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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.

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Repetitive Strain Injury - lower abdominal strain

Expert: Julie Donnelly, LMT - 11/4/2009

Question
Julie:
Around 18 months ago I was doing some squat exercises at which point one morning I was having soreness next to my belly button and my lower abdominal wall above the gentials was having small spasms. Accompanying this was a feeling of urgency like having to pee as well as a small tingle of pain in the penis tip that would come and go at will. Sitting at work proved to irriate the symptoms as there was also discomfort in the perineum, mainly on the right side (same side as the the belly button soreness). I have been to countless doctors since and no one has been able to identify the solution to this problem or even identify the source. I had a similar problem like this 17 years ago when I was 19 which at that time took 9 months to dissolve, but not as bad as this time. It has now been since March of 2008 and the problem has me completely depressed and in a state of physical aggravation. The doctors have explored all of the urinary and rectal causes for pains in the pelvic area but all bloodwork, urine samples, sigmoidoscopy came up clear. The urinary pressure has for all intents and purposes gone, but I still get sharp pains in the penis tip from time to time as well as a dull ache when there is an erection in the middle of the night, again, not always. I have absolutely no trouble urinating or ejaculating. My instinct is that this is some kind of strain to the muscles, but there are so many down there, I don't know which ones. As this problem wears on, it now extends into the upper hamstrings on the right side. Julie, I feel like I pulled something from the belly buttom down to the perineum. Sitting, lifting, bending makes it worse. No signs of hernia from the doctors, but no solutions either. Physical therapy made it worse with all the stretching we did, similar to the squat postion that seemed to cause all this mess. Do you have any idea what I pulled and how to get it to resolve, I am at my wits end and it has taken a huge toll on my personal and professional life. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Answer
Hi Kirk,

I'm so glad you've been to all the doctors and had every test they could imagine. This proves to me that you're right, this is muscular, because there isn't any test out there that will show muscle tension. Yet, tight muscles will impinge on nerves (causing the tingling, burning, and numbness), pull on insertion points (causing joint pain and limiting range of motion), and press on veins and arteries causing circulation problems. All of this and nobody looks at the muscles in a way that releases the tension.

As you've seen, stretching muscles that are contracted is less then helpful and will frequently cause more pain. The muscles are tight, but before they can be stretched they need to have the spasms (also called trigger points) released. Fortunately, I've been teaching people how to do this for 20 years, I really believe you'll be able to self-treat.

First, I suggest you go to http://www.julstro.com and read about repetitive strain injuries, also looking at the sections titled "Muscles and Pain" and "What's Happening Exactly." Then go to the forum and look for threads that have to do with low back/hip/groin pain. The same muscles cause pains that go from the low back to your knees.

All of the pains you are describing can be caused by a muscle that most people aren’t even aware of, a muscle that is deep in the body and that rotates the pelvis, causing a strain on the pubic bone as it is moving backward. The name of the muscle is the iliopsoas. It's a domino-effect with a series of painful results.

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, 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. Also, while the muscle is tightening it will cause a compression impingement on the femoral nerve that innervates the front of your thigh.

While this is happening your quadriceps (thigh muscle) needs 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 and the posterior pelvis is moving UP. As your pelvic bone is moving backward it causes pain at your groin and inner thigh/knee. Your inner knee hurts because the muscles of the inner thigh originate on your pubic bone, so as it moves backward it is putting a strain on the muscle fibers and they are pulling on the insertion points along the inside of your thigh bone and at your inner knee joint. Also, the movement of the pelvis going up in the back will press the bone into your sciatic nerve and all of the burning and tingling associated with sciatica, and it will cause a misalignment of your SI joint.

Also, the pelvic rotation is going up in the back it puts pressure on your hamstrings because it causes them to overstretch. 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 the base of your butt.

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.

If you have more questions, feel free to come back here or go onto the forum on my website, I'll be happy to continue working with you so you can self-treat and get back to living your life normally again.

Wishing you well,
Julie Donnelly

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