What can Remedial Massage Therapy do for you?

What has Remedial Massage done for me

Before I got into Remedial massage therapy I was considered an elite circus acrobat. Specifically an aerialist. During those 16 years I learnt first hand the importance of maintaining my body. Because wear and tear is inevitable even if you are careful, and I was CAREFUL. A lot of people felt I was a little too cautious. But here I am at 33 with all 3 of my splits and no pain.

Because I took care of myself and part of taking care of myself involved Remedial Massage and Myotherapy.

What I have done for others

Unfortunately in today's work and grind culture some people have no choice to do certain things that may not be great for them to get by. I know this because the most common complaints that come through my door, I can confidently trace to their work habits. Poor posture, long work hours and even simply stress causes people to tense up to the point that their body finds it almost impossible to release that tension because for the body it's been around for so long that it feels like it's necessary to hold onto.

That is where I can come in. M.E.T., MFTT, Pin and stretch, Cupping, petrissage, Joint mobilisation and many other techniques I have been trained in so that I can provide a completely tailored treatment for you. One common refrain I have with my clients is “you are in the drivers seat”. The reason I say that is because I understand that not everyone likes every technique. Not because that technique is bad but maybe it's just not comfortable for that particular person. At which time I will have alternatives. After all, if you are uncomfortable you’ll most likely resist the treatment.

During the treatment I will also be paying attention to which treatments seem to be working the best for you and letting that dictate take home advice. If it’s muscular it may be stretching, strengthening or daily lifestyle changes. If it seems like it's coming more from the joint that may mean self mobilisations. I won’t just ask you to keep coming back to me. I will give you advice to live as independently from me as possible.

What A Session Looks Like With Me

During my assessment of you while I will do my best to get you on the table as quickly as possible I will also be performing any Orthopedic testing I feel is necessary. Now some people don’t like this and I can understand this sentiment. You feel like If you aren’t on the table as soon as possible you're not going to get enough treatment. But I ask you to consider this. If I don’t do full testing I will be guessing what is wrong with you. As such I will have no choice but to basically treat EVERYTHING in that region.

But if I do my testing I can determine where the main aggravator is in that region and be specific in my treatment. Because of this I will often get to the point where I have treated the person and end up asking if there are any other regions they would like to be treated while they are on the table.

“Because I’m specific.”

Assist In Rehab

Before I start talking about this subject I would like to dispel a little bit of information. There are some people who believe that Remedial Massage and Myotherapy are alternatives to Physiotherapy. This is not true. I think this is prevalent because there are some irresponsible Remedials and Myos who will let people believe this and because some people conflate pain relief with fixing the issue that caused it in the first place. Now Remedials and Myos are trained in some basic postural corrections but when it comes to rehabilitation that will be the realm of physios. I can help you with your downwardly rotated shoulder blades but if you come to me with a grade 2 tear, I’m sending you to Luke, Jesse or Hazel.

You can trust me on this because I am a Remedial and as of Nov I will be a Myo. So if anyone has something to gain from letting people believe that it would be me.

So What Can I Do For Rehab?

Depending on the issue sometimes the issue may interfere with the necessary rehab. This could be due to discomfort, limited range of motion, poor quality of motion ETC. That's where I can come in, because the true relationship between Physio and Remedial/Myo is that they are COMPLIMENTARY to each other. I can help make the rehab itself easier. Though you may need to be cleared to see me first spending on the Injury

Sports

While studying at RMIT I was taught to manage athletes by people who collectively have treated at 7 Olympics (One was actually the head of soft tissue therapy) 4 Commonwealth Games and worked at professional football clubs for 10years. As such we have an entire subject devoted to maintaining athletes Pre event, intra event and post event.

What's The Difference?

Pre-Event

I will use mostly techniques that don’t put excessive length into the muscle as excessive length may lead to a loss of power as a lengthened muscle takes longer to contract. If we do have a movement that is restricted and needs range added to it I will perform a technique where you are an active participant so that we keep the muscle firing healthily. An example of this is Muscle Energy Technique. I will move your body in the direction that needs improving and ask you to move in the opposite direction as I resist that movement. I will hold for 7 seconds and then ask you to take a deep breath and then exhale. After you contract into the movement and then relax your body will basically relax a bit extra and allow us to get extra range while having you actively participate.

Intra-Event

As you should already be warm and moving by now I definitely won’t be doing any movement that puts more range into you rather I will mainly try and “flush” the muscle. An example of this may be Petrissage. Whereby I knead your muscles like a baker kneading bread.

Post Event

This is where we will do more relaxation as a kind of “come down”. At this point it will be all about relaxation and helping you mentally come down from the event and prepare you for what is to come next.

Conclusion

I sum all of this up. Remedial is a versatile Modality that can help a wide range of people that I got into because I know how much it helped me. Now I want to use it to help as many people as possible. I hope to help you too.