Research has emerged in recent years demonstrating the important role played by connective tissue around the joints and muscles, or fascia. What we think of as muscle stretching is actually the stretching of the muscle together with the surrounding fascia. And conversely, the fascia becomes short and tight when the muscle fibers are injured. The tension that builds in that area is called a “trigger point,” and causes stiffness and pain.

“This uneven stress,” explains physical therapist Carol J. Manheim on her website (www.myofascial-release.com), “can be transmitted through the fascia to other parts of the body, causing pain and a variety of other symptoms in areas you often wouldn't expect.”

To solve this problem, manual therapist and exercise physiologist Susan Hitzmann developed the M.E.L.T. Method. Using a special foam roller, MELT hand and foot balls and one’s own body weight, individuals massage specific areas of their bodies to release collagen and fluid to the connective tissues. “This hydrates the connective tissues,” explains Hitzmann, “and allows the muscles, nerves, arteries…everything… a better place to move in. That in turn keeps muscles oxygenated, joints aligned and freely moving, and reduces compression in the joints, ultimately reducing or eliminating common pain symptoms and stiffness.”

Hitzmann teaches the M.E.L.T. Method in eight week sessions, instructing people on how to treat their own pain. “People would come to me with body aches and pains,” describes Hitzmann, who would respond: “‘Either you come and see me every week for a month or I can teach you how to self-treat and you can prolong the effects by yourself.’” Patients would return to her office exclaiming “I feel like I’ve miraculously cured myself!”

As her patient turnover became more and more frequent, Hitzmann began to mull over a new idea. “If I could just explain this to people and educate people what happens through aging and the effects of aging on the body, could I treat people without them even coming to see me?” From there, Hitzman developed a specialized technique, which she patented and now teaches in gyms around New York City, including the Manhattan JCC on 76th street and Amsterdam Avenue. She has already trained over thirty additional instructors, who now teach the M.E.L.T. Method throughout the East Coast, including Philadelphia, and Atlanta. To find a location near you, visit Hitzman’s website, www.bodylanguagenyc.com.

Although it does not replace exercise, you can MELT before and after your exercise routine to gain the maximum benefits. MELT before strength training will hydrate your connective tissue and prep the body for optimal performance. MELT after a cardio workout can erase the joint compression that causes pain and discomfort. The MELT techniques can be used in any sequence, depending on one’s specific requirements and exercise regimen. Even 10-15 minutes of MELT before or after exercise can make a difference.

Benefits of MELT also include improvement in flexibility, muscle tone, posture and alignment, sleep and overall well-being. MELT can help reduce aches and pains, wrinkles, cellulite, tension and stress, headaches, risk of injury and signs of aging. The best thing about MELT, though, is the self-empowerment that it endows its MELT-ers with. Now they can finally take steps to help treat themselves and create long-term benefits instead of running to their physicians or popping pain relievers.

“This could really be the turning point of how people use their doctors and medications in general,” prophesizes Hitzmann. “Not just to jump to surgeries and needles but to feel and know what it’s like when your body feels dysfunction. Lots of times by the time you get to the pain it’s been in dysfunction for a long time and it’s just a matter of time before it arises as pain. I think people just don’t know that, and now they can and do.”