More about manual therapy
Manual therapy is a form of physical therapy where the physiotherapist uses his or her own hands as a method of treatment. Physiotherapy methods are divided into manual and instrumental techniques, which include:
- High-energy laser therapy
- shockwave therapy
- TECAR therapy
- Magnetotherapy
- electrotherapy
How is manual therapy carried out?
During manual therapies, the physiotherapist uses pressure and special manual techniques to manipulate the muscle, connective tissue, and joints in order to reduce muscle tension and improve musculoskeletal dysfunctions.
At Medicofit, manual techniques are used in treatment programmes for post-operative, pre-operative, and chronic pain conditions. Manual therapy has the most curative effects when joints suffer from inadequate mobility and when there are imbalances in muscle tension.
Both are a natural phenomena post orthopaedic surgery when joint mobility, muscle balances, and movement patterns need to be remodelled or rebuilt from scratch. Asymmetrically toned muscles and limited joint mobility are often both the problem and the cause of chronic degenerative pain conditions.
What problems are treated with manual therapy?
Using manual techniques, the physiotherapist improves the function of joints and muscles by increasing mobility, remodelling muscle tone, and, subsequently, correcting joint positions in body postures. The main objective of manual therapy is to achieve pain-free movement of the joint.
Increased muscle tension is a common problem in chronic pain conditions where, due to the presence of degeneration, certain movements compensate and overload the ‘wrong, opposite or adjacent’ muscle group, which becomes overstretched and causes even more severe pain symptoms.
Manual techniques are often used to successfully treat:
- sacroiliac joint dysfunctions
- painful lumbar spine syndrome
- low back pain
- pain behind the knee
- hip pain
- tennis elbow
- golf elbow
- shoulder pain
- neck pain
- sciatica symptoms and groin pain.
Manual techniques at Medicofit include therapeutic massage, sports massage, local soft tissue mobilisation, trigger-point therapy, ERGON techniques, transverse friction and other manual techniques.
