For classes, we have started the muscles last week, which is about 10 times harder than bones. I don't know why, but it took a real long time for my brain to click on with how muscles actually work! I mean, I have never studied anatomy. I'm not an athlete, so I've never needed to learn the body and how it works, why some thing hurt, etc etc. The most I've thought about human anatomy was how the body looked in regards to negative space, limbs crossings, how long I'll be able to hold a pose until my hand falls asleep, etc etc, when I was modeling.
So now that I am learning the muscles and what happens when I do this or that, I can feel my mind starting to change. It's very weird and one of my teachers warned us that this is what happens when you learn human anatomy and massage. I'm starting to look at people as, well, meat suits. I'm studying the underlying structures, noticing the muscle movements. I see someone lift their arm and I'm trying to remember the names of the muscles used and where their origin/insertion sites are (where the muscle connects to the bones). It's really unsettling.
Kinda like your whole life you thought the sky was a normal, solid blue and now you learned not only that it's not, but that it's every shade from baby to royal with aquamarine in between.
Today in class as review for our upcoming test, we took a whole bunch of clay and molded the muscles, placing them onto a skeletal model. And wow, was it cool to finally understand the layering and the positioning of those muscles. I mean, when I see it in a book, I can kinda understand it. But when we took the picture of the muscle from the book and tried to make it fit onto the body, forcing ourselves to create the origin and insertion sites, it was epic. Bam! I can see it! I understand it! I can only compare it having a moment of deep enlightenment, maybe of the religious kind. Let's just say it was my "wow, anatomy is awesome!" moment for the month.
Big news: Tomorrow is going to get another interesting post because tomorrow we do our first clinic day. That's real people coming in, paying for a massage. It's as real as we can get without getting paid. We have to do charts, health history, talk them thru what we are doing, change the massage to what they want. It's incredibly daunting to say the least. We only got today to try it out and we did it with our fellow classmates... and I still got nervous! My stomach dropped... my legs shook... oh yeah... and I called my classmate by the wrong last name. I've been friends with her since the first day and I called her the wrong name! Hopefully this is not a foreshadowing of what is to come tomorrow.
And as if we weren't nervous enough having to deal with actual clients, many of the school's clients are regulars. Many have come every week for years. And they are not told if their therapist is new (like us) or old (the senior class ahead of us). So they have a certain expectation to what they are getting. But on the other hand, they are paying 1/2 price for what can be considered a professional massage.
But it's just the nerves... wanting to make sure you satisfy them, relax them, don't expose them, etc etc. I guess I'll just have to do it and update my blog tomorrow. If I had any nails left, I would probably be biting them down to the beds.
To finish off the day, some fun facts. Enjoy and Stay limber!!!
- We have a connective tissue that is called fascia. It is a large continuous tissue thruout the body. In other words, the fascia is connected thru every part of the body, over and around and thru every bit, the skin, the muscles, the bones, the organs, etc etc.
- Normally, we picture a cell as a minuscule, round or squarish shape. With muscle cells, a single cell stretches the length of the muscle fiber (from the origin site to the insertion site)
- When you are born, your knee cap (patella bone) is actually cartilage. As you pump your legs and gain movement, your patella hardens and becomes a bone.
- To find out if a pill, such as a vitamin, is able to dissolve fast enough to be absorbed by your body, drop it in a glass of water and leave it for 30 minutes. If it is still whole or there after 30 minutes, it will take too long to be absorbed and you will only be pooping them out and wasting your money.
- Caffeine literally sucks the calcium out of your body via absorption.
- The type of athlete you will succeed to be (runner, swimmer, javelin thrower) is determined by the fiber type of muscle you possess. More of one kind will aid you in one way over another. In other words, some people simply do not possess the genetic makeup to be a successful athlete (by successful, I mean winning a marathon level. They can still run in the marathon, but probably not win it.)
- Our bones are not solid, but porous. The outer layer is very dense and the interior layer is very, very hole-y. It is also filled with bone marrow. Depending on the bone and the part of the bone, the outer layer could be quite thick or thin.
- Cracking your knuckle is very good for your fingers, depending on how you crack 'em. If you pull the fingers, it's good. If you press your fingers toward your palm, that's good. If you push your finger into itself, it's bad. It's all about pulling your cartilage and ligaments enough to let the air bubbles be released. Pushing your fingers in is pushing the bones and the cartilage together, so the air bubble will pop, but it will cause rubbing and eventually, thinning of the cartilage.
- Twisting your back to crack or pop it is bad for you. You are forcing your bones to glide over your intervertebral disks (the cartilage between your vertebra) when it shouldn't. You are wearing down the cartilage and the more you do it, the more you will feel the need to. Chiropractors know exactly how and where to pop the back safely.
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