Physical Therapy can include manual therapy, otherwise known as “hands-on” therapy. Physical therapists may not be the first thought that pops into your head for manual therapy, but when it comes to pain relief a manual physical therapist is a perfect choice! Here we will discuss why you may want to consider a Custom Care Rehab Physical Therapist as your first choice! Our Physical Therapists not only use exercise for treatment and prevention of injury but are manually oriented physical therapists.

Imagine feeling stiff in the neck and having a headache after a long day on the computer. You call your manual Physical Therapist and in one session of personalized in-home therapy you now have a normal range of motion, your pain is gone, and the headache is gone! Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Let’s go through the benefits of manual therapy, how hands-on therapy works, and the types of techniques used in physical therapy, as discussed in the Journal of Pain Management.

What is Manual Therapy?

Manual therapy is the skilled use of therapeutic touch to manipulate soft tissue and joints. These hands-on physical therapy techniques can be used to promote pain relief, improve range of motion, tissue extensibility, mobilize soft tissue and joints, reduce swelling, inflammation, or restriction, and induce relaxation.

Manual therapy is one treatment tool used by physical therapists. There are several research studies that compare manual therapy techniques to exercise prescriptions. These publications demonstrate that the combination of these interventions yields superior outcomes to the use of exercise or manual therapy alone. Custom Care Rehab is a patient-centered company that follows this current research and pairs manual therapy with exercise prescriptions to allow for the best outcomes possible for our patients. Many people are surprised to learn that physical therapy can be enjoyable and not just the “no pain, no gain” mindset of exercise in achieving pain relief.

Benefits of Manual Therapy

Reduces pain

Improves joint mobility/joint play
Improve quantity of movement (i.e. range of motion)
Improving the quality of movement
Decreases muscle tension/spasms
Improves flexibility
Improves dynamic balance·
Neurophysiological effects: decreasing patient’s sensitivity and pain processing/perception
Improves motor control and improves motor recruitment
Improves therapeutic alliance with the patient through therapeutic touch
Improves overall function

Types of Manual Therapy

Myofascial Release
Your fascia is a network of tissue that spreads throughout your entire body. It weaves from superficial to deeper layers connecting your muscles, joints, and bones. It also provides support to your organs, helping to keep them in place.‌
When you feel stiffness or pain in your body, it can originate from different layers of tissues in your body. Myofascial pain is different from other types of pain because it occurs in places where your myofascial tissue meets or crosses. Myofascial pain may be difficult to identify because it can radiate from the area or refer to another location. For example, suboccipital tightness (muscle at the base of the skull) can be tight and refer to pain in the forehead and pressure behind the eyes.
Your therapist will gently and slowly work over tight areas in the body looking for restrictions in different sections of the muscles. Once identified, deeper pressure is applied slowly lengthening the tissue from one end to the other until no restriction is felt.
Cupping
Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. It’s based on the belief that certain health problems can be caused by stagnant blood and poor energy flow through your body. People get it for many purposes, including to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation, and well-being, and as a type of deep-tissue massage. Increased blood flow can relieve muscle tension, improve circulation, and reduce inflammation. This may be trendy In western medicine, but it dates back to the Egyptians in 1550 B.C.!
See some of our cupping procedures in the pictures below or on Custom Care Rehab Instagram page.
Dry Needling
Dry needles as opposed to wet needles do not deliver any medication into the body. Dry needling uses the insertion of thin monofilament needles, as used in the practice of acupuncture, inserted in the vicinity of peripheral nerves and/or muscle trigger points in order to manage a variety of pain syndromes.
Dry needling treats muscle tissue, and its goal is to reduce pain, inactivate trigger points and restore range of motion. It can be incorporated as a tool used in therapy with other manual therapy techniques and exercises. Dry needling can be used for a wide variety of musculoskeletal issues, such as shoulder, calf, neck, hip and back pain.

4. Tool Assisted: Graston, Hawk Grips, Massage Gun

Tool assisted manual therapy uses instruments to manipulate the skin, muscles, myofascial layers, and tendons by a variety of compressive strokes. Instruments effectively break down fascial restrictions and scar tissue to elongate tissues and increase range of motion. Graston and Hawk grips are usually made of stainless steel with beveled edges and contours that can conform to different body anatomical locations and allows for deeper penetration.

Benefits of tool-assisted manual therapy include:

Decreasing overall treatment time by treating deeper tissue layers
Fostering faster rehabilitation/recovery
Reducing the need for medications
Resolving chronic conditions thought to be permanent

Other tool-assisted techniques include vibration or percussion therapy guns, again allowing for deeper penetration of muscle adhesions. Vibration also increases blood flow to a painful area which can heat the tissue, make it more pliable, and flush out stagnant inflammation in the area. This again increases the range of motion and decreases pain experienced in that tissue.

5. Traction

Traction of the spine is a popular treatment for neck pain and radiating pain and /or numbness in the limbs. Essentially, cervical traction pulls your head away from your neck to create expansion and eliminate compression. It’s considered to be an alternative treatment for neck pain, helping people avoid the need for medication or surgeries. It can be used as part of a physical therapy treatment or on your own at home.

Cervical traction devices lightly stretch the neck to reduce pressure on the spine by pulling or separating the vertebrae. It is a technique that is both highly effective and fast-acting by reducing compression on a nerve in the spine.

6. Joint Mobilizations

Joint mobilization is defined as the application of manual force to the body joints within the passive range of joint motion that does not involve a thrust. Mobilizations may produce a cavitation or the classic ‘pop” that one may experience with a high-speed thrust but mobilizations are slower speed and force. Mobilizations are utilized when an asymmetry is identified between two sides of the body or restriction in the joint is found.

Shop some of our favorite manual products below for at home relief between therapy sessions.

Conclusion

Physical Therapists are uniquely qualified to be holistic care providers. They are able to treat joint restrictions, muscle tension, trigger points, and prescribe exercises that will help prevent the pain in the first place. Let one of our manual Physical Therapists treat your musculoskeletal injuries. Contact us to learn more.