Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

[CHATZILLA]

I'm pretty new as a Massage Therapist and am probably a little overly cautious when working on clients. I've recently encountered 2 areas of concern:
-The first is in the Trapezius between the base of the neck and the top of the shoulder. Every once in a while I find a RIDICULOUSLY hard lump here, to the point where I almost feel as though I'm hitting a bone, although there shouldn't be a bone in the area I'm describing. A few Google searches have come back with an "AC Joint Injury" - has anyone had experience with this and, if so, how did you treat it?
-Very similarly, I have noticed extremely hard rock/marble-like lumps right above the posterior superior iliac spine. Once again, they're so hard that I'm afraid I'm not even hitting trigger points, but bone?
Any insight in to these situations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Andrea Vanessa]

Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

I am going to take an educated guess and the hard lump you are feeling at the top of the shoulders sounds like the Spindle of the lervator Scapula, it is so post to be there

 

[:: G e r r y ::]

Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

I'm pretty new as a Massage Therapist and am probably a little overly cautious when working on clients. I've recently encountered 2 areas of concern:
-The first is in the Trapezius between the base of the neck and the top of the shoulder. Every once in a while I find a RIDICULOUSLY hard lump here, to the point where I almost feel as though I'm hitting a bone, although there shouldn't be a bone in the area I'm describing. A few Google searches have come back with an "AC Joint Injury" - has anyone had experience with this and, if so, how did you treat it?
-Very similarly, I have noticed extremely hard rock/marble-like lumps right above the posterior superior iliac spine. Once again, they're so hard that I'm afraid I'm not even hitting trigger points, but bone?
Any insight in to these situations would be greatly appreciated!

It is possible that the lump you feel at the AC joint is from an injury. My husband has this exact thing and it does not go away.
The other lumps might be what we discussed here before - the 'back mice'. The only ones I ever noticed are movable and painful. I haven't found that direct friction does anything other than cause a lot of additional pain and inflammation. Myofascial work seems to be the most helpful.

 

[Sunrise]

Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

Gather some insight on the clients who have these issues. My clients who have large, rock-hard knots in their shoulders either currently or in the past have done work that involves repetitive motions of shoulder abduction and elevation. Think of a painter, electrician, hair stylist, etc. whose work calls for their arms to raised for long periods of time or a lot of up-and-down motion. The knot forms and as people go along doing this for a long time, there's years' worth of that knot building up. For these clients, I do a few MFR techniques/trigger point therapy which seems to help in slowly breaking it down.

I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I have a lump of connective tissue buildup directly over my right PSIS. It's not so hard it could be mistaken as bone, but it moves and isn't painful unless a lot of direct pressure is put right on it. A lot of my female clients have the same thing- I've never noticed it in my male clients.

 

[The Paranoid Android]

Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

-Very similarly, I have noticed extremely hard rock/marble-like lumps right above the posterior superior iliac spine. Once again, they're so hard that I'm afraid I'm not even hitting trigger points, but bone?
Any insight in to these situations would be greatly appreciated!

Those "lumps"are calcium deposits I find them on top of the sacrum and iliac crest all of the time. They tend to be around the joints in the body. I had no idea what they were when I first started out either and it freaked me out so I asked my lead therapists and others what they were and if they were even able to be worked out. One of my manager's (also a massage therapist) had one in her wrist. She was going to get surgery on it and while she was waiting for the date (about a week or two) she was massaging it every day. She ended up not having to get the surgery because she had worked it out They are not fun to work on for the client. It is a painful process, but eventually they will go away the more you work on them. The main reason for having them in the first place is the body needs more Vitamin D (more dark leafy greens like spinach,kale,etc.). I hope that clears things up for you

-Malena

 

[Miuccia]

Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

hmmmm...I don't really think that they are calcium deposits.

You should probably be careful about tossing out a diagnosis with clients.
It is out of scope of practice.

In areas where there are usually trigger points (levator scap, and QL as above), if they are long-standing and untreated, the muscle/tendon tissue can be very disfunctional. Some people call the "crunchies" that develop calcium deposits or say the tissue is "calcified", but that is not really accurate.

A ganglion cyst on the wrist is unrelated. It is also NOT a calcium deposit.

 

[ibeaver]

Hard Knot(s) on Tops of Shoulders and Above Hips

Ok. I read more of your previous message in the "Muscle Mice" section and that sounds very accurate. This whole site clears up a lot of mis-information that I have learned/experienced. Thanks once again for your input