Rejoice Wellness

Happy October Friday happened 🎃
taking a break from all seriousness

These muscles work every step you take.

And most people barely know they’re there.

The front and outside of your lower leg contain muscles that help lift your foot, control ankle movement, and support you while you walk, run, climb stairs, or change direction.

The tibialis anterior is one of the big ones in the front.

The fibularis muscles run along the outside of the lower leg and help support ankle movement and stability.

They’re not glamorous.

They’re just quietly working all day long.

And honestly, that’s one of the things I love most about the body.

So many parts of us are doing incredible work before we ever think to notice them.

Not every pain in your butt is sciatica.

A lot of people use “sciatica” as a catch-all for low-back or glute pain.

But true sciatic nerve symptoms are often more nerve-like — burning, electric, numb, tingly, weak, or travelling down the leg.

Sometimes the picture is more muscular.

The quadratus lumborum (QL) is one muscle that can refer discomfort toward the sacrum and gluteal area.

That’s why assessment matters.

Where you feel pain doesn’t always tell us exactly where it’s coming from.

I also included a simple QL stretch you can try gently at home.

Your jaw muscles work harder than you think.

Talking.
Chewing.
Clenching.
Grinding.
Concentrating.
Stress.

The masseter and temporalis are two major muscles involved in jaw movement, and they can become very noticeable when they’re carrying a lot of tension.

A lot of people don’t even realize massage can include the jaw and face — but depending on what you’re experiencing, these areas can absolutely be worth assessing.

And sometimes the thing you call “jaw tension” is part of a bigger picture involving the neck, temples, face, or headaches.

Another perfect example of:

Why Are You Working THERE?

Breast massage is a thing. 🫣

This is one of those topics people often don’t realize even exists within massage therapy.

Because breast and chest-wall treatment involve sensitive areas, the conversation around why it may be considered, informed consent, boundaries, and your right to change your mind matters just as much as the treatment itself.

The goal of this series has never been to make anything weird.

It’s actually the opposite:

the more you understand your body and your care, the less mysterious it becomes.

Thank you to everyone who has taught me, trusted me, worked alongside me, laughed with me, and allowed me to keep growing through one of the longest chapters of my life.

Here’s to year 20. 🤍

SITS muscles are not your sitting bones 😂

Welcome to another day of Why Are You Working THERE?

Your rotator cuff is actually made up of four muscles:

Supraspinatus
Infraspinatus
Teres minor
Subscapularis

That’s where the acronym SITS comes from.

These muscles help stabilize the shoulder joint and guide movement of the arm.

They’re relatively small compared with some of the bigger muscles around the shoulder, but they do a lot of important work.

So if your shoulder feels weak, achy, restricted, or just not quite right, your RMT may be thinking about the rotator cuff even if that’s not the area you expected us to work.

Tiny acronym. Very important muscles.

I hope you know how amazing you are.

Your body is doing so much for you every second of the day that you never even have to think about.

Take your diaphragm.

It sits underneath your lungs and contracts every time you breathe in, helping create the space needed to draw air into the lungs.

Then it relaxes as you breathe out.

And because of where it sits, that movement also creates gentle pressure changes through your abdomen and trunk.

Just by breathing.

You don’t have to perform it perfectly.

You don’t need the biggest breath possible.

Just put one hand on your chest, one on your abdomen, and notice what your body is already doing.

Sometimes body awareness starts with something as simple as paying attention.

Your body is working for you all day long. It deserves some appreciation too.

Where does your neck end, your shoulder begin, and your upper back start?

Honestly, for a lot of people, it all just feels like one tight area.

Welcome to Why Are You Working THERE?

Today I’m showing 4 of my go-to stretches for the neck and shoulders:

Chin tuck — suboccipitals
“Armpit sniff” — levator scapulae
“Ooh that stinks” — upper trapezius
Stargazer — sternocleidomastoid / SCM

The goal isn’t to yank on your neck or force range.

Go gently, breathe, and pay attention to what you actually feel.

And if your symptoms include numbness, tingling, weakness, or pain travelling into the arm or hand, that’s a good reason to get assessed rather than assuming it’s just a tight muscle.

Sometimes “my neck hurts” is a much bigger conversation.

Unless you’re a bodybuilder, you probably haven’t heard of the serratus anterior.

But it’s such a beautiful muscle — and it may be part of what’s happening when you feel tightness around the upper back, shoulder blade, or side of the ribs.

Welcome to Day 9 of Why Are You Working THERE?

The serratus anterior sits along the side of the rib cage and helps move the shoulder blade forward and around the ribs when you reach, push, or lift your arm.

And here’s the part I love:

Sometimes the goal is to activate it.

Other times, we may want to explore movement in the opposite direction.

That’s why I’m showing both in today’s reel.

Your body doesn’t always need “more stretching” or “more strengthening.”

It depends on what your body is actually doing.

And this is another example of why your RMT may work somewhere that seems completely unrelated to where you feel your tension.