Conquer the Brettzel

“Surrounding the dragon” is a little-known technique to improve soft tissue mobility. Together with the Brettzel, it is a formidable alliance. The “dragon” is the area of a tissue that is angry, sore, painful, sensitive – anything other than the feeling of pressure when it is under pressure. To “attack the dragon” is to invoke a potential sympathetic nervous system response, associated with increased heart rate, sweating, increased respiratory rate, wincing, grimacing or holding breath. These behaviours provoked by pain are indicative of responses that indicate threat from pain. This is behaviour contrary to modulating pain and often leads to reactive guarding. To “surround the dragon” is to relieve pressure around the sensitive area.