PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXION

I am currently taking a course at USci called Health and Wellness. Now the only reason that I picked this class is to fullfill my requirements for my Minor in Exercise Science and Wellness Management. With that said, I am quite glad that I did pick this class. It is a nice change of pace. Instead of focusing on traditional medicine, it takes an alternate or holistic approach. Instead of taking pills for a cold, we learned to use a device called a Neti Pot (basically, you use a mini teapot to pour saltwater up your nose). The Neti pot, to my suprise, actually did work. The warm saltwater enters your nasal sinus and clears out the unwanted "gook" in there.

     Each and every week we are trying different approaches in Contemporary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Last week, we tried a stress relieving technique called Progressive Muscle Relaxion. If this sounds familiar, it is. We talked about it in the section dedicated to "Stress" in class. Progressive Muscle Relaxtion is kind of  like giving yourself a massage, kind of. The premise behind PMR is that you tense up a specific muscle group and hold it for several seconds. As you release the tension, you're ultimately relaxing your muscles at a deeper level. I have been trying this technique for a week or so now, and it really does work. I am not saying that it compares to a nice deep massage, but when you dont have time for that or someone willing to give you one it is a nice alternative. Here is a quick guidline to PMR as described on about.com:

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 5 Minutes

Here's How:

1. After finding a quiet place and several free minutes to practice progressive muscle relaxation, sit or lie down and make yourself comfortable.
2. Begin by tensing all the muscles in your face. Make a tight grimace, close your eyes as tightly as possible, clench your teeth, even move your ears up if you can. Hold this for the count of eight as you inhale.
3. Now exhale and relax completely. Let your face go completely lax, as though you were sleeping. Feel the tension seep from your facial muscles, and enjoy the feeling.
4. Next, completely tense your neck and shoulders, again inhaling and counting to eight. Then exhale and relax.
5. Continue down your body, repeating the procedure with the following muscle groups:
   • chest
   • abdomen
   • entire right arm
   • right forearm and hand (making a fist)
   • right hand
   • entire left arm
   • left forearm and hand (again, making a fist)
   • left hand
   • buttocks
   • entire right leg
   • lower right leg and foot
   • right foot
   • entire left leg
   • lower left leg and foot
   • left foot
6. for the shortened version, which includes just four main muscle groups:
   • face
   • neck, shoulders and arms
   • abdomen and chest
   • buttocks, legs and feet
   Quickly focusing on each group one after the other, with practice you can relax your body like ‘liquid relaxation’ poured on your head and it flowed down and completely covered you. You can use progressive muscle relaxation to quickly de-stress any time.

What You Need:

• A comfortable place.
• Some privacy.
• A few minutes.

PMR on about.com



If you are interested, here are two YouTube videos I found quite interesting (especially the neti pot video):
Enjoy!
PMR Video

Neti Pot Video


-Ryan