Massaging a Child With Growing Pains: Stretching the Back Thigh

Video Transcript

"So we are going to go ahead now and do a stroke now to stretch both the soleus and the gastrocnemius which are in the back of the thigh so we are gliding down on one leg down to the ankle and again we are making sure he is nice and relaxed and not helping, we don't need help we want to make sure we are supporting his ankle and foot. So bring it up and with his foot just like this and with his calf just like this we are bending right here and what you should do with your other hand is stroke down right here on the back of this muscle. You can feel the stretch in the muscle when you are doing this stroke. You can feel that there is tension there with the stretch, stretching out all those muscles in the back of the calf so we're going to go ahead and stroke down a few times. Now before you lower the leg again make sure you are supporting the ankle and guide the foot back up and help guide the foot back down and the leg back down, nice and relaxed, give him a little bit of a shake and make sure we are all shaked out and we'll go ahead and do that one more time before we move on to the other leg. So supporting again and bending at the knee and we are going to go ahead and move on to the other leg. So putting this one down, making sure it is nice and relaxed, keeping your hand resting here before you move over, move over to the other leg and taking hold of the foot supporting the ankle bring up the leg, bending at the knee. You can use your other hand if you need, whatever is comfortable for you to help get that stretch, support and stretch. You have a nice stretch and you can support the foot. You can change hands if you need, just support and nice strokes right down the back of the calf, nice long strokes. You can feel the stretch in the muscle as you are doing the strokes. Gentle but firm pressure, guide your hand right up in front. Help the foot guide up first and get back to normal and gently lay it back down."