How Manual Therapy Treats the Whole Person
This hands-on treatment approach offers both physical and psychological benefits
Do you have aches and pains in your muscles or joints? You might benefit from manual therapy, one of the cornerstones of physical therapy. This hands-on treatment has a long history in the field and offers many physical and mental benefits. At Miss-Lou Physical Therapy, we incorporate manual therapy into our whole-body approach to health.
Manual therapy refers to a set of techniques centered around touch as a method of healing. Our physical therapists can reduce pain, inflammation, and stress by skillful manipulation of the joints and soft tissue while increasing joint mobility, blood flow, and health.
If you want to learn more about the many benefits of manual therapy, schedule an appointment with Miss-Lou Physical Therapy today!
How manual therapy works
The foundation of manual therapy is human touch. By manipulating the joints, muscle tissue, or tendons by hand, our therapists can facilitate the healing of damaged tissue.
Manual therapy works by relieving tightness in the joints, tendons, or muscles. That tightness is generally caused by adhesions, tough, scar-like tissue that forms across the internal tissue in our bodies. Manual therapy loosens up those adhesions, which in turn reduces pain and improves mobility.
You wouldn’t be wrong if that sounds like therapeutic massage, but the two techniques are different. For one, manual therapy refers to various approaches, not simply the manipulation of muscle tissue. Manual therapy is also more of a targeted approach, focused on relieving specific instances of pain or tightness rather than general relaxation.
That said, relaxation can be a wonderful side effect of manual therapy, speaking to one of its great strengths: the power of touch.
How manual therapy treats the whole person
At Miss-Lou Physical Therapy, we take a holistic approach to treatment, meaning we look at the entire person, not simply the area affected by pain. While our therapist might apply manual therapy techniques to a specific pain point, the effects can be widespread.
Often, the point of pain is not the cause of pain. Everything in your body is connected: for example, knee pain might be caused by an impairment in the hips. Manual therapy allows our experts to more thoroughly assess your symptoms and determine the exact cause of pain–making it easier to develop the best course of treatment.
Another way that manual therapy incorporates well into a holistic approach to care is that it provides psychological and physical benefits. Human touch has been shown to improve health benefits, and one of the strengths of manual therapy is that it’s performed literally, by hand.
Manual therapy allows the therapists at Miss-Lou Physical Therapy to focus all their attention on you and your specific concerns, ensuring you get the best possible care. And you’ll probably find manual therapy relaxing, too!
What can I expect from manual therapy at Miss-Lou Physical Therapy?
Manual therapy includes several different touch-based techniques. At Miss-Lou Physical Therapy, our physical therapist always start with a thorough physical examination and health history to determine your specific needs.
Once we have a complete picture of you and your health, our therapists might utilize any of the following manual therapy techniques:
- Therapeutic massage, in which we focus on the muscle tissue
- Myofascial release, in which we focus on the tough myofascial tissue that wraps the muscles and connects them to the bones
- Join mobilization and manipulations, in which we help move the joints through their natural range of motion
- Trigger point therapy, in which we release tension from a small trigger point–an action that can have an effect throughout the body!
If you’re concerned that physical therapy will hurt, know that pain is not typically a part of the manual therapy process. However, you may experience discomfort, particularly if our therapists are manipulating an area already experiencing pain. But this discomfort is short-lived, and many patients will immediately feel the benefits of manual therapy.
Schedule an appointment with Miss-Lou Physical Therapy today!
If you want to learn more about manual therapy’s amazing, whole-body benefits, schedule an appointment with Miss-Lou Physical Therapy in to find out more. Our team of experts is excited to help you find holistic health through the power of touch.