What is Manual Therapy and how does it work?

Manual therapy can be extremely beneficial to patients with acute or chronic pain, joint stiffness, and muscle tension — in short, RIGHT manual therapy can help reduce pain and improve mobility. Below is a brief history and benefits of manual therapy.

What is manual therapy?

Manual therapy is both new and old. It was practiced in many cultures across the world. Traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic treatments, and ancient Egyptian pictographs, all included manual therapy as an integral part of treatment. While working under the shadows of physiotherapy and physical therapy, Manual therapy has evolved and has gained more popularity in the recent decade.

Manual therapy is evolved from the contribution of ancient knowledge and modern orthopedic rehabilitation treatment techniques.

The International Federation of Orthopedic Manipulative Physical Therapists (IFOMPT) defines manual therapy techniques as: “Skilled hand movements intended to produce any or all of the following effects: improve tissue extensibility; increase range of motion of the joint complex; mobilize or manipulate soft tissues and joints; induce relaxation; change muscle function; modulate pain; and reduce soft tissue swelling, inflammation or movement restriction.”

Where can it be used?

Manual Therapy is currently one of the primary therapeutic treatments in the field of rehabilitation and is mainly targeted to the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. The practitioner uses equipment for the therapy, but the main essence lies in the hands of a skilled Manual Therapist (MT). Using a one-on-one approach, the MTs can improve core stabilization, remove restrictions in the body, enable better movement, modulate pain, reduce inflammation and reduce tissue swelling. An experienced MT knows where to put pressure on the muscle tissue, the right movement, and the correct treatment that can help accelerate your rehabilitation process.

Manual therapy is geared towards providing a personalized approach to each patient for their bespoke needs. Here’s a brief list of ailments where manual therapy can be helpful:

Pain Management: Manual therapy can aid in the treatment of joints that lack required mobility and range of motion. This limitation can give rise to joint stiffness, discomfort and pain. MTs can help restore mobility and reduce muscle tension, and help patients have natural movements without any pain. The types of pain managed by manual therapy are:

• • Neck Pain: muscle spasm, post-surgical neck pain, disc pathology.
  • Back Pain: spinal stenosis, recovering from a sports injury, post-surgical back pain, mid-back pain, etc.
  • Knee pain: back tendonitis, post-surgical knee pain, patellofemoral dysfunction, etc.
  • Hip joint pain: myofascial hip pain in the buttock or lateral hip, hip impingement, post-surgical replacement, etc.
  • Shoulder Pain: Frozen shoulder, impingement syndrome, post-surgical shoulder.

Increasing movement: MTs incorporate multiple approaches to improve mobility and motion in patients. The treatment includes manual techniques, exercise, stretching, massage, neuromuscular re-education, etc.

Women’s health: MTs have special care and treatment programs for women of all ages. Women face multiple physical stress all her life, right from a young age to a post-menopausal one. Manual therapy can be beneficial for women recovering from breast cancer surgery, pelvic health issues, pregnancy, postpartum, and issues related to menopause.

Fibromyalgia: Fibromyalgia is known to amplify painful sensations by affecting the brain and spinal cord’s ability to process pain signals. The widespread pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties caused by fibromyalgia can be reduced by effective manual therapy. MTs can help you in increasing your strength, flexibility, and stamina. Cupping therapy has also proven to show positive effects on patients suffering from fibromyalgia and high blood pressure.

Sport’s medicine: MTs can help athletes to maximize their performance, strengthen the specific body parts, recover from injury, and effective pain management. Our MT design a comprehensive treatment technique based on the personal medical history and treatment required.

What are the benefits of Manual Therapy?

The benefits of the treatment vary based on why you are seeking manual therapy. Below are some of the key benefits of manual therapy:

• Pain management with reduced need for pain medication
• Improved mobility and movement
• Recovery from stroke or paralysis
• Avoiding surgery
• Recovery from injury or trauma
• Fall prevention
• Improved balance
• Management of medical problems because of aging

A skilled manual therapist can get you back on track with your daily life after life-altering events like surgery, injury, accident, or illness.

Why us?

It takes lots of experience, hands-on training, and exceptional skill for performing the most complex manual therapies. It takes a special ability to assess the problems with soft tissues, their differences, and inconsistencies. Only a few manual therapists have both the gift of touch and skill to master the techniques.

Our manual therapist, Ms. Maha Wahiba Harkati, is a DHA licensed physical therapist who graduated from physiotherapy school in Paris, where she studied physiotherapy and dietetics. It’s the passion and sense of service that drives Ms. Maha and inspires her to pursue musculoskeletal and different types of pathologies that follow. Since 2012 Ms. Maha is treating children, adolescents, adults, and aging individuals with equal commitment and care. As a physical therapist, she has helped individuals suffering from sports injuries, accidents, and acute pain to get back on track.

Ms. Maha is also certified in Cupping Therapy (Hijama dry and wet), hot cupping massage, and with perfection in osteo-muscular-articular-tendinous. Along with this, she has studied the psychology of touch, enabling her to provide a personalized approach for each patient.

The three essentials that drive her and are clearly visible in all her treatment are – process, optimize, and result. She is committed to working along with the patient, constantly supporting them and achieve desired results. Ms. Maha’s treatment approach focuses on the whole body as an integrated system. This approach can help restore functions and eliminate pain through manual touch, manipulation, and the right techniques.

Ms. Maha W. H. speaks fluent Arabic, English, and French. She is specialized in:

• Acupressure massage
• Slimming therapy
• Madero Therapy
• Aroma Therapy
• Medical massage
• Sport massage
• Lymphatic massage
• Pregnant woman massage
• Shiatsu
• Ayurvedic
• Hijama dry and wet
• Hot cupping massage
• Dry massage
• Psychology touch
• Foot Reflexology Thai

Conclusion

Manual therapy has a potent influence on the musculoskeletal system and nervous system. Our practitioner brings the latest knowledge and techniques to all their treatment approach while ensuring world-class medical services. Even if you have tried manual therapy in the past and failed to get any fruitful results, we recommend you give our manual therapy a try. We combine the best of hands-on training, manual therapy with functional strength and stability. We follow an evidence-based approach that can produce positive and consistent results in the long term. Our physical therapists are skilled and have great experience working with patients of all age groups and medical problems.

Reference:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4976880/

https://www.healthline.com/health/orthopedic-physical-therapy