What is Manual Therapy treatment in Physiotherapy?

A lot of questions arise in discussions about physiotherapy treatments in conversations with friends or friends of physiotherapists, one of the top questions that is asked is what exactly is manual therapy treatment that is used in physiotherapy sessions.  At VanCity Physio, it is our passion that our patients feel knowledgeable about the services we offer, and we hope to shed some light today about what exactly manual therapy is and what the benefits of it are on your aches and pains.

Manual therapy treatment is the specialized technique of physiotherapy that uses delivery of treatment solely by the hands of the practitioner rather than that of a machine or device.  This has been around since the 400s B.C which was founded by Hippocrates the “Father of Medicine ''.  Manual manipulation is when a physiotherapist uses their hands to manipulate the soft tissue to mobilize the area and perform a myofascial release.  Examples of methods of manual therapy for example can be therapeutic massage, mobilization, connective tissue techniques, cranial sacral techniques, the strain counter strain technique, a muscle energy technique, and many other hands-on techniques. 

The focus of manual therapy is to identify any tissue abnormalities, pain, restricted movements or pain from the findings the right path of treatment is determined.  The physiotherapist will then determine after reassessment if the diagnosed path of treatment for the discomfort is improving and if it’s not then a new course of action may be indicated.  Some injuries or problems manual therapy may be considered are: 

• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Shoulder pain
• TMJ Dysfunction
• Ankle Pain
• Knee Pain
• Hip Pain

There are many reasons a physiotherapist will perform manual therapy and we see the improvements every day at VanCity Physio.  At our initial visit, a full assessment will be conducted to get to the root of the discomfort. VanCity Physio will perform a full evaluation, a potential diagnosis will be identified, and a game plan with route best to treat the underlying issue will be used.  It will be determined if manual therapy would be effective, and we find most patients will benefit from this form of treatment to promote pain reduction.  At sessions after the first visit, a reassessment of signs and symptoms will be conducted, if improvement is there most likely we’re on the right track and if we’re not seeing the results then we will keep working at it to get where we need. The future for pain relief is trending to achieving this without pain medication as more people are cognizant with alternative methods to pain relief.  We feel you will achieve much pain reduction from manual therapy and VanCity Physio is passionate about body manipulation or mobilization can reduce pain levels faster than you think! We see manual therapy application within physiotherapy sessions as one of the best, quickest and most effective ways to get our patients back to 100%. Book in for a full assessment today and if you’re wondering if you can benefit from manual therapy, we will be happy to assist you—our goal in conjunction with you—is a speedy recovery to get you back to “you”.