Exercise and stretching is involved once the pain has started to decrease. It is used to help to regain strength muscles that were weak. While doing it, it is recommended that you do it in stages and slowly and gently do each prescribed exercise and stretch so as to not cause the pain/ injury to re occur.

The 3 Keys to Exercise and stretching (phases and reasons behind why you do it in stages rather than going at it all guns blazing.)

    Avoid re-injury.

Exercise and stretch are involved in the process to best help in avoiding re injury of the muscles.

    Increase strength without overdoing it.

Doing exercise and stretching in phases will help to encourage the muscles to strengthen. Because if you actually overdo it then it may result in the pain/ injury to reoccur and then it means that you are back at the beginning of the whole process again.

    3 phases to stretching and exercise.

It is important to do the phase of exercises/ stretching in an order so to insure that a client avoids re injury of the muscles as well as to allow the muscles to learn the correct length and strength without force. Gentleness is the key. The first phase is the beginning. It is the first step in beginning to use exercises/ stretches to assist and progress the client towards recovery and increasing muscle strength. Second phase is where the stretches and exercises begin to get a bit hard to continue to increase the muscles strength. To move to the second phase there should be no pain when attempting the exercises/ stretches in phase one.

Third and final phase. This is where progression continues. The exercises/ stretches are harder again and still need to be done carefully and without pain. Once the client has reached this phase they should be able to then go back to their sports, or other daily activities.

Nerve entrapment occurs when there is either dislocation, degeneration, direct trauma, compression of the nerves due to the thickening of the retinaculum. Onset of nerve entrapment is gradual. Symptoms are swelling, medial elbow pain with numbness and tingling. An unusual sensation that travels into the 4th and 5th fingers. With nerve entrapment is it important that you avoid repetitive activities and pressure on the nerves.

Myotherapy is a modality that works with the soft tissues of the body to help to relieve pain and restriction. It looks at the cause of the pain and manages it by using a variety of techniques and incorporates self-help.

•          It uses massage techniques as well as other modalities. This gives both therapist and client the choice of techniques that best suit them.

•          Works to treat the cause not just the symptoms. It also looks at releasing pressure, tightness and restriction that may occur gradually/ sudden.

Benefits of Myotherapy.

There are many benefits in treating muscular pain/ injuries with myotherapy. As there are various techniques that are gentle yet effective. Myotherapy looks at the cause of the pain/ injury and work out the best treatment strategies to benefit each individual client. It assists in relaxing the tension within the muscles that are causing the pain/ injury, reduces the pain, improves muscular strength, reduces muscle weakness, improves blood flow, improves range of movement.

Myotherapy uses a holistic approach. When treating a client first it is important to find out what is actually causing the pain/ injury, then to treat it and reassess to check the progress after the session. Once a client is at a certain point they can then begin to be given stretches/ exercises to then build stronger and stable muscles to reduces reoccurring pain/ injury.

What makes Myotherapy different to massage.

Myotherapy is different to massage in that it is holistic. It looks at the cause of the pain/ injury. It goes from assessing the pain/ injury to treating it and then reassessing the issue and then progress to giving exercises/ stretches in a controlled way to help improve muscle strength. Myotherapy is looking to assist people to improve their daily living.

How Myotherapy works.

Assessing the region of the body to determine what is the actual cause of the pain/ injury. Once an assessment has been done, treatment using any of the techniques that are available to the therapist. After treatment has been completed a reassessment it done to see how effective the treatment went. Depending on whether the pain has been reduced will then depend on when, the introduce of exercises/ stretches will begin.

That it is a holistic approach.

The holistic approach is more than just treating the symptoms. Myotherapy looks at finding out what is actually causing the pain/ injury and then to use the most appropriate technique(s) to assist in managing the pain/ injury and to then develop strategies such as a stretch/ exercise program to help improve muscle strength. The stretch/ exercise program will be implemented in 3 phases. Each phase will help increase strength within the muscles.

The first phase is the beginning. It is the first step in beginning to use exercises/ stretches to assist and progress the client towards recovery and increasing muscle strength. Second phase is where the stretches and exercises begin to get a bit hard to continue to increase the muscles strength. To move to the second phase there should be no pain when attempting the exercises/ stretches in phase one.

Phase 3 is the final phase and this is where progression continues. The exercises/ stretches are harder again and still need to be done carefully and without pain. Once the client has reached this phase they should be able to then go back to their sports, or other daily activities.

Case Study

A client comes in saying that they have a lower back issue. They explain that they have tried massage before and it has helped to alleviate the issue for a while, but it keeps returning. It is suggested to them to try Myofascial dry needling. The client has never try Myofascial dry needling before and asks how it may help. It is explained that the dry needling can assist it settling the muscles down. The client agrees to try the technique and finds that it begins to settle the back pain down. Once the pain has been settled then it is recommended that they do exercises and stretches to help build their core strength which will aid in building a stable back.