Here is a video explaining how to use the trigger point tools for loosening the back of the calf region. As well below the video I have included the transcript.
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(Transcript Below)
okay we're back to talk a little bit
more about deep tissue massage in the
area of the calf this is to treat
plantar fasciitis and primarily Achilles
tendonitis and
other tendinitis is that can happen such
as peroneal tendon itis and posterior
tibial tendinitis the tools that I find
are the most effective if you want to
get the greatest version of deep
tissue massage tools it's to use the
the trickable and the TP therapy tools
they come with hard balls like this that
have a little covering over the top it
has a roller that if you see it it's a
little bit concave here or convex
right here this is to penetrate deeper
in and it comes with a traditional yoga
block so I'm going to go over how to do
this type of a release in the back of
the calf the anatomy we want to work
with is the gastroc and soleus but also
deep to the gastrocnemius
your flexor hallucis longus your flexor
digitorum longus and these are going to
be the tendons that are running deep to
the gastroc with issues like plantar
fasciitis Achilles tendonitis because
things get tired things get bound down
and they get tight in there they need to
be released and these are the best tools
to release them
so we'll start well by put your ankle
and your calf up here we'll start
with the this is the step one of the
therapy so you're going to take this and
you have a little area of a Dell right
here in the back of your calf you're
going to put the tool right on top and
you're going to slightly roll back and
forth and that's going to have a little
bit of a burn and to basically you want
to be the area where it hurts the most
so you can go back and forth and then
the next step is you roll your foot in a
big circle your that three or four times
and you go the other direction three or
four times and then we're going to lift
the foot up and on the way out you're
going to breathe outward
that's working with the gastroc
soleus and some of the muscles deep now
we're going to go to the peroneal
tendons the Peroni you can go on the
outside and if this is painful for some
people this isn't painful at all you
have to be really careful because if you
go up too high you're going to hit an area
called the fibula or the nerve that's up
here that comes down so just be careful
not to go too high with this and you're
going to roll back and forth if you have a
peroneal tendon itis this is going to help
loosen that up and then the same way
you're going to go one direction three or
four times the other direction three or
four times then you're going to go up and
then breathe out as you go down like
that and then the last muscle complex
we're going to work is the posterior
tibial tendon this is the one that's
going to be many times painful and tight
if you have plantar fasciitis rolling it
back and forth the same way and then
once you find the area where it hurts
the most you're going to go in circles
three or four times three or four times
and you're going to go up and then
breathing out as you go out that's step
one of using the trigger point tools
you
once you do that we're gonna go on to
step two and this involves using the
ball there's a one ball or two ball
technique basically this ball is gonna
sit in the back of your calf and it's
gonna push into to reach the deep
musculature there in that this many
times the tendons on the bottom of the
foot if you have like hammer toes that
flex down or if you have a problem with
one of the tendons that pulls down the
big toe that can be tight the way you
find out where it hurts is you put the
ball on the back of the calf and you
gently move it back and forth to find
where it hurts once you find an area it
hurts
that's called a trigger point when you
find that one area then you hold it
there and you can roll slightly back and
forth and that tends to be quite painful
once you find that you can sit on the
area and that's where you move the foot
in a circle this really hurts this
modality really hurts one direction of
the direction then you can go up and
then breathe out as well
so breathing is really important the two
aspects that are important with
these modalities are breathing and
hydration very similar to when you go
get a massage after you have a massage
you must hydrate well because your
muscles are being rather resting and
relaxing and kind of getting worked out
you
and the next component is going to be
the two-ball technique with the two ball
technique you take one ball on top of
one ball on the bottom and this one you
turn your foot inward the other way and
you sit it right up on top you can
either use the block or not I'm using
the block to make it a little bit easier
to show and you can put the two ball
technique with one hand on top and
basically, you rub it back and forth
and you find any area that's really
painful and you can massage it this way
you can do with two balls you can also
if you want to you can do it just with
one ball and this is if you have a
trigger point in the posterior tibial
tendon you find out where it hurts you
can go all the way down here to the
Achilles tendon doing this deep tissue
massage on the actual Achilles tendon
isn't very beneficial you want to be in
a muscular area in the back of the calf
that can loosen up so we
recommend finding the area that hurts in
your roll back and forth on that area
you can either do this with one ball or
two ball
one other technique that I wanted to
share is if you if you're moving it with
this with this roller right here and it
doesn't feel like it's working that much
you can plank yourself up a
little bit to get deeper so we're going
to show how you plank up and that really
pushes it in or another technique you
can do both with this or with the form
rollers you can put the other foot on
top so you're saying oh I don't have a
doctor to hold my foot while I'm doing
under physical therapists you can
increase the body weight on top
of this by putting your foot on top and
this can be done both in the back or you
can do it on the inside or on the
outside for this type of a treatment so
this is how you use the trigger point
tools if you're dealing with Achilles
tendonitis and plantar fasciitis
