Manual Therapy Program
Manual therapy is a treatment technique used by physical therapists and other healthcare providers to address musculoskeletal pain and disfunction. The most common techniques include muscular manipulation, joint mobilization, and joint manipulation. Some conditions require more or less manual therapy than others. Physical therapists are trained to use evidence-based practice to determine the type of manual therapy you need.
Research has shown that for several different conditions, manual therapy combined with targeted exercise and stretching can promote a speedier recovery. Each of our physical therapists have had additional training with the North American Institute of Orthopaedic Manual Therapy (NAIOMT) and skillfully interweave their manual techniques with your program to get you feeling and moving better faster.
Manual therapy includes techniques such as:
- Joint mobilization (both active, performed by you and the therapist, and passive, performed by the therapist alone)
- Joint manipulation
- Muscle energy techniques
- Contract-relax Techniques
- Strain-counter-strain
- Pin-release
- Trigger point release
- Ischemic compression
- Cross friction massage (CFM)
- Soft tissue massage
- Deep tissue massage
- Graston/"ASTYM" techniques
- Taping (KT, leukotape, etc.)
- PNF
You will be educated as to why different techniques are performed and how they will help stimulate healing, improve range of motion, provide musculoskeletal feedback, reduce symptoms, or even change neuromuscular control (how your nerves direct your muscle action). We may have you do certain exercises or stretches while performing manual therapy which can include cuing for proper motion with our hands or performing tissue mobilization while you hold a certain stretch.
We want you to feel comfortable during your sessions. We never perform manual therapy techniques without your permission or without discussing your preference for the technique. If you've had positive benefits from manual therapy in the past, please share them with us during your sessions. That way, we can tailor the type of manual therapy used during your treatment time for your specific condition.