The impact of pain on a person’s quality of life can be enormous. Any sort of physical discomfort, whether caused by an injury or a medical condition, can have a substantial impact on your mood, movement, sleeping patterns, memory and focus, and even your relationships. Pain can also lead to addiction to painkillers, making you more prone to worry and despair.
As an alternative to surgery, chiropractors use non-invasive procedures such as physical therapy and manual therapy in Hammond LA. Physical therapy is a treatment method that focuses on the structure of the body in order to relieve pain and help you manage your condition better. Some people receive pain relief from prescription medications, but chiropractic care provides long-term relief without adverse side effects.
What Is Manual Therapy?
Manual therapy, often known as hands-on physical therapy, is one of the most extensively used therapeutic options for pain and musculoskeletal disorders. Rather than using a gadget or machine, this specialized form of physical therapy is delivered with just the hands. Manual therapists utilize trained, precise hands-on procedures to treat muscle spasms, tightness, and joint problems.
The goal is to assist in relaxing tense muscles, enhancing blood flow to wounded areas, and mobilizing soft tissue and joints. Manual therapy, Hammond, LA, and therapeutic exercises are essential components of physical therapy since it aids patients in regaining range of motion and returning to an average level of activity.
How Does Manual Therapy Work?
When manual therapy (the “stimulus”) is given to a specific section of your body (the “tissue”), the muscles in that area become less spastic and have more motion. The application of this stimulation triggers a chain of events, beginning with the “peripheral nervous system” (all of the nerves in your body besides those in your spinal cord and your brain). Cells that assist fight inflammation (“inflammatory mediators”) are sent to the region due to this stimulation.
The information is then delivered to the “spinal cord,” which is the primary nerve conduction channel between your body and your brain.
Different Types Of Manual Therapy Techniques
Soft Tissue Mobilization
Soft tissue mobilization (SMT) is a treatment that uses rhythmic stretching and deep pressure to break up myofascial adhesions, which are fibrous and inelastic muscle tissues in the body. It is commonly used on the muscles surrounding the spine. Your physical therapist will perform a layer-by-layer evaluation to identify areas of significant tissue constriction and mobilize them utilizing a range of treatments. This may entail applying a traction force to the constricted area in an attempt to reduce discomfort and restore the damaged tissue’s normal texture.
Strain-Counterstrain
Strain-counterstrain is used to treat aberrant neuromuscular responses that produce postural and structural issues, as well as unpleasant tender points. Your physical therapist will use this approach to find your point of comfort by asking you when the tenderness starts to fade. After that, you’ll be placed in your most comfortable position for roughly 90 seconds while gentle stretching is used to produce asymptomatic strain. Your physical therapist will then gently ease you out of the position, letting your muscles return to an average level of tension, allowing the healing process to progress.
Joint Mobilization
Most people rely on rest, massage, and hot and cold therapy for a torn muscle or a mild injury as a quick remedy. While these treatments feel nice at first, the pain usually returns when the muscle spasm reacts to the constricted joint. By pushing your actual bone surfaces on each other in ways you can’t move the joint yourself, the joint mobilization approach tries to free up your limited joint and restore ideal motion. This painless method consists of a series of skillful passive motions applied at varying speeds and amplitudes to your joint complex.
Muscle Energy Technique (MET)
Muscle energy techniques (METs) use a voluntary contraction of your muscles against a distinctively regulated counterforce applied by your therapist from a precise position and in a specified direction to lengthen shortened muscles and mobilize restricted joints. Your physical therapist will move your joint to its new barrier after a 3-5 seconds contraction, and you will do another muscle contraction. It can be done more than two or three times or even more. This approach is considered an operational procedure instead of mobilizations and other passive procedures because your physical therapist will not be making all of the efforts. Furthermore, METs do not put any strain on the joint and are well tolerated by the majority of patients.
Endnote
Many individuals will seek relief from their pain through manual therapy. In these instances, manual therapy treatment and physical therapy are routinely performed. If you’re looking for relief from current types of pain, it’s vital first to discuss treatment options with your doctor. Patients who have had joint replacements should tell their physical therapist or anybody else who treats them with manual therapy.