4 Keys to When Tissues Won’t Release
4 Keys to When Tissues Won’t Release
Have you ever had a client whose muscles just won’t let go no matter how much pressure you use? Or you’re mobilizing a joint that just won’t loosen up?
What do you do when tissues won’t release? Often times our initial instinct is to use more force or pressure. As physical therapists or massage therapists we’re taught to just make it happen. Yet is more force or pressure really effective? In my humble opinion: NO, it’s not!
There is a reason that muscle is tight, that the joint won’t let go or that the pain won’t go away.
Root Cause of Why Tissues Won’t Release
As bodyworkers, it’s our responsibility to figure out what’s really going on with the structures and why the tissues won’t release. We need to get to the root cause of the problem. However do we really need to figure out the nitty gritty to get the results we are looking for? The answer is: Maybe.
Bringing Attention When Tissues Won’t Release
Charles Darwin has conveyed that anytime we bring conscious concentration on any part of the body, physical change occurs.
Sometimes the tissues will release just by bringing attention to them. So let’s start off easy by bring our client’s attention to the area of the body that is holding tension and the tissues won’t release. You can start by asking them to breathe down to the area that is not releasing. Breath and awareness is a great first step: Always!
Getting Curious When Tissues Won’t Release
If things change with awareness then great! If that isn’t enough and the still the tissue won’t release then we need to get more curious with the body. I often live in the question when working on a body and constantly have the following questions floating in my head:
- What do I sense?
- What do I feel?
- What does this tissue want to do?
When I stay open and curious then my intuition can help guide me to what needs to happen when the tissues won’t release.
In fact this is the question I ask when I get stuck not knowing what to do next: “What needs to happen here for this tissue to release?” By saying it out loud my client’s and my consciousness both get to work and then something usually pops up. The client may say something important or an idea might pop into my head and we go from there.
Letting the Tissues Guide You
How do I know if what my client said was important or significant or not? I listen to the response in the tissues. If there is a change in the tissues, then what my client said was significant and connected to why the tissues won’t release. If nothing changes, then it’s not right.
Being able to listen to the tissue’s response is the most significant factor in making sure you are going down the right path. The body can’t lie. The tissues guide us.
Learning to listen to the tissues and let them guide your sessions is where the magic lies and what allows you to go deeper into the root cause of issues being held in the tissues and making it so the tissues won’t release.
Birth Healing Intensive 2024
Exploring with curiosity and without an agenda gives you and your clients the best odds of discovering what might really be going on. Once you tap into what is really going on, then you need to know what or how to help process whatever it is or refer out to someone who may be able to better support your client’s needs.
In the Birth Healing Intensive program launching in February 2024, you will learn the 7 different issues that might be held in the body and how to effectively address them with your clients. The beautiful thing about this work is the body and your intuition (more coming on how to strengthen your intuition) guide you taking you and your client to the next level in whole body health.
This work is the key to getting to the root cause of why the tissues won’t release, let go or mobilize. It’s NOT about forcing anything to happen!
About the Author: Lynn Schulte is a Pelvic Health Therapist and the founder of the Institute for Birth Healing, a pelvic health continuing education organization that specializes in prenatal and postpartum care. For more information, go to https://instituteforbirthhealing.com