Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “massage”
Regardless of the underlying mechanism, there seems to be a growing number of studies that do show a correlation between massage therapy and blood circulation. Although these studies at present seem to be inconsistent in their findings, the fact that many of them do show a causal relationship is encouraging.
The first goal of manual therapy treatment for shin splints is to relieve the tension of the involved musculature by lessening baseline muscle tone and eliminating any trigger points that might be present. The second goal is to treat swelling, if present.
The line along the continuum between “regular” and deep tissue massage is not sharp and can’t be clarified by a list of techniques.
A good protocol for manual therapy for golfer’s elbow involves fascial spreading, longitudinal and cross fiber strokes, and pin and stretch technique.
It is necessary to determine what condition is causing the sciatic nerve compression and address that. If the cause is a pathologic disc, then addressing factors that affect disc compression is appropriate.
Given the many possible causes of patellofemoral syndrome, following is a typical guideline for manual therapy treatment.
Joint mobilization treatment (Grade IV or V) is the most effective treatment technique to remedy a spinal joint dysfunction hypomobility once it is present.
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.
A wrist sprain is challenging to treat with manual therapy because it is essentially an overstretching of ligaments, which causes joint instability.
The medical approach to wrist sprain/strain is usually to recommend rest, a brace, and non-steroidal or steroidal anti-inflammatory medication.
The authors concluded that single and multiple massage treatment applications can decrease a client’s pain at myofascial trigger points.
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.
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.
The results of this study should bolster the value of including massage therapy as an integral part of oncology treatment programs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
These findings of altered movement and glide support the concept that altered mechanics of the sacroiliac joint are correlated with the presence of pain.
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.
A whiplash/neck sprain is problematic to treat because it involves overstretching of ligaments, which causes joint instability.
This study validates the efficacy of performing massage before stretching our clients, and recommending self-massage before stretching for client self-care.
Soft tissue manipulation produced immediate clinically meaningful improvements in lung function in patients with severe and very severe COPD.
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.
Manual therapy for a chronic Achilles tendon disorder is aimed at decreasing plantarflexor tightness and breaking up excessive fascial adhesion scar tissue.
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.
Massage therapy might reduce a myofascial trigger point by increasing lactate levels, not by directly increasing arterial blood flow.
Confirmation of endocannabinoid receptors in fascial tissue greatly bolsters our understanding of the mechanism of how manual and movement therapies work.
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 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.
