Massage for Rotator Cuff Tendonosis

Friction Massage Therapy - A simple self-massage technique helpful in resolving tendonitis

If you have tendinitis, you can probably accelerate the healing process with a self-massage technique called “frictioning”.1 The technique is particularly appropriate to use in cases of:

* supraspinatus tendinitis, impingement syndrome
* tennis elbow or tendinitis of the common flexor or extensor tendons of the forearms
* iliotibial band syndrome
* achilles tendinitis
* plantar fasciitis
* DeQuervain’s tenovaginitis

How to do it

The technique is simple: just strum back and forth over the inflamed tendon at the point of greatest tenderness. Use gentle to moderate pressure with the pads of your fingers or a thumb.

This will cause some discomfort. If it is painless, you are either in the wrong place, or you don’t have tendinitis. If it is too painful, either you are pressing too hard, or the tendinitis is too severe to treat in this fashion. The discomfort should be vividly clear but nevertheless easily bearable.

After one or two minutes, the discomfort should subside significantly. If it doesn’t, discontinue the treatment. If the tenderness does subside, increase the intensity until it returns. Wait for it to subside again. And increase it a third time, and wait a third time for the tenderness to ease.

Finish by icing the massage site with raw ice for a maximum of two minutes, or until it is numb, whichever comes first. For more information about icing, see “The Amazing Ice Cup.”

The complete treatment should take about 3-6 minutes, and should be repeated at least once per day, and a maximum of three times per day. You should feel immediate improvement in symptoms following each treatment. If you don’t, stop using this technique and consult with me or any health care professional.

How it works

One of the basic principles of healing is that tissue must not be irritated while healing, but nevertheless still needs stress and stimulation in order to maintain circulation and move tissue fluids and to induce connective tissue reorganization. Use it or lose it!

In the case of tendinitis, unfortunately, normal usage of the tendon is precisely what caused the problem in the first place. The frictions technique provides a method of stimulating the tissue in a different way.

Does it really work? “Although highly conjectural, the effects of friction massage are based on sound physiologic and pathologic concepts …. Until there is more concrete evidence of the value of friction massage, its use must be justified on the [basis of clinical evidence] combined with ‘educated empiricism’.”.2 Certainly I have seen good clinical results from the application of this technique in my own practice.

by Paul Ingraham, Registered Massage Therapist (Vancouver)

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