Forgotten Muscles Massage and Bodywork

Forgotten Muscles Massage and Bodywork Therapeutic Bodywork by Ashley Cianci LMT.

Using mainly visceral manipulation, neural manipulation, craniosacral, RAPID Neurofascial Reset, and intraoral TMJ massage.

05/23/2026

I have found that releasing the vetebropericardial ligaments helps release stubborn scalenes (anterior neck muscles) that have plagued my clients with chronic neck pain. These ligaments and the ligaments of the pleural dome of the lung (I'll make another video on that in the future) have been game changing in finding the root cause of clients' recurrent neck pain.
This information was derived from U.K. Osteopathic Doctor Serge Paoletti's book The Fasciae Anatomy, Dysfunction, and Treatment as well as the class Visceral Manipulation 4- The Thorax developed by French Osteopathic Doctor Jean-Pierre Barral.

05/21/2026

For those of you unfamiliar with craniosacral therapy it's a light bodywork modality focusing on the restriction effecting the central nervous system- the brain and spinal cord to improve the flow of cerebralspinal fluid (the fluid that delivers nutrients and removes waste from the brain), resolve global tension patterns (your body will ALWAYS priotize your central nervous system above all else, if there are restrictions the rest of the body will form protective tension patterns to protect it), and improve overall brain and nervous system function. The version I practice and receive is from the Upledger Institute.

Everyone responds differently- I've had clients text me an hour later saying they cried for a good long while later in the day (emotional release); I've had clients who have felt nothing at all and then after sleeping they feel more relaxed in their mind and body (sleeping is when our bodies do the most repairing!); I personally used to get low grade headaches for a bit from the intercranial pressure changes because I had so much tension blocking the fluid flow out of my head; some people report more energy after and some people get really tired (means their body is doing some healing which is great!); some clients have told me they see clearer after (the nerves to the eyes pass through the sphenoid- a very important bone in craniosacral); sometimes my jaw feels a little off until it gets used to the reduced tension- anything is possible! Sometimes it takes 3 sessions to feel the cooler effects of the work as the body learns how to respond to receiving it.

05/15/2026

Anatomy, density, shape, and organ movement (motility) are some things I look for when distinguishing organs from each other!
When I sink into the organ I feel skin, then maybe bone if I'm in the ribs, then thick denseness of muscle, then a slippery slidey layer called the periteneum that surrounds the organs allowing them to slide and glide over each other, then the organs themselves.

05/14/2026

The sacrotuberous ligament is one of the most common things I work on in my massage practice.
Some of the the problems it can cause are:
It tightens the hamstrings that it shares an attachment with at the sit bones through their fascial connection.
It tightens the erector spinae which are muscles that run along the spine through their fascial connection.
It tightens the pelvic floor that run between the sit bones.
It tightens the jaw since the jaw mirrors the bones of the pelvic and pelvic floor.
When one is tighter it makes the hips, legs, knees, feet uneven.
It impacts the opposite shoulder through gait (opposite arm swings forward when we walk).

This video includes some concepts from the Franklin Method® Pelvic Power workshop. https://franklinmethod.com/product/pelvic-power-part-1-2-deluxe-bundle/ is great if you'd like to dive into this info more, otherwise you can wait for an in person workshop or ask me to go over the information at appointments or pilates classes! :)

05/12/2026

The sternoclavicular joint is a joint that commonly becomes stuck and when it stops moving the glenohumeral joint (where the arm bone meets the shoulder blade) starts to compensate. This leads to angry rotator cuff muscles and bicep tendons and can make daily shoulder movements uncomfortable.
When you begin to bring movement back to the sternoclavicular joint and allow the clavicle (aka collarbone) and shoulder blade to move freely the muscles of the shoulder can move with less tension! :)
So think of your arm movements coming all the way from the sternoclavicular joint and you'll feel more power in your swings and more length when you reach for things!
This is from a larger Franklin Method® workshop if you're interested in more, this is a great webinar: https://franklinmethod.com/relaxedshoulders/
Otherwise keep an eye on Body Language Pilates (the shirt I'm reping) for when we start offering Franklin Method® workshops!

05/07/2026

Lots of little things to do in 3 minutes, feel free to pause and spend more time on each one! I'll probably make another jaw video soon!
Make sure not to go too hard, a little pressure goes a long way! :)

What an amazing 4 days of learning how to work with the fascia, hard frame (bones, ligaments, joints), and organs of the...
05/03/2026

What an amazing 4 days of learning how to work with the fascia, hard frame (bones, ligaments, joints), and organs of the thorax in Minneapolis!
Receiving the work during practice labs was truly incredible, the work with the lungs, diaphragm, ribcage, ligaments of the clavicle, and the phrenic nerve had me breathing the best I've ever breathed in my life and also had a great calming effect on my digestive organs by improving the intercavity pressures of the body.

The mid cervical fasica work I think is going to be great for TMJ cases because of the attachments to the hyoid bone (attachment for tongue and jaw opening muscles) and infrahyoid muscles (muscles that open jaw). The midcervical fascia, subclavius, and clavicle work will be great for headache cases to help the blood flow to and from the head. Of course in Barral's work we only treat these areas when our listening assessment goes to them, but I have a feeling they'll be involved in a lot of cases.

I was happy to be joined by Milwaukee area therapists Laura and Todd (their second time taking this class) and Basia all of Heartwood Healing in Brookfield. We tried to get a Milwaukee therapist pic after class but Basia already left and the rest of the class that was still there all jumped in 😆

04/27/2026

Propioceptors are sensory nerves that tell our body where it is in space, speed and direction of our movement, amount of effort being used to do a movement, and amount of tension.

This technique is called tapping in shiatsu or tapotement in Swedish massage. Each hand position is light and percussive and helps the brain map the area of the body more efficiently to reduce tension and improve movement.

We're doing this technique on one side of our partner's back today to give them a side to side comparison to measure effectiveness, but traditionally you'd have one hand on each side of the spine to tap both sides at the same time.

(My husband only let me do 1 take so sorry if my talking is a little messy 😆)

04/23/2026

I was walking around the mall with my husband this weekend and noticed a twisty feeling in my leg. I stopped at a bench to see if my ankle was tight, but it was fine. I then tried to rotate my tibia in and out and realized it was locked up, so I did the 1st tibia exercise in this video and went back to walking- no more twisty feeling AND my knee and foot felt so much happier! If I hadn't stopped to check out my tibia, my knee and eventually hip would've been in a world down the line!
In The Franklin Method (https://franklinmethod.com/) we explore something called bone rhythms- the natural movement of the bones in movement dictated by joint surface, ligaments, etc. When the knee bends in walking the tibia has a little internal rotation, when it straightens it has a little bit of external rotation- if these motions aren't happening it'll cause unnecessary tension and compensations in the knee joint.

04/20/2026

I'm always amazed at how simple and easy it is to create change in the body. Just feeling and giving focused attention to an area of the body improves our mind body connection and wakes up proprioceptors- these are the nerves that tell our brain where our body is in space, speed and direction of movement, levels of tension, amount of force being generated, and works with our vestibular system to maintain balance.
REMEMBER: We are noticing positive CHANGE not perfection. We're really good at noticing what's wrong, so we're working on training our brain to notice positive changes, even if it's just a 1% subtle change :)
Remember to do the other knee after you compare sides! (I also like to do 1 leg knee bend comparisons, forgot to include in video)

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2363 S Kinnickinnic Avenue
Milwaukee, WI
53207

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