Myotherapy

Myotherapy – Adv Dip in App Sci (‘Myo’ Latin for Muscle) is a natural therapy that works in a pain free, non invasive manner to restore the integrity of the soft tissue component of the human body. Improved musculature, tendons and ligaments resting within their natural length and tension will correct range of movement throughout the bodies entirety creating postural benefits, unloading specific joints and areas of adhesion, contraction and fibrosis. This will all in turn improve general well being, correct injuries and help prevent them. With client understanding of utmost importance a highly skilled Myotherapist will assess and treat the client in a way where comfortability and results driven outcomes are paramount.

Orthopaedic testing, range of movement measurement and postural analysis are the big factors in how an experienced Myotherapist will work. Subjective and objective measurement and analysis will guide attention to where the problem is originating from, creating a cause based remedy to rid the client of unwanted pain and restriction, physically rendering them able and active to re participate in life and activity at any level, be it general activity or high performance athletic ability.

As an experienced Myotherapist, we work in conjunction with other health care professionals to ensure the clients gets exactly the correct care possible, from basic strengthening with exercise prescription to full post- operative rehab if someone has been involved in trauma or reconstructive surgery.

Myotherapy is the best form of therapy for postural deviation especially in our modern world. As humans like no time ever before in history are residing in sedentary, static workstations or do tasks in a repetitive manner, we are becoming the posture in which we adopt.

If you work an office job where the desk is the normality of your day, the muscle groups when put into the shortened position while seated at a computer will effectively “shorten” that’s what muscles do, they contract, so when seated our hip flexors are in the shortened position, while our chest shortens as do our biceps.

When we type, the shoulders round as they are dragged forward by the chest and biceps creating a ‘forward head carriage’ which will activate the support muscles of the neck and upper back to constantly and statically support the weight of the head which is now hanging outside of its gravitational line, so instead of balancing our head evenly atop our neck, we are activating constantly to support the ongoing weight of the head which leads to muscles being overloaded, their response to this is to contract constantly, this causes pain, restriction, and joint compression in our neck, this can also refer pain to our head, shoulder, jaw and general make us feel wound up.

After residing at the desk, when we stand up, the shortened hip flexors pull on the pelvis in a downward fashion, this accentuates the Lumbar (lower) curve which alters the thoracic curve and finally the cervical (neck) curve, again, overloading the neck muscles. Our erector (back) muscles overwork in this instance to try and make us stand correctly but with our foundation now incorrect it is a tug of war between the front and the back muscle with your skeletal attachments in between. This is a typical scenario of a postural imbalance. Hamstrings feel tight, as do calves, it may manifest in your lower back, between your shoulder blades, base of the skull, that headache you can’t budge. It is the body’s attempts to correct these length tension relationships from a now incorrect foundation which lead to overload, pain and discomfort.

An experienced Myotherapist will assess such abnormalities and correct the imbalance of and from the pelvis up, as gravity pushes down, imbalances and corrective contractions push up creating subluxations of the vertebrae, irritation/inflammation which equals pain.

By elongation of muscle groups which shorten in the everyday of the individual the balance is restored, by making the individual aware of how this is happening is highly important. The desk is here to stay, preparing briefly to use the desk and a couple of quick stretches to negate the negative impact of the desk will ensure the problem is eradicated completed and self management is built into the individuals active lifestyle. Cooperate with gravity and become strong and dense or have a bad relationship with it daily and be crushed slowly over time.

Myotherapy – The physical treatment of musculoskeletal dysfunction affecting human movement and posture.
It is corrective in instances of pain, aggravation, inflammation and restriction.

Myotherapy is soft tissue manipulation targeting areas of abnormal muscle tension and deactivation of trigger points. It is a health care modality utilised for pain management in instance of acute and chronic pain from injury, postural overload, occupational stressors and occurrences, stresses and perils of life.

How Do We Differ From Other Health Modalities?

We treat in a drug free, non-invasive natural manner. We are effective in attaining treatment goals with minimal consultations required and emphasis on self help programs to ensure rapid recovery.

The corrections we make are not symptomatically driven. We assess the symptom and (then) physically address the source. For example, an inflamed shoulder joint does not always require a prescription of anti inflammatories!

An examination of the shoulder girdle may reveal an overworked muscle or muscle group causing (putting) constant strain on the attaching tendon, causing aggravation and inflammation.

The overload can result from improper shoulder function due to instability from poor posture/overuse.

Is one shoulder lower than the other?

Is one hip higher?

Do you straighten the shoulder to fix the symptom or address the pelvis to correct the shoulder?

We correct postural alignment issues and rehabilitate injuries by using soft tissue manipulation, passive muscle stretching, dry needling and various myofacial release techniques.

By correcting the length tension relationships, we realign the body or individual joint. This reduces / eradicates muscular overload, minimises impact, prevents tears / fibrosis and allows recovery from past / present injuries and postural deviations.

We provide corrective exercises and stretches to promote self help in combating the negative effects (forces) of your daily life. This will allow you to reside in the natural state of ‘correct posture’.

How a typical session works

Patient history is taken, Postural Assessment and measurement of range of movement, treatment plan, treatment involving restoration, adjustment, realignment of correct human geometry. This is done by soft tissue release techniques, myofacial dry needling when required and passive muscle stretching. Restoration of correct length/ tension relationships of the musculature and corresponding tissue leave you able to reside properly within downforce either during dynamic movement of exercise and sport or static/sedentary postures at your desk.