Manual Therapy
Manual therapy has a long history within the profession of physical therapy.
Manual therapy is a specialized area of physiotherapy for the management of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions based on clinical reasoning using highly specific manual techniques and therapeutic exercises.
This specialty is based on manual examination and treatment techniques integrated with exercise, patient education, and other physical therapy modalities to address pain, loss of function, and wellness.
In general, manual physical therapy techniques employ the following types of movement:
- Includes pressure to the soft tissues of the body, such as muscles.
- This can help relax muscles, increase circulation, break up scar tissue, and ease pain in the soft tissues.
- It is a measured movement of varying speed (slow to fast), force (gentle to forceful), and varying amplitude to adjust, distract/compress the bones and joints.
- Can help loosen tight tissues around a joint, reduce pain in a joint and surrounding tissue, and help with flexibility and alignment.
- Thus giving comfort and pain relief
- Trigger point therapy is a neuromuscular therapy designed to speed up recovery from injury, correct muscular imbalances and relieve pain.
- Physical therapists will stretch the muscle and then apply pressure to areas of muscle tightness or knots.
- This helps to relieve muscle tension and promote healing.
