What is Soft Tissue Therapy?
Soft Tissue Therapy is the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of minor and chronic musculoskeletal conditions." It integrates three essential clinical elements:
Assessment
Applying a range of assessment methods to determine whether Soft Tissue Therapy is appropriate and devise a suitable treatment plan for an individual client.
Treatment
Applying a range of soft tissue techniques (including massage) to aid recovery from injury and improve soft tissue condition and joint mobility.
Rehabilitation
Offering advice on a range of remedial exercises and lifestyle factors aimed at speeding up recovery, preventing injury recurrence as well as improving posture, performance and function
Soft tissue therapy is the manipulation of the soft tissues of the body; muscles, connective tissue/fascia, tendons, ligaments and joints. It helps alleviate the soft tissue discomfort associated with every day and occupational stresses, muscular over-use and many chronic pain conditions. If employed early enough after accidents involving trauma and injury, soft tissue therapy can greatly reduce the development of painful muscular patterning.
At times the treatment can be a little tender due to needing to work through the superficial tissues and into the deeper structures to locate the underlying cause of the pain or tension.
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Treatments are designed to:
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Relieve muscle pain, spasm & correct muscle imbalance
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Deactivate trigger points
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Improve Range of Movement & flexibility
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Breakdown & remodel scar tissue & adhesions
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Increase or decrease muscle tone
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Improve postural awareness
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Identify potential causes & assist in injury prevention
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Speed up recovery from training & aid rehabilitation
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Promote relaxation & mental preparation
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Prevention of & early detection of possible injury
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Forms part of a training regime to optimise performance
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Get you back to full function following surgery/accidents/slips or falls
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Correct dysfunctional movement patterns
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Improve lymphatic flow
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Aid mental preparation for sporting participation
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Promote & improve circulation
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Soft Tissue Therapy offers hands-on treatment using a mix of massage strokes and other soft tissues techniques adapted from physiotherapy and osteopathy. The techniques used are safe and non-invasive and can be applied to specific injuries, postural imbalances and lifestyle stress as well as a more traditional sports massage for athletes.
Treating the cause of the pain not just the symptom
I don't believe in simply treating the problem, I want to trace the cause of the issue so that I can prevent it from re-occurring and help you remain pain free longterm. On each visit I will perform active and passive assessments to help identify the cause(s) of your pain and then
reassess to see the changes and improvements.
During your treatment I will:
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Provide you with an effective treatment.
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Give your body a gentle nudge in the right direction with passive stretches.
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Help you discover problematic movement habits and help you change them.
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Provide guidance on stretches, exercise or self-release work (i.e foam rolling) to work on between sessions
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Answer all your questions with the best advice I have available.
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Explain everything I'm doing in easy to understand language.
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Give you movement ideas to help maintain and continue the work we've done.