[Jomar]

Basically metal tools used to rub out scar tissue/adhesion in the fascia

I'm experimenting on myself with a stainless steel large kitchen spoon, it has a long curved rounded handle so I can reach my traps.

I'll do it every few days or maybe only once a week, but I'll report any pros cons that I can notice.

I did have some restrictions in my R shoulder that did go away, soooo...
I did it on my forearms but no redness showed there.
I do have some little bumps or nodules along my tendons in my forearms maybe I'll have to read up on tendinitis/tendinosis again.

Or I'll ask chiro to check it out one of these times- but no pain from it- or not noticeable anyway, might be affecting my fine finger uses...

videos - more should show to the side of this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRM3-9sja-g


very much like Gua Sha. An ancient Chinese method that lay people use in China.

[mspennyloafer]

interesting, i was thinking of doing THE SAME THING to my left trap

it doesnt seem like the kind of technique you shouldnt be able to do to yourself, unless youre dumb enough to try with a razor blade or need to reach areas on your back

[mspennyloafer]

also i think for the avg person chances are this is not actual scar tissue right? he keeps mentioning it in the vid

[Anne4tos]

I'd be nervous to do this to myself without proper training. Wonder what type of pressure he is using to get the red dots to form?

Good thing the guy didn't have a hairy back.

Anne

[Jomar]

I used some Palmer's cocoa butter as a lubricant , another video suggested an olive oil mix.
but with the lube or lotion on you can't really apply a lot of pressure on yourself because it's so slippery.

Someone else could apply too much pressure if they did it for you - but I think you'd tell them to stop if that happened.

I started lightly, and you also do what they call a scan , which is just going slowly and feeling for little bumps or gritty spots - that would be where you want to focus when you do the faster rubbing.

If someone has moderate to severe vascular/venous type TOS I wouldn't experiment with this technique on yourself .

[tossucks]

Interesting...I had never heard of anyone else on the forum having used the Graston Technique.
My chiropractor is trained in it and tried it on me to work out the TMJ caused by the TOS when it was really bad. It hurt so much becasue of the inflamation in the area, or just because it hurt so much, lol. I would never consider it again. It was torcher. He had all the proper tools, and lubes as well. lol. It might have been easier on a female....rubbing against the wiskers on my face was part of the problem.
Cheers,
Jay

[nospam]

I stumbled onto this old thread doing a forum search.

The Graston Technique works but is not something you can do on yourself. It can also be very painful initially (with a lot of bruising) so it is not for everyone. It was the only thing that broke up my most stubborn trigger points (especially upper traps). I was introduced to it by my old PT (unfortunately not covered by my current insurance) and my current chiro uses it. You can search for a provider on their website.

www.grastontechnique.com