A research study has shown that massage therapy increases growth of muscle tissue after an injury, even on the opposite, non-massaged side of the body.
Manual therapy and self-care treatment of wrist sprain, strain & tendinitis
A wrist sprain is challenging to treat with manual therapy because it is essentially an overstretching of ligaments, which causes joint instability.
What is the medical approach to wrist sprains, strains, and tendinitis?
The medical approach to wrist sprain/strain is usually to recommend rest, a brace, and non-steroidal or steroidal anti-inflammatory medication.
Can massage lessen pain at myofascial trigger points?
The authors concluded that single and multiple massage treatment applications can decrease a client’s pain at myofascial trigger points.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Deep Strokes
To transition to perform deep strokes and maintain proper body mechanics, it is necessary to transition from being perpendicular to be slightly horizontal to glide along the client’s body. However, minimize the horizontal direction or pressure into the client’s tissues will be lost.
What are the self-care and medical approaches to rotator cuff pathology?
Self-care for the client/patient with rotator cuff pathology depends on the specific muscle that is affected and the specific pathology that is present.
Massage Therapy Decreases Cancer-Related Fatigue
The results of this study should bolster the value of including massage therapy as an integral part of oncology treatment programs.
Body Mechanics for Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Overview
For proper body mechanics, it is important to support your contact. Place the thumb pad of your right hand over the thumb pad contact of the left hand to brace/support it. Proper location of the brace is to place the right thumb pad on the dorsal surface of the distal phalanx of the thumb.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Choosing the Right Table
Even more important than table width is table height. As a rule, when generating deep pressure, you want the table to be as low as possible so that you can more easily position your body above the client to take advantage of gravity and body weight.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Client and Therapist Positioning
A common body mechanics error is for the therapist to stand above the face cradle at the head end of the table. Standing here only distances you from the client, causing you to lean over the client to reach the low back; this compromises body mechanics and does not allow for the efficient use of body weight.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Positioning the Feet
Make sure that the feet are not too far apart. A wide stance may feel more stable but creates a static position that makes it difficult to transfer weight from one foot to the other. With a narrower stance, it is easier to shift the center of weight of the body from one foot to the other as a stroke is done.
Altered Pelvic Bone Motion and Sacroiliac Pain
These findings of altered movement and glide support the concept that altered mechanics of the sacroiliac joint are correlated with the presence of pain.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Forward Head Posture
The neck and head do not contribute to the generation of pressure, so head and neck posture should be whatever is most comfortable and least stressful. Forward head posture, a common postural distortion imbalance pattern that occurs is caused by a flexion of the head and neck.
How do we treat Whiplash with manual therapy?
A whiplash/neck sprain is problematic to treat because it involves overstretching of ligaments, which causes joint instability.
Self-Massage Before Stretching Improves Stretching Outcomes
This study validates the efficacy of performing massage before stretching our clients, and recommending self-massage before stretching for client self-care.
The Effect of Manual Therapy on COPD
Soft tissue manipulation produced immediate clinically meaningful improvements in lung function in patients with severe and very severe COPD.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Choosing the Treatment Contact
When working the low back, a good strategy is to begin with a smaller treatment contact such as thumb or finger pads to assess and begin treatment of the lumbar region, and then switch to a larger contact such as the palm or elbow to deliver deeper pressure.
How do we treat Achilles tendon disorders with manual therapy?
Manual therapy for a chronic Achilles tendon disorder is aimed at decreasing plantarflexor tightness and breaking up excessive fascial adhesion scar tissue.
Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back – Tissue Tension Barrier
Being able to feel tissue tension barriers is the one most important hands-on skill that an orthopedic manual therapist needs. Clinical orthopedic manual therapy (massage and stretching) only effects change if we reach tissue tension and then apply slightly more force beyond it.
Myofascial Trigger Point Treatment and Lactate Levels
Massage therapy might reduce a myofascial trigger point by increasing lactate levels, not by directly increasing arterial blood flow.
Expression of the Endocannabinoid Receptors in Human Fascial Tissue
Confirmation of endocannabinoid receptors in fascial tissue greatly bolsters our understanding of the mechanism of how manual and movement therapies work.
How do we treat overpronation with manual therapy?
The role of manual therapy for a rigid flat foot (overpronation) is to loosen fascial adhesions that are locking the bones in a position of pronation.
The Effect of Myofascial Manipulation on Turnout in Classical Dance
The study demonstrated that four sessions of MFR of the lower limb can induce an improvement in the isolated external hip joint rotation. The authors hypothesized that the improvement in the hip joint’s ROM was due to reduced myofascial stiffness after the MFR treatments.
Introduction to Deep Pressure Massage to the Low Back
When deep pressure is needed, it is important to be able to generate it with the least amount of effort and physical stress to your body. In essence, this blog post article is about learning how to employ proper body mechanics so that you work smart instead of working hard.
Low Back Pain: Time to Consider Massage and Exercise as Effective Treatments
So if we say that the cause of most low back pain is not understood, it should mean that we do not know what mechanism is causing the low back pain most of the time. But that is not true. We can often palpate tight myofascial tissue or a dysfunctional joint that is causing back pain.
What is Manual Therapy?
The following techniques are considered to be Manual Therapy techniques: Massage (Soft Tissue Manipulation), Stretching, Joint Mobilization, Hydrotherapy.
Infant Touch Lessens Pain in Infants
The major take-home points regarding infant touch from this study are: 1. Touch can be beneficial toward lessening pain; and 2. The quality of touch matters.
Massage is considered as a recommended treatment for Low Back Pain
For patients with chronic low back pain, clinicians and patients should initially select nonpharmacologic treatment with exercise and manual therapies (such as massage).
Massage Improves Children’s Surgical Postoperative Recovery
Children receiving postoperative massage therapy had significantly lower anxiety and lower exposure to benzodiazepines than the standard of care group.
How Do We Treat Slumped Spinal Posture with Manual Therapy?
When performing soft tissue manipulation/massage, it is always wise to begin with light to medium pressure, and then transition to deeper pressure.
