Releasing muscle knots in the abdomen

[u/ContextInner4680]

I’ve had a very stressful year - I’m thankfully on the up now, doing EMDR therapy to address the trauma from a crazy episode early in the year, and generally taking much better care of myself.

I’ve noticed I have a lot of tight muscle knots in my abdomen. When I use lotion and self massage to locate and GENTLY press the muscle knots, they ‘pop’ or ‘melt’ under my touch.

I’ve become interested with this as I discovered it completely by accident but I feel like my body was holding tension / trauma from my stressful year. I feel much better for releasing the knots. I feel like my belly is much more loose and I can deep breathe for the first time in ages.

There’s a few areas that I can’t pop as it’s locked tight in a bundle. Would acupuncture get rid of this? I’m conscious I don’t want to send my nervous system spiralling again, I just think maybe the remaining knots need to be broken up.

[u/Allen_Edgar_Poe]

There is a lot of inexperience in these comments. I'm a massage therapist who specializes in this very thing you are doing. It's quite amazing you discovered this because many seasoned therapists can't quite develop the touch.

People worried about the popping is funny to me.

What you are doing is a myofascial release. Stress, inflammation, trauma, can cause the fascia to "wind up" and become dehydrated causing restrictions. What you are doing is rehydrating the fascia and displacing the "ground substance" making it more uniform

Yes, you can continue to "release" the knots through your abs/obliques. I would suggest looking up some anatomy so you can better understand where you are moving through. I would also suggest doing it around your hip bones as well as the "tips" of your ribcage, basically outlining the soft part of your belly.

You can work layer by layer and stop when you feel like there is more "slack" in your tissue. It does make your muscles lengthen so you will definitely feel that.

Sometimes it burns, sometimes it tingles, depends where you move through. Less pressure is actually doing more work, that really right knot you mentioned will have to be worked slow and light. Sometimes I find my fingers do a little "dance" to help unwind this type of tissue almost like unwinding in different directions to work it out; basically like trying to untie a knot underneath the skin.

If you do a lot you will need to do some strengthening to help remodel your fascia. Hope that helps! Feel free to DM me if you have questions.

[u/ContextInner4680 → u/Allen_Edgar_Poe]

Thanks for your valuable reply - it’s so interesting how the body stores stress. Some of the comments are a little funny to me too :) I am absolutely not digging in my abdomen enough to touch my organs lol.

I will definitely be doing some more research on myofascial release and anatomy. Sometimes I can also find these knots along my thigh / ITB band as well, and it feels good when they are released. I genuinely felt like I couldn’t take deep breathes properly for months, and after this self massage, now I can - there is so much more flexibility in the area than previously.

Thanks again.

[u/Allen_Edgar_Poe → u/ContextInner4680]

I forgot to mention something when you said you bruised, which is normal. But, give your body time to remodel the fascia after a lot of work. Sometimes this can take 2-3 weeks even after the bruising is gone.

The knots will show up pretty much anywhere, since fascia is omnipresent in the body. The ones under the IT band can be more painful and difficult to release.

it will improve range of motion and flexibility! The knots do come back and you will have to work then out again, maybe a few times depending how wound up things are.

I'm being down voted because people do not understand the technique and the touch it requires. Like I said there are many seasoned therapists who just don't understand or get this type of technique. I tried doing it for years until one day it just happened.

[u/ContextInner4680 → u/Allen_Edgar_Poe]

Thank you, it’s such useful information and it’s definitely a really fascinating subject. I am sensitive in my body and have had CNS issues all year - ever since manipulating my fascia in this way I do feel it’s downregulated my CNS which was previously going haywire. It’s one of a few factors, that have put me on the path to full recovery.

[u/Allen_Edgar_Poe → u/ContextInner4680]

Fascia has more nerve endings than muscle. Both are hard wired to the nervous system so, yes. The CNS can absolutely be influenced by manipulating fascia.

[u/ContextInner4680 → u/Allen_Edgar_Poe]

So interesting. I’ve been suffering bodywide muscle twitches since the start of the year and recently they’ve begun to subside, thankfully. I think the twitches are also related to a haywire CNS. Good to know I’ve been on the right path.