11 thoughts on “SMR Movements/Exercises”

1. Rob,

   Use your best judgment when you get hands-on therapy. If you feel comfortable with the knowledge and techniques a therapist is using to provide you with relief, then I’m all thumbs up! My personal favorites for MR are A.R.T. and Graston Technique (you can search for a provider here).

   From your description, it sounds like your psoas is too tight. Proceed with caution when doing the following, but this is the exercise for SMR for the psoas.

   Keep doing SMR for your quads. The strengthening you are doing for your glutes and the rest of your posterior chain is good. If you don’t have a good coach, then I strongly suggest looking into a local CrossFit gym. They tend to be more tuned into proper hip & lumbar spine function than other gyms. You should do stretches such as the Cobra stretch from Yoga (coming soon under our stretches section) and the lunge stretch in our stretches section. You should stretch and do SMR at least once daily, but more often is better. If you are getting more tight or more sensitive each day, discontinue your personal efforts and get professional assistance. You should feel better and better each day that you work on yourself. If not, your problem is outside the realm of self-care.

   Good luck, and keep us abreast of your progress!

2. Hi from the UK! A couple of years ago I overloaded my quads doing a static semi-squatting tai chi pose for far too long. This has lead to chronic back pain from my hip muscles binding up and trying to pull my lower back into my thighs. I cannot sit for long at all. I rolled out my thighs and did quad/hip stretches and that has improved the lordosis i had. But now my hamstrings, ITB and TFLs are really tight. I appear to now have what they call swayback. Local therapists and the medical system has provided no relief so I’m thinking of traveling to the Natural Therapy Centre (.co.uk). They practice MR but they say it is different to deep tissue massage so I have my reservations.Their method is the one taught by John F Barnes, are you familiar with this approach? I know I need to improve my biomechanics as well as doing my SMR, not so easy without instruction. I worked on activating the glute max and have progressed but now plateaued. Any help appreciated.

3. will do. thanks.

4. First off, tell him what you’ve been doing and what you’ve seen change. He may encourage you to continue, but he may want you to leave an area alone after he works on it to allow it to recover. Be sure and ask him if it’s okay for you to do SMR following a treatment from him. It is possible to overdo the soft tissue work.

   Let us know how it goes with him. If you like the work he does and want to recommend him to others we will gladly put him up on our therapists page. We want good therapists that come from personal recommendations.

5. Hi Jeff. back again. next week I will be visiting the chiropractor nearby who offers the Graston Technique, so I wondered if you have any suggestions on questions or feedback for him. thanks.

6. thanks, Jeff. I appreciate the advice.

7. Carl, if you’ve recently opened up some tissue that was locked up for some time, it may take a few days to feel ‘normal.’ The key is to hydrate like crazy and make sure you are getting your nutrients and rest. You might need to slightly scale back the intensity of the SMR or workout for a day or two but that should only rarely be necessary. When you really dig in with the roller or ball it can be very much like deep tissue massage, so schedule accordingly.

8. thanks, Jeff. I appreciate your help. although range of motion has increased, i am pretty sore after working out, but I assume that’s because my muscles aren’t accustomed to the new range.

9. thanks, Jeff. I appreciate your help.

10. Hey, Carl. For the most part you should feel smaller knots and less sensitivity in your muscles along with the increase in range of motion. If your knots seem to stay the same, even after continued SMR practice, then either the true cause of your muscle tension is not being addressed (use the joint tables in the SMR Manual to see what other muscles are attached in the area you are working) or your issue needs the assistance of a qualified professional. Be honest with yourself. If you are not seeing progress, make the call to get the help you need. If you are making progress, even just sight progress, keep working at it. Some issues take months to remedy. If you have faulty biomechanics that reinforce the problem you are having, then you will get a little better with SMR and stretches then a bit worse when you do that activity, so you’ll just spin your wheels over time.

    It’s the combination of releasing the knots and adhesions coupled with improved biomechanics that brings you lasting relief. Keep up the good work!

11. Hi Jeff. I wanted to ask you about progress and what to expect as I practice SMR more. I already have some more range of motion, esp in my shoulders and upper back where I am tightest, but I wondered what is the usual course of progress, or to put it another way how do I know I am on the right track? thanks.