Sequencing of Muscles to Be Released Using the NUCKLE

Christine Koth, physical therapist and inventor of the NUCKLE, shares the importance of releasing the key muscles in your secondary core (head, neck, shoulders) causing the pain or tightness (the root cause), and not just the muscles where you are feeling the pain or tightness (the symptoms).

For example, maybe you feel tightness in your upper traps and want to use the NUCKLE for an upper trap release. As shown in the video, the tension in the upper traps is likely coming from tightness in the pec minor which pulls your shoulder forward and makes the upper trap tense up as well.

In this instance, releasing only the upper trap may feel good and initially provide some relief, but the tightness will soon return because the shoulders are still rounded forward from the tight pec minor. You’d be more likely to have better and longer-lasting results by releasing the pec minor first (the location of the root cause) and then the upper traps (the location of the symptom).

Primary muscles to use the NUCKLE: pec minor & suboccipitals

Secondary muscles to use the NUCKLE: upper traps, other locations along the neck, shoulder, in between the shoulder blades, etc.

Check out our other playlist on our YouTube channel for more detailed instructional videos for using the NUCKLE. Please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions.