painless and not dependent on another practitioner. Quick Self Fixes are self-treatments developed to answer this need. Target weak muscle areas Quick Self Fixes are a series of self-care techniques that exactly target the muscle areas that are most commonly weak in most adults, as determined by clinical experience. I practice Quick Self Fixes on myself, and I teach them to clients and other therapists. They enable me to use better body mechanics, enhance my strength in places I might need a little extra help, and empower me to take care of small issues before they become large problems. For example, I have personally experienced how one pectoralis major fix stretched my acromioclavicular joint and instantly both eased my ability to perform push-ups and doubled my count. Other health professionals see similar results. “Using these fixes allows for more balanced movement and better and more complete muscle recruitment,” said Lyndzey Dare, a CrossFit, gymnastics and weightlifting instructor, who has evaluated her clients before and after Quick Self Fixes. Common results of practicing Quick Self Fixes include increased strength, dissipated pain, increased range of motion, increased balance and an improved ability to perform a movement. When all the fixes are practiced, many people report a renewed sense of flow. “This work helps integrate mind-body connections as we become consciously aware of how differently we hold our bodies after muscles are newly made strong,” said Maggie Alfieri, massage program director at the Atlanta School of Massage in Atlanta, Georgia, where Quick Self Fixes are part of the training program. “That is especially noticeable when starting with massive, quadrant-wide weakness, such as all the hip flexors or all the shoulder muscles.” Make space many ways It’s all about making space. Different fixes create space in different ways. We don’t always know exactly how this happens—case studies are being conducted on Quick Self Fixes, but large-scale studies have not been—however, person after person has reported that an area feels more secure internally after it tests stronger. It feels like Quick Self Fixes restore the body’s neural communication and Person after person has reported that an area feels more secure internally after it tests stronger. The fix is simple: Hold your relaxed fingers lightly against both sides of your head with one finger over each of the bones for about 10 seconds. People will often sway slightly as this fix takes effect. 2. Biceps Brachii Fix. This pin-and-stretch fix targets the long head tendon of the biceps brachii muscle, whose origin tendon can become fixated within the acromial and bicipital groove areas of the anterior shoulder. Let the target arm hang loosely at your side, hand touching your anterior thigh. Using the thumb of your left hand, firmly but not painfully pin the bicipital tendon just below the humeral head medially toward your chest. Hold this firm pin, and gently flip your arm and shoulder joint into external rotation. Your hand will end behind your body, thumb pointing back. As you flip the arm, you will feel the tendon move under your thumb. It is also helpful to feel your scapula drop as the latissimus muscle exerts a downward pull on the humerus. 3. Latissimus Dorsi Fix. This fix stems from the Touch for Health Kinesiology Association’s neurolymphatic point for the latissimus muscle. However, these reflex points are located between ribs 5 and 6 and ribs 6 and 7, just below the pectoralis major muscle and in line with the nipple. On women, it is under the bra strap, medial to the Spleen 17 acupressure point. Look for one or two sore points on either side of the anterior rib cage and massage each point between the ribs in a small circular motion for 10 seconds. It should become less sore in that time. Do not massage directly on the rib bone. Continued on page 50 50 | MASSAGE Magazine | September 2015 | www.massagemag.com | innate fluids—blood, lymph, interstitial and cerebral spinal—to the area. Stretching joints and muscles certainly feels like making space, but making space might also mean decompressing a fascial restriction, encouraging fluid back into an area, taking pressure off a nerve, or perhaps changing the responses of mechanoreceptors, proprioreceptors and Golgi tendon organs to reactivate a more positive link between brain and body. Cassius Camden Clay, D.C., an Atlanta-area chiropractor, developed Quick Self Fixes from the practitioner-based disciplines mentioned above. He has been in practice more than 35 years, incorporating kinesiology, muscle testing and Thai massage-style stretches into his private practice. He has also taught more than 265 continuing education workshops on assisted yoga postures, including Thai massage for the massage profession, which is how I first met him in 2007. I started studying this functional and structural approach to muscle testing and assisted yoga with Clay on a weekly basis, learning first the assessment technique now called Targeted Muscle Testing. (See “Targeted Muscle Testing: A Kinesthetic Approach to Address Muscle Weakness,” MASSAGE Magazine, December 2014.) Quick Self Fixes evolved from the desire to find self-sustaining ways to strengthen the weak muscle tests found via Targeted Muscle Testing. Use fixes with clients While the fixes are designed to be self-treatments, many can be incorporated seamlessly