6p6: Graston Technique: My Experience with Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization

for 6p6, hopefully he sees this:

I distinctly recall my buddy Lee coming into Gold’s Gym in a tank top and I thought, “Oh crap. He tore both pecs.” The telltale black and blue color noticeable in the pec, deltoid and upper biceps areas gave it away. I partially tore my left pec in 2010 and while it never turned the color of all the pictures I’ve seen of other people’s tears, it visibly looked bad. All I could think was how in the world did Lee manage to tear both at the same time! His response: “I didn’t. I got introduced to David Graston tools.”
“Graston Technique® is an innovative, evidence-based form of instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization that enables clinicians to effectively break down scar tissue and fascial restrictions. The technique utilizes specially designed stainless steel instruments to specifically detect and effectively treat areas exhibiting soft tissue fibrosis or chronic inflammation.” – Official Graston Technique Website

Week 1 (1)

Interesting enough, David Graston pioneered the original Graston Technique and its tools only to experience a falling out with business partners whereby he lost the rights to his own name and tools. He subsequently went on to develop the Sound Assist Soft Tissue Mobilization (SASTM) technique and tools which are made of a ceramic polymer, thus providing audible feedback to the practitioner. The certified practitioner I saw at the promoting of my friend Lee was Dr. Michael E. Hanson, D.C. Lee bemoaned the painfulness of the treatment, but I mostly describe it as uncomfortable more so than painful. Based on 24 years pushing iron and at least five muscle tears, I foresee ongoing visits to Dr. Hanson’s office for the foreseeable future. This is a week-by-week log of the first four weeks of my experience.
Week 1

Dr. Hanson suggested we treat one body part per session to allow healing time. Ideally, heavy weight training won’t follow a SASTM session for at least a couple days. I chose the pectoralis muscles and anterior deltoids primarily because of the aforementioned pec tear. Our bodies tend to compensate for injuries in ways which often lead to additional injuries. Digging into old scar tissue made me a little nervous, but it wasn’t too bad despite some discoloration.

Three days post-therapy, I trained chest and shoulders with caution. One of the first exercises of the John Meadows workout that day included pec flyes. Loading the muscle and placing it under tension while in a stretched position didn’t feel good. Not painful, but listening to my body, it just didn’t feel right. The interesting part involved the third exercise in the program that day: flat dumbbell presses. On this exercise I experienced better range of motion and lifted the same weight I normally do for eight reps, but instead got sets of 10. My strength and range of motion improved on the following weeks workouts as well.

Week 2 (1)
Week 2

Perhaps in relation to my jacked up lower back, I often experience tightness in my upper-middle back area. Dr. Hanson focused on my traps and ran all the way down both sides of my spine. The cool part about the SASTM tools is the audible feedback. When the practitioner goes over areas with scar tissue, adhesions, etc. it’s like racking gravel vs. sweeping a smooth surface. Contracting my scapulae often resulted in what felt like a pinched nerve in my middle back. After this session, that feeling went away when performing back exercises. I wondered what took me so long to look into this therapy.

Week 3b (1)
Week 3

Lower back issues often feed into knee pain, or vice-versa, so on week three Dr. Hanson focused on my vastus medialis. This session ratcheted up the pain scale a bit for me as he found a number of adhesions. He applied Rocket Tape to allow greater blood flow to the area and I didn’t have my cell phone with me for a picture until I got home. The tape obscured much of the discoloration, but my tear drop looked like someone took a bat to it. I purposefully ensured legs fell two days after this appointment and also began using Tommy Kono Knee Sleeves when performing heavy leg exercises.

Week 3 (1)
Week 4

I’ve long experienced nagging pain in my left posterior deltoid. It comes and goes and usually only becomes noticeable when performing rear delt and some back exercises. Placing my arm across my body to stretch the posterior deltoid, Dr. Hanson immediately began apologizing and asking if I felt ok while working the area. It turns out both my right and left posterior deltoids contained adhesions along with my upper lat insertions. The immediate discoloration caused the apology, but it really didn’t hurt much at all. The recovery from this session took a bit longer, however I simply went light on my next back workout and by the following week felt fine.

Week 4b (1)
Conclusion

Hearing about the benefits of Graston for years, I’m glad that I finally pulled the trigger and made an appointment for SASTM. I still plan to continue treatment until we’ve applied the therapy to all the major muscle groups in my body. Dr. Hanson pointed out within a session or two focusing on the same body part the area will become smooth during therapy, thus indicating nominal future benefit from repeated sessions. With the abuse my training places on my body, I imagine I’ll be a couple more months before I hit this point. Future sessions will simply happen as needed because I don’t plan to quit training hard anytime soon!

Bottom line: Don’t put off treatment of injuries and expect them to go away. Just like a car you hope to drive a long time, proper maintenance is paramount. I highly recommend Sound Assist Soft Tissue Mobilization for people with soft tissue injuries or structural imbalances.

damn pics didnt load. sorry about that

Very interesting. I haven't heard if it until now, but I just watched a video on it and it sounds like it could be a great benefit especially for lifters.

Thanks guns:)

wow, sounds great. also sounds very painful. to get fixed up i know few people who would not endure it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jipped genes

wow, sounds great. also sounds very painful. to get fixed up i know few people who would not endure it.

---

i have it done and i highly highly recommend it. it opens up bound muscle and tendons like it is cool and man is it effective. is it painful? yeah a little bit but it goes numb after a couple of seconds anyway.

real quick success story with this stuff for me. i torque my knee that i never had an issue with before. i had no tendon damage or nothing major but it was so bad that i couldnt lock out my quad at all or fully flex it. went in and had a treatment done and i was able to lock out and contract the leg completely by 2 days after treatment. after about 6wks of aggressive treatment i was entirely pain free and the splits in my leg were much better and deeper than when we started. it is highly highly effective for sure and get's rid of pain super quick

I am looking getting it done boss. I appreciate the post! Thx bro


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 6p6

I am looking getting it done boss. I appreciate the post! Thx bro


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

no prob man. i am all about fixing people up and this should not only help you heal but should make you far less likely to hurting it again later on

watch these three videos. you can go backwards on these it doesnt matter:

https://youtu.be/ql0imjIpPp8

I wish i could find some where near me to try it anyway.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by animal87

I wish i could find some where near me to try it anyway.

---

check around at your chiropractors, massage therapy, and or physical therapy clinics. depending on your state any or all can do it. i think you are in the same state as me and it can be done and is done by all three here

Haha, I will look soon. I dont think there will be one within a hour drive of me tho lol.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by animal87

Haha, I will look soon. I dont think there will be one within a hour drive of me tho lol.

---

check out the physical therapy clinics close by man. that's one option. i just got lucky and found a massage therapy office real close that offers it up as well.

Sweet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by guns01

i have it done and i highly highly recommend it. it opens up bound muscle and tendons like it is cool and man is it effective. is it painful? yeah a little bit but it goes numb after a couple of seconds anyway.

real quick success story with this stuff for me. i torque my knee that i never had an issue with before. i had no tendon damage or nothing major but it was so bad that i couldnt lock out my quad at all or fully flex it. went in and had a treatment done and i was able to lock out and contract the leg completely by 2 days after treatment. after about 6wks of aggressive treatment i was entirely pain free and the splits in my leg were much better and deeper than when we started. it is highly highly effective for sure and get's rid of pain super quick

---

I wonder if there are any places here I could try? is it expensive?