About Bodywork and Massage Therapies
About Bodywork
The term Bodywork is used rather than just massage because many of the techniques utilised in restoring balance to the musculo-skeletal system are not really massage, work with client movement and exercise are often necessary to effect recovery.
Bodywork Techniques
Bodywork techniques used include Myofascial release, Muscle energy technique MET, neuromuscular technique NMT and Positional Release PRT. To some extent the jargon is overly technical and confusing but i have tried to capture the essence of each technique in easily understood terms.
Overall the Bodywork I practice is distinct because of the underlying philosophy and approach to treatment. I have been trained to employ a person centered approach to treatment. This means taking the clients experience of their body as a guide with an idea that we are working together as a team to find a resolution to the problems at hand.
This is as opposed to setting myself up as someone who knows everything; clinical reality is that peoples problems are usually very complicated and ingrained in their bodies and habits. The idea that a professional knows more about the body of someone who has experienced it their whole life does not make sense. Given that when treating pain, it is an experience of the client, it makes sense to me to use that experience as a resource to help them to a more functional way of being in themselves.
Myofascial release
Myofascial release involves pressure on the tissues,
slowly up to a point of resistance, the pressure is then maintained and
the tissue allowed to relax effectively stretching the muscle unit. It is currently thought that the transverse pressure applied induces the peripheral nervous system to release the muscle. It can be effective in any problem featuring tight muscle tissue, and is very effective in relieving myofascial (i.e. muscular) pain.
I often get the active participation of my clients while performing this technique in order that they become more aware of their bodies and ways of moving. The movement is initially guided, but clients often instinctively find movements which feel good and are encouraged to use them. Movement also helps the release of the tight tissues by encouraging blood flow and stretching.
Muscle Energy Technique
Muscle energy technique basically involves using participation on the part of the client to facilitate lengthening of muscle tissue to return it to its normal resting length.
The way this works is complicated, but works by getting an isometric contraction (a contraction without movement) in the muscle worked on, or the ones that do the opposite movement, which is held for a short time. There is then a period when the muscle is more easily lengthened, so release or streching is facilitated, sometimes with dramatic results. The contraction is very mild in order to engage only the muscle fibres most prone to shortening.
Neuromuscular Technique
Neuromuscular techniques utilise the nervous system
via precise pressure and active stimulus in order to help 'reset' areas of constriction, and allowing other areas to be strengthened.
It is an approach to treament that is both a detailed assessment of the soft tissues in an area and also stimulates blood flow to those tissues preparing them for other techniques. It is an excellent way to find trigger points and can flow into treatment of these points and back into assement mode smoothly.
When performing this technique I like to get full conscious involvement of the client, so that they may become more familiar with their body, which helps to become more aware of their movement and posture in the rehabilitation process.
Positional Release
Positional release involves taking the restricted tissue into a position of ease to help break neurological feedback signals which are keeping it in spasm.
This is done slowly and passively, i.e. the therapist moves the clients body. There are different ways of employing this technique, either using a painful point as a monitor, or the practitioner using their own felt sense of ease in the tissues by holding the area. It is especially useful in acute situations where a muscle has been pulled, or is in spasm, but can also be useful in more long term issues.
Tui Na massage
Tui Na massage is based on the same system of energy channels and diagnostic process as acupuncture, but uses manual pressure, stretching and a variety of soft tissue techniques to affect the channels and points, relax the tissues and effect healing and rehabilitation.
Sports Massage Therapy
Sports Massage Therapy uses Swedish massage as a basis and uses manipulation techniques based on a modern understanding of how the body functions and dysfunctions. It releases tension, promotes local circulation, and breaks down adhesions ('knots') and prevents excessive scar tissue formation to facilitate recovery from soft tissue injuries acquired in training or elsewhere.
Thai Yoga Massage
Thai Yoga Massage is an ancient system of bodywork involving a complex sequence of pressing, stretching, twisting and joint manipulations to relax and work the whole body, affecting the connective tissue which integrates the body as a whole. It is based on a theory of sen lines which are energy channels as are utilised in acupuncture. The therapy promotes health and flexibility and can relieve aches and pains and promote a sense of well being and balance. It is performed on a fully clothed individual, but this clothing should be loose and comfortable.
Craniosacral therapy
Craniosacral Therapy is a very gentle form of bodywork which employs subtle palpation of minute movements in the bones of the skull, sacrum and within all the body's tissues. By sensing this the practitioner helps to induce a state in which the body can release its tensions and heal itself in the safest natural way. People use it for a wide range of disorders that range beyond the physical.