Changing The Mindset Of A Stubborn Muscle

Allison Denney

Muscles are stubborn. Kinda like humans are stubborn. We say we want a new heart, more courage, or a bigger brain. But all too often we are so thoroughly entrenched in wacky patterns that staying in our ruts is way easier than facing a new challenge. So we wait for someone to point us the way to the great Wizard of Oz who will grant us our requests. This only ever happens in the movies, though. I love a good movie. But real life is different. There are no munchkins singing us toward the yellow brick road. And change? Well, real change is a lot of hard work.

Our muscles would also love a good musical accompaniment to feeling better. When clients come to see us, working on their issues can be frustratingly exhausting. Trying to convince guarding patterns, over or under firing patterns, or needy trigger points is like speaking vegetable to a teenager. Monotonous with no relief in sight. Techniques fail. Implementing new behaviors fade. And getting them to adapt to a new reality is up there with becoming the wizard himself.

So how do you get a muscle to change when it doesn’t want to? Excellent question. First - we really only want to tackle this quandary when we KNOW it is genuine case of stubbornness. There are many scenarios (disease, genetics, etc) when the trail (?) of acceptance and managing dysfunction might be the better choice. But if the owner of a stubborn muscle decides its time, establishing a yellow brick road, so to speak, a mapped out path to the wizard of happy mobility, is where you come in.

Shifting Habits

Getting a muscle to leave bad habits behind and embrace new ones comes down to 3 things: A seismic shift, a hard truth, and a life lesson.

1. The seismic shift:

This first moment - the day your client walks in and decides they are done with the way things have been - this is the tectonic slip their muscles need. Becoming fed up with chronic pain or dysfunction is real.. But when they hit that proverbial wall, their muscles can feel it. Deep down. Their nervous system is firing new signals, their endocrine system is pumping out fresh feelings, and their muscular system is picking up what they are putting down. There is a new vibe in this anatomical town. This is the perfect moment for you to map out the next steps.

2. The hard truth:

This lands a little easier once there has been a necessary earthquake. Although this part might present more obstacles for you. This is the moment when you have to reassess past techniques and dissect what needs to happen next. Maybe you stick with your approach. But more often than not, the sessions will need to look different.

Here's an example. Your client has a trigger point that has set up shop and made itself at home in their right QL. Often it only whispers. But every so often it yells. And when it does, it leaves a whole bunch of rubble in its wake. Everything from walking to sleeping to even breathing becomes an anger inducing. After many weeks, moths, or even years of this pattern, your client finally decides they are at their edge, and you, now, need to navigate what comes next.

What exactly is this QL doing that is so wrong? Time to dive in. How does this person move through the world? I’m not just talking about gait patterns and one-sided bag carrying. I’m talking about how they sit, stand, cook, clean, work, rest, and literally interact with the world around them. Where is that hard truth that is hanging on to some habitual rhythm that has created this downward spiral? It’s usually not obvious. But with some diligence and patience, it will reveal itself eventually.

3. The life lesson:

Finally, it’s time for a good old fashioned life lesson. Because, you know, we can never get enough of those. We become familiar with them when we experience our first heartbreak, or our first financial stress. But the older we get, and the older our soft tissue gets, the more muddied these lessons become. To go back to my example with the QL, a young, fairly strong glute medius might step in to help out or a more adaptable psoas might readily accommodate. Older muscles and fascia though? Not so much.

Helping a client to motivate in this new direction will literally be the yellow bricks you lay down that lead to that wizard of happy mobility. Offer some empathy when they tire from the effort. Cheer them on when they recognize an unproductive movement pattern on their own. And remind them of their main goal. It is easy to take our eye off the prize when we are tired and just want to lean into old muscle memory patterns. Or wait for some munchkins to show up on our doorstep.

In Short

Growth can be painful. Everyone knows that. But they say that the key to staying young is to never stop learning. This holds true for our muscles, as well. Our jobs as hands-on practitioners is not limited to trigger point therapy and myofascial release. It’s one that includes brick-laying, warding off doubts and fears, and hopefully, eventually, opening the gates to Oz. Only - maybe you are actually the Wiz in this version. Why not you? Just don’t pretend you have a big green head.