Long-term discomfort is debilitating and can prevent a person from living a normal life. This discomfort can come from random pains, injuries, car wrecks, and normal aging that results in muscle tightness, tension, and other aching joint pains. With the goal to relieve these types of pain, people often look to find a physical therapist.

Physical therapists might recommend manual therapy as part of a patient’s healing journey. This hands-on method has been found to bring reduced pain and tension in both the short-term and long-term healing processes for many patients.

What is Manual Therapy?

Manual Therapy is a specialized physical therapy treatment that consists of various types of treatment interventions applied to articular and periarticular anatomical structures. It involves delivering skillful multiple hands-on techniques that are used to bring relief to the patient. The treatment techniques are aimed toward muscles, joints, tendons, fascia, nerves, joint capsules, etc. These interventions, when performed in the right way can produce relief from pain, improve discomfort, and restore normal mobility of the joint.

Patients who receive manual therapy treatment commonly see the following results:

• • Improved Joint Mobility

• • Short-term pain relief

• • Long-term pain relief

• • Improved pain-free movements

• • Better range of motion

• • Resolved muscle spasms

• • Softened trigger points (commonly known as “knots” in the muscles)

• • Improved tingling and numbness in arms and legs

• • Improved headaches, body aches, etc.

Manual therapy treatments are known to produce biomechanical and neurophysiological effects on the targeted tissues. These passive skilled treatments are well known to create positive relief experiences for patients and to reduce distressing symptoms. Physical therapists will sometimes also use instruments to target deeper tissues specifically to reduce tightness and tension in the myofascial structures.

How fast will I see results?

When manual therapy sessions are conducted by skilled physical therapists who have specifically practiced this specialty, patients often begin to notice results very early on in their healing journey. At Advance Therapy, patients and physical therapists commonly see the beginning of improvements within 2-3 sessions.

Seeing the swift effectiveness of manual therapy, patients often like to receive manual therapy sessions to help relieve pain while also participating in other exercises and treatments.

How can I receive manual therapy treatments?

Schedule an appointment with Advanced Therapy to get an overall treatment plan set up and ask your physical therapist if manual therapy treatment could aid your healing and performance. Call us to schedule an appointment today!