Soft Tissue and Joint Therapy

Soft Tissue and Joint Therapy

Soft Tissue and Joint Therapy are two very important aspects to physiotherapy treatment, involving the use of the physiotherapists hands to preform manual therapy.  People with a variety of aches and pains and orthopaedic conditions may benefit from manual physical therapy. Current research confirms that manual physical therapy combined with therapeutic exercise can produce rapid pain relief and improved function in musculoskeletal conditions.

Soft Tissue Therapy

Soft Tissue Therapy can also be referred to as soft tissue release, soft tissue mobilisation or trigger point release or mobilisation. Carried out by skilled physiotherapists Sarah and Claire, they use techniques to assess, evaluate and treat soft tissue (ligaments, muscles, tendons and fascia).  They can assess how each individual person’s soft tissue feels and moves, formulating a plan with regards to what needs breaking down, activating or relaxing.  Soft tissue therapy can have benefiting effects on the nervous, musculoskeletal, lymphatic and circulatory systems, helping aid healing and reducing pain.

Adhesions are your body’s attempt to heal a soft tissue injury with a lengthy inflammation process, resulting in long strands of collagenous scar tissue.  These new tissues pull against one another, forming trigger points of pain. Soft tissue therapy aims to break down or reduce adhesions, improve range of motion, lengthen muscles and tendons, reduce swelling and oedema, decrease pain and restore functionality and optimise strength.

Soft tissue therapy techniques are not the same as a massage.  A massage is defined as the rubbing and kneading of muscles by the hands to relieve tension.  Massage is the general concept, but soft tissue therapy is the specific how and what, we need to understand how manipulating the tissues will impact physical function.   Just like cardiovascular exercise is the overall concept but high intensity interval training is the specific training technique.  As physiotherapists, we specialize in evaluation, assessment and treatment of movement function disorders.  Soft tissue mobilization is just one of the strategies that we use to help our patients meet their functional goals.

There are different soft tissue techniques, depending on what is happening with the tissue, you may experience sustained pressure, oscillations directly onto the affected soft tissue or along the length of muscles or the associated myofascial tissue, or friction where pressure is applied across the muscle, tendon or ligament.

Joint Therapy

Joint Therapy, also known as joint mobilisation, manual therapy or manipulation, is a hands-on technique used to restore joint movement, power and range of motion.  The overall goal of mobilisation is to restore normal joint function, including the surrounding soft tissue (ligaments, muscles, tendons and fascia). Norwich and South Norfolk Physiotherapists, Sarah and Claire, palpate, feel, the appropriate areas to investigate the flexibility of joints, the health of joints and the surrounding soft tissue.  Techniques are then used to restore movement to the joints and associated muscles, improving the quality of the joints and therefore improving the longer-term prognosis.