Soft Tissue Therapy
What is soft tissue treatment?
Soft tissue treatment involves the assessment and treatment of any soft tissue injury that is causing pain and abnormal function. Soft tissues include ligaments, tendons, muscles and fascia. At Refit Physio And Rehab Clinic, the physiotherapists use a number of soft tissue treatments depending on your symptoms.
Types of soft tissue treatment:
Trigger points: Trigger points are localized areas of tight and irritable muscle that feels like knots just under your skin. Trigger points are tender to touch and can refer pain to distant parts of the body. They can occur any where in your body. Physiotherapists locate trigger points and apply deep pressure on the top of the trigger points in your muscle with fingers, thumbs or elbows and hold this position. This technique aims to relieve local or referred pain, muscle spasm and improve your range of movement.
Massage: Massage is a treatment used by physiotherapists to stimulate the soft tissues in your body in order to relieve pain, improve circulation and relax the muscles.
Deep transverse frictions: The purpose of deep friction massage is to maintain the mobility within the soft tissue structures of ligament, tendon and muscle and prevent adherent scars from forming. At Refit Physio And Rehab Clinic, the physiotherapists will use deep transverse frictions to increase muscle length, improve circulation, stimulate the healing process and reduce pain.
Heat therapy: physiotherapists apply heat to soft tissue if the injury is in a chronic stage. Heat will increase the blood flow to the area and therefore enhance the healing process and remove waste products that may be causing you pain. Heat can be applied in the form of hot towels, hot packs and wraps and gels.
Cold therapy/ Cyrotherapy: cold therapy is used by physiotherapists for an acute and inflamed injury. This helps to reduce blood flow and any excess swelling of the area. Cold therapy can also restrict the nerve pathways for pain. Cold is applied by ice packs, cold sprays, wraps and gels or compression wraps which further reduces any swelling.
Electrotherapy: this is used by physiotherapists to enhance the healing process of soft tissues. Types of electrotherapy include ultrasound, interferential stimulation, TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation), NMES (Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation).
Stretching: Stretching exercises are included in your treatment if you have tight and short muscles. The stretch is a position further than the normal range of movement which is then held to increase the length of the muscle. Dynamic stretching involves an active movement whereas static stretches are held in one position for 30 seconds.
Hold relax/muscle energy techniques: The patient’s tight muscle is put in a position of stretch followed by an isometric contraction of the same muscle. After the allotted time the tight muscle is passively moved to a position of increased stretch. Stretching techniques can be used to mobilize a joint, reduce tightness and increase range of movement.
Benefits of soft tissue treatment
The physiotherapists at Refit Physio And Rehab Clinic will use soft tissue treatment to promote a number of benefits:
- Reduced pain
- Increased range of movement
- Increased soft tissue length
- Reduced swelling
- Increased mobility
- Improvement in healing process
- Greater functional ability
- Reduced risk of re-injury
- Faster recovery from injury