Manual Therapy

We offer a curated session utilizing a variety of manual therapy techniques to help our patients improve function, modulate pain, control swelling, and induce relaxation. Manual therapy is often combined with exercise, education, and other rehabilitation modalities to provide a comprehensive approach to recovery and wellness.

Examples of manual techniques include:

Joint Mobilization: Physical therapists use their hands to gently move a patient’s joints with graded force to reduce pain and improve joint mobility.

Joint Manipulation: Also known as a high-velocity thrust technique, joint manipulation involves a quick, controlled force applied to a joint to restore normal movement and may be associated with a cracking or popping sound.

Soft Tissue Mobilization: Physical therapists use their hands or tools to apply pressure and movement to muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia. Techniques like myofascial release and deep tissue massage fall under this category. Myofascial release involves engaging the restricted barrier where the issue is tight and applying pressure until the tissue is released.

Visceral Mobilization: This technique involves the therapist using gentle pressure to mobilize the internal organs to improve their function and address various health issues. This technique can be done for patients with low back pain, pelvic pain, and hip pathology.

Trigger Point Release: Trigger points are tight knots or bands in muscles that can cause referred pain. Physical therapists use pressure and stretching to release these knots and alleviate pain. Trigger points can also be released through trigger point dry needling (TDN) and strain-counterstrain techniques.

Muscle Energy Techniques: These techniques involve the patient actively contracting and relaxing specific muscles while the therapist provides resistance. It’s often used to improve joint mobility and muscle function.

Manual Traction: Traction involves applying a gentle, pulling force to the spine or other joints to alleviate pressure on nerves or reduce pain. Traction may be used in the spine, especially in acute conditions and in a joint, such as the hip, that is painful due to osteoarthritis.

Neuromuscular Re-education: Nerves send signals between your brain, spinal core and muscles that tell your body how to move and how much force to use to perform a task. An injury can lead to the loss of neuromuscular control. NMR retraining involves retraining the communication through balance exercises, postural retraining, and activities that improve coordination