearm extensor muscles (then ones on the top of your forearm) which help us extend your fingers and hands at the wrist (bend back towards […]

Dry Needling The differences between dry needling and acupuncture are many, so I’ll start with the similarities, it’s a much shorter list: Both treatments use the same acupuncture needles…that’s pretty much it. Is dry needling the westernised version of acupuncture? Surprisingly no, it’s not. It was used by physicians as early as the 1920’s. In […]

Vitamin D This is the time of year when sunlight is in very short supply. As I sit at my desk with my bright light therapy lamp shining in my face, I asked myself what’s the difference between getting vitamin D3 via sunlight as opposed to getting it via diet and supplementation…(yeah, this is going […]

Hot Stones Sports Massage Origin The origin of hot stones dates back 5000 years. Hindus practiced the use of hot stones in India.  China was known to use the 3000 years ago placing stones on the abdomen to assist with digestion.  Hawaiians wrapped heated lava rocks in leaves and applied them to relieve pain. Russia, […]

The psychology and physiology of heat… As I stood under a really hot shower the other day, I let out a contented relaxed sigh at the heat and wondered why I did that, what does heat actually do to our muscles and its it on a physiological or psychological level? So I decided to do […]

Rectus Femoris…Part 16 of the grumbly muscle blog… So what’s a Rectus Femoris (Rec Fem)? Its both a quad muscle and a hip flexor because it crosses both hip and knee joints. As a quad muscle it extends the knee and, you guessed it, it helps flex the hip (with help from iliopsoas – a […]

Knots, trigger points and super tight muscles…Part 15 of the grumbly muscle blog… Why do muscles become painfully tight? I’ve had a couple of clients recently that have come in with one singular muscle that feels, in tone, akin to hard wood under the skin. This is called hypertonic (hyper = excessive amount & tonic […]