📚The posterior compartment of the forearm contains the wrist and finger extensor muscles, which are responsible for extending the wrist and fingers and partially stabilizing the lateral elbow.

🧠Soft tissue mobilization (massage) of these muscles is often implemented in physical therapy and can help with conditions like tennis elbow (lateral epicondylalgia), radial nerve entrapment issues and some wrist pain issues.

🔎To mobilize these muscles, work from the distal forearm proximally toward the outside of the elbow (lateral epicondyle). Tenderness will usually be most severe as you get closer to the elbow where the tendons attach.

👉In addition to implementing soft tissue techniques like this, it’s also important to incorporate exercises that load and strengthen the extensor muscles and their tendons.

✅The tennis elbow program here in the app will teach you the best exercises and guide you through three phases of rehab. Click the link below to access this program.

https://membership.rehabscience.com/programs/tennis-elbow?category_id=260466

📚The rhomboid muscles (rhomboid major and minor) are located between the shoulder blades and the spine and work to retract, inferiorly rotate and elevate the scapulae.

🔎Rhomboid minor is located just above rhomboid major and runs from the spinous processes of C7-T1 to the medial end of the scapular spine. Rhomboid major runs from the spinous processes of T2-5 to the medial scapular border. Both muscles are innervated by the dorsal scapular nerve (C5).

👉The rhomboids are thought to be a common myofascial source of mid-back pain and/or tightness. As such, a bit of targeted soft tissue mobilization work in this area can often greatly help reduce symptoms.

🧠It is also important to note that rhomboid region pain is often related to thoracic spine and rib issues and can even be referred from the neck. So, if your pain continues to return and is only temporary reduced with soft tissue work, make sure to see a practitioner who can assess these other regions for a possible contribution.

📚The radial nerve is one of the three major peripheral nerves of the upper extremity and supplies the posterior arm and forearm.

🔎More specifically, the radial nerve provides motor innervation to the triceps and the wrist/finger extensor muscles. The nerve also relays sensory input from most of the back of the hand and fingers (except the pinky and medial half of the ring finger).

🧠The two mobilizations demonstrated in this post can be useful for individuals who are experiencing pain, numbness or tingling in the back of the hand, especially near the thumb, index and middle finger.

1️⃣Sliders involve placing one end of the nerve on tension while the other end is slack. In this example, when the wrist is flexed (nerve on tension at the wrist), the neck is laterally flexed toward the arm (nerve on slack at the neck). Then, the neck and wrist positions switch, which creates the sliding movement of the nerve. Try alternating back and forth 10-15 times and use the technique whenever you are experiencing nerve symptoms (pain, tingling, numbness).

2️⃣Next, we see a ‘tensioner’ position where the nerve is put on tension across its entire path. In this position, you will likely experience a neural ‘stretch’, which can feel slightly different than a muscle stretch. Tensioners can be held for several seconds and are usually implemented once the person’s symptoms are no longer acute.

✅A nerve pain program can be found here in the app in the head and neck section. Here is a link for that program.

https://membership.rehabscience.com/programs/neck-nerve-pain?category_id=260344