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About Julie Donnelly, LMT
Expertise
I can accept questions that relate to chronic or acute pain caused by muscle spasms and contractions. Repetitive Strain Injury is actually Cumulative Trauma to muscles. Releasing the spasm &/or contraction will relieve the strain that is felt at the insertion point on the bone.

Experience

Past/Present clients
Privacy prevents me from filling in this section without prior consent from my clients.
Life Experience: I began to get interested in the treatment of muscle spasms and contractions while I lived in Honolulu, HI. A sailing friend had severe pain following raceing each week. He would lie on the grass, bearly able to breathe from the pain in his back. I would rub his back, feeling "bumps" that I would "smooth out", and his pain would completely go away. This intrigued me, until I eventually went to school to learn how to be a Massage Therapist. I went to work on a cruise ship and had the experience of working on approximately 3000 people in one year - a great opportunity to really feel muscle spasms and contractions! I concentrated on thoroughtly learning one muscle every day, locating it on each client, and feeling "what hurts & what doesn't hurt". A six month stay in St. Thomas, USVI, was beneficial because I worked with an Osteopath who taught me excellent release techniques that I still use. Next I moved to Hawaii and worked in a clinic that only treated chronic pain patients. It was in Hawaii that I wrote my first book "Massage Therapy Healing Techniques Workbook". It was written for massage therapists and was a compilation of treatments for very specific painful conditions. The book was revised in 1996 and a companion video was added at that time. In 1995 I suffered with Frozen Shoulder - an incredibly painful condition. I was told I'd never be able to regain full range-of-motion in my shoulder. I did deep muscle therapy on myself, while a friend work where I couldn't reach. The condition healed 100%. In 1997 I developed carpal tunnel syndrome that put me out of business. Surgery was recommended, I refused because of my awareness that scar tissue from the surgery could be more detrimental than carpal tunnel syndrome. Using the knowledge I had gained through the years, especially what I had learned through the Frozen Shoulder episode, enabled me to work out what was REALLY causing the carpal tunnel condition. I worked each affected muscle, and eventually regained 100% use of my hand, completely pain free. I quickly began to treat my clients using this new knowledge, and soon afterward began teaching them how to do the self-treatment techniques. It worked everytime, except a person had already had surgery! I began clinical trials at a medical facility, where I still teach the techniques with incredible success. In 1999 Zev Cohen, MD, who was working with me developing the carpal tunnel treatment, joined me in the business. We wanted to bring this effective technique to the world, not limited to only our town. In 2000 I published my second book "How To Be Pain-less...A Beginner's Guide To The Self Treatment of Muscle Spasms". In this book, using 114 photographs, I show how to self-treat muscles throughout the body. In the summer of 2000, Dr. Cohen and I produced an instructional video teaching the carpal tunnel self treatment, and in March 2001 we opened a web site (www.aboutcts.com) to teach people about the muscular component of carpal tunnel syndrome, and to share the self-treatment system with the public.

You are here: Experts > Health/Fitness > Medical & Health Issues > Repetitive Strain Injury > Extensive leg pain and fatigue.

Repetitive Strain Injury - Extensive leg pain and fatigue.

Expert: Julie Donnelly, LMT - 10/28/2009

Question
Hi, the last three years I have had repeated groin injuries. Two months ago (Sept 4), I was helping my uncle roof his house and garage, very extensive physical work without stretching or previous physical labour for some time before that. I could feel pain and fatigue in my back but continued until my right knee got too sore and started spasming, etc. We then moved to a new house, and cleaned the old one. Unpacking. Then a trip to vegas via jet. That night in vegas there was a stabbing, burning pain in my lower right calf and above knee. That seems to have disappated somewhat. Some nights I had tingling in fingers. Lately when doing any bending over or kneeling or walking alot, pains in upper legs in front like I had been running a marathon. Fatigue feelings too. Chiro treatments have helped the back, but still frequent upper leg pains. When I stretched a bit today when walking the right groin felt a little sore.

Answer
Hi Darryl,

All of the symptoms, except your fingers, that you are describing can come from two muscles, the iliopsoas and quadriceps, being tight and rotating your pelvis down in the front and up in the back. Your fingers can be tingling from a bunch of muscles from your neck all the way to your hand. When any of the muscles are pressing on the nerves that go to your hand, you'll feel the tingling in your fingers, but that doesn't mean (in fact, it rarely means) that there is anything wrong with your fingers (and it's also not carpal tunnel syndrome, although you may be told that). It's a long explanation, but if you go to http://www.aboutcts.com you can read about how muscles from your neck to your hands cause these symptoms. Take a look at the page titled "Anatomy Lessons."

As for the rest of your aches, they are very real, but all connected. As I mentioned above, the iliopsoas and quadriceps commonly cause all of these symptoms, and even some you haven't mentioned. When you were working on the roof (bending over) and moving (again bending), and then sitting on a plane (hope you had fun in Las Vegas) you were again conracting the iliopsoas. The iliopsoas is a two part muscle; the psoas originates on the front side of your lumbar vertebrae and the iliacus originates along the inside of your pelvis. They merge together at about the level of the top of your pubic area and then they insert into the inside/top of your thigh bone.

When the iliopsoas contracts you either bend over, lift your leg to take a step (so it is repetitively strained when you are running), or you sit down. The muscle is actually contracted about 95% of a person’s life because it is even contracted when we sleep (unless you keep your trunk and legs perfectly straight while you are sleeping). The muscle shortens and this causes your pelvis to rotate forward and down. While this is happening your quadriceps need to shorten or it is too long to straighten your leg out from the bent position. The now-shorter quadriceps will continue the tug on the front of your pelvis, and you now have two muscles pulling your pelvis down in the front.

As your anterior pelvis is moving down, your pubic bone is moving backward (putting a lot of pressure on the groin muscles) and the posterior pelvis is moving UP. This forces the bone directly into the sciatic nerve, and because of the pelvic rotation the piriformis muscle is also pressing down onto the sciatic nerve. You can’t get relief no matter which way you move and you’ll only get the pressure off the nerve by treating the various muscles so your pelvis can rotate back where it belongs. To top it off, the pressure on the sciatic nerve will send a message to your hamstrings to contract, and also to your calf muscles. The calf will go into chronic spasms and even begin to cramp. To stop your calf from knotting up &/or cramping, you need to release all of the muscles that rotate your pelvis.

At the top of your posterior pelvis is a muscle called quadratus lumborum (QL for short). The QL originates on your 12th thoracic rib and runs along your lumbar vertebrae before inserting into the top of your posterior pelvis. When the QL contracts normally you lift your pelvis up in the back so your leg can move at the hip joint. However, when the pelvis has moved the bone up in the back your QL had to contract or it was too long to do the job. Then, when you try to sit down the QL is now too short to stretch and you feel pain at your lumbar spine and also along the top of your pelvis. You now have the iliopsoas pulling down on your low back when you stand, and your QL pulling down on your low back when you sit – you can’t find anyplace that doesn’t hurt.

The hamstrings are most likely already tight because they are responsible for bending your leg, and are also repetitively strained. The tight hamstrings will cause pain at the back of your knee, and can be felt at the top of your calf, at the hamstrings insertion point .

Putting direct pressure on the various muscles that rotate your pelvis will release the tension on the pelvis and therefore release the tension on the muscles and insertion points at the different joints.

You can read a lot about repetitive strain injuries by going to http://www.julstro.com. Also look at the sections titled "Muscles and Pain" and "What's Happening Exactly." I suggest you also take a look at the forum so you can read postings about low back pain, groin pain, and other related threads. You'll get a good idea of how to resolve this problem by self-treating the muscles involved.

Wishing you well,
Julie Donnelly

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