Why having a good bra is key
Being a relatively ‘young’ profession in comparison to Physiotherapy, I find that patients are always asking me “What is Myotherapy?”
Simply put, Clinical Myotherapy is a branch of manual medicine, which focuses on the effective treatment and management of musculoskeletal pain (any pain/dysfunction of the muscles and associated joints). Picture your Myotherapist as your ‘muscle doc’, any issues that are muscular in nature, we should be able to help with!
A Myotherapist has a large range of treatment ‘modalities’ that we can call upon, depending on what problems our patients come in with, and how they present. These include:
- Soft tissue mobilisation
- Deep tissue mobilisation
- Myofascial Release
- Joint mobilisation
- Cupping
- Dry-needling (including electro-needling)
- TENS therapy
- Hot/Cold Therapy
- Pain Management Techniques
A distinguishing feature of Clinical Myotherapy is its specific form of clinical reasoning where methods of assessment (posture evaluation), are accompanied by thorough palpation of the affected areas.
A major component of what we do is directed towards the alleviation of muscle contracture, which may be caused by trauma, ageing, overload or misuse of muscles. This contracture may arise from occupational, sporting & recreational activities or structural factors.
So what can a first-time patient expect from a Myotherapy treatment session?
- Patients’ history (past injuries, treatments, surgeries etc.) being noted
- Chief Complaint (details on the patients’ reason for seeking treatment)
- Postural Assessment
- Active range of movements (based on chief complaint)
- Palpatory Assessment (based on chief complaint)
- Explanation of findings to the patient, including an explanation of the Myotherapist’s treatment plan
- The treatment itself (using whichever modalities that were previously discussed)
- Post treatment range of movements (noting any differences to pre-treatment)
- Small discussion of the treatment with the patient, and prescription of exercises (if necessary)
Now that you know what Myotherapy is all about, why don’t you book a treatment and see the positive results for yourself?
By Giorgio Gentikoglou, Myotherapist.
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