jill miller

Photo: Courtesy of The Roll Model

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If you got out of bed today feeling like a creaky old robot, chances are your fascia is to blame. Fascia is the interconnected web of tissues that wraps in and around your muscles, bones and organs. Healthy fascia can decrease everyday aches and pains, help you feel less sore after exercising, prevent injury and make you feel more comfortable in your own skin. To get yours back in working order, try these moves from Jill Miller, a fitness therapy pioneer, developer of classes for Equinox and 24 Hour Fitness and the author of The Roll Model, a comprehensive fascia fitness plan.

The Secret Trigger Point in Your Chest That Relieves Pain in Your Shoulders


What you need: A tennis ball or one of Miller's Yoga Tune Up balls, a corner or doorway

What to do: Place the ball on your pectoralis minor, which is between your collarbone and your armpit. Lean your body and the ball onto the wall corner so that your head can freely move. Adjust your pressure so that the ball stays pinned against your chest as you move. Roll the ball gently from side to side, up and down, rolling deeper into spots where you feel relief.

What it does: This loosens the muscles and tissues of the pec minor that tend to get extremely tight from hunching over all day or gripping objects like a steering wheel, a tennis racket or a computer mouse.

How that feels: The pec minor is at the intersection of tissues that run around the back as well as down the arm, says Miller. She promises that you'll feel intense relief in your chest as well as your shoulders, upper back, neck, wrist, thumb and hand. In The Roll Model, Miller tells the story of a former hockey player who had terrible hand, neck and shoulder pain that affected his career and his sleep. Regularly practicing a sequence of moves including this one took care of his pain at night as well as during daily workouts.