i find balls hard to hit bigger muscle groups though, but yea they are key in accupressure on those ligaments that tie your glutes together

what ive recently been doing which my trainer recommened is that when using a foam roller dont just go up and down the muscles but stop on a area and then work it side to side, ie twist your glutes/calves on the roller instead of up and down, works them in a different way and usually loosens them up really well

Try the following:

1. Strengthen your glues and core

2. Foam roll your legs and glutes

3. Stretch out your posterior chain and hips, focus on the glutes, ham strings and calf muscles

Tale a good look at yourself in the mirror to see if you have significant anterior or posterior pelvic tilt, this will tell you a lot about what your muscles are doing.

Chiro is a waste of money IMO, they are nothing more than modern age charlatans. It takes weeks/months/years to develop the sort of muscular imbalances that often result in lower back pain, 15 minutes and a dozen pops later there won't be meaningful improvement.

I agree that chiro is a temporary fix, but I think I need a temporary fix for an upper back issue right now.

Would someone please recommend a good chiro in S.Van / south Bby / NW so that I can get some temp relief?

I’ve always been happy going to the oval in Richmond to lifemark. They focus on sports injury so they’re used detailed stretching routines and workouts to help you recover.

My old chiro left to work overseas, this is his replacement. Haven’t seen him yet but just booked my appointment for next Monday.

https://www.lifemark.ca/therapists/d...SAAEgK2dvD_BwE

My SI sprain went away (half my foot was numb for a while) after a while. The main exercised that helped was this:


So I've been rehabbing my shoulder and my hip/right glute. I'm not sure if I posted about my shoulder here, but for the longest time whenever I would hit around 3 plates on bench, my shoulder would start to go out. Well this time it REALLY went out, like severe inflammation for the longest time. It left me unable to press vertically or horizontally for months. And of course I've talked about my glute issue here for months if not years.

I bought two things to help with both. 1) I bought this book on Kindle for $10

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....1Z-wNdQNqL.jpg

And started doing the exercises last month. And holy shit it's already working. Last month, I couldn't use my shoulder to do anything in certain positions.. Reaching for the lamp switch in bed, even taking off clothes was painful. The exercises in this book seem to be helpful, and I have started doing bench press again with the help of the second accessory, the Sling Shot. It really seems to help keep things in place, and I can really tell the difference between using it and not using it (during warmup sets). The difference is actually becoming less noticeable every week, so I think this along with the book is helping me learn to bench more safely for my shoulder.

The hip exercises are basically all about activating the glutes properly, something I have always had an issue with on squats and deads. I haven't pushed the weight up yet, but so far I am able to at least do squats twice a week without lower back pain. Usually I get a 'pop' as soon as I start squatting regularly. I haven't tested with heavy weight yet, I decided to take it really slow this time. This one feels even more risky than bench.

The main exercise that helped with my shoulders is this one:

That first video is literally the only thing that can get me back in motion if I aggravate the discs i have a problem with in my lower lumbar.

One thing he didn’t mention which is seemingly VERY important and was told to be by my chiropractor (the best Chiro I’ve ever worked with who never once cracked my back or even got me to return after only 2 appts) is that you do not want to engage anything when doing those stretches. It’s natural to want to engage your butt and glutes when arching like that but it’s completely counter-productive to do so, you want to stay completely loose.

Funny enough when I hurt my back last time I didn’t realize how fucking tight my ass and glutes were until I was laying on the floor unable to even stand up and I rolled around and grabbed my vaporizer. After a few hits and letting the high set in i was like...Jesus fucking Christ..my glutes and as are like I’m trying to hold a fucking marble in there to save my life..

Really helped me with the realization of disengaging then

That stretch feels really good, so simple as well.

Just had my chiro appt. he said upper back is very very tight. He had difficulty cracking my left/right sides near the shoulder. Need to really focus on stretching

Edit: any favourite gym based stretching would be welcome. Google just shows basic ass office worker stretching

Most trainers I follow say not to stretch... Except for muscles which are obviously very tight. Focus on mobility instead. Your chiro should tell you what to do!

what does focus on mobility mean
ive heard not to stretch prior working out but y not after

It all depends on your school of thought and what kind of exercise routine you’ll do. Take this with a grain of salt from a fatty like me

If you’re doing heavy powerlifting / bodybuilding type sets it’s been found that stretching before a workout can fatigue the muscles early and leave a few pounds off your 1rm if that’s the goal.

If you’re into more calisthenics or body weight exercises, then stretching before you workout is a very good idea. A lot more fast movements with the body with larger angles and more bending.

It’s always good to stretch after a routine. Doesn’t mean you gotta go HAM on it. Think more of the opposite movement. If you’ve been chest day and a lot of cable flys that involve curing the chest/rolling the shoulders in, do a light weight/high rep exercise that will help open the chest back up to help neutralize the muscle.

Think of when you carry shopping bags home. After you put them down your hand is left looking like an eagle claw. You stretch it backwards to loosen it up. Your body’s no different

Focus on mobility = work on strengthening joints and flexibility. Use tension and distractions in natural movement, rather than just ream your joints in the wrong direction to stretch a muscle

I work in exercise rehab for those who have motor vehicle accidents and workplace injuries.

There's been a lot of evidence to say light stretching throughout the workout can actually be effective at relaxing muscles. The goal of this type of stretching should simply be to tune down tense muscles, and NOT to increase flexibility.

THEN, after the workout would be a good time to actually work on getting flexible. This means pushing your threshold a little bit further to stretch the muscles.

Like Skinnypupp said, just don't go overly aggressive to the point where it hurts. Mild discomfort, but no pain

Alot of people stretch to the point where they get into really bad postures for their back and joints, which can actually increase inflammation