Soft Tissue & Massage Therapy

A number of soft tissue therapy techniques can be successfully employed to assist in the reduction of pain and muscle hypertonicity and spasm. Some of these include massage therapy, trigger point therapy, somatic therapy, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, and acupressure point therapy. The need and benefits of these therapies vary from patient to patient. Depending on your condition and response to treatment, we may incorporate one or more of these therapies into your treatment plan.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial (my-o-FASH-e-ul) release is a manual therapy technique that focuses on pain believed to arise from myofascial tissues. Those tissues are the tough membranes that wrap, connect, and support your muscles. This technique is often used in massage therapy to help loosen up restricted movement, indirectly reducing pain.

Myofascial pain differs from other types of pain because it originates in "trigger points." Trigger points are stiff, anchored areas within the myofascial tissue. The pain a trigger point causes is often difficult to localize.

The therapist locates areas that feel stiff and fixed instead of elastic and movable under manual light pressure. Though not always near what feels like the source of pain, these areas are thought to restrict muscle and joint movements, contributing to pain associated with forces.

While many studies have found that massage, chiropractic manipulation, and similar manual therapies reduce muscle pain, a few studies have tested myofascial release therapy specifically, partly because the same elements of myofascial release vary from therapist to therapist.

Cupping Therapy

Cupping therapy is an ancient alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin to create a suction. This suction creates a negative pressure allowing for myofascial decompression as the skin is drawn into the cups. People get cupping for many purposes, including helping relieve pain, reduce inflammation, increase blood flow, relax, and improve well-being.

While the cups may be made of glass, bamboo, earthenware, or silicone, we use silicone because they can be moved around on your skin for a massage-like effect. We also utilize a modern version of cupping that uses a rubber pump to create a vacuum inside the cup. This differs from the traditional fire method, where the therapist would put a flammable substance such as alcohol or herbs in a cup and set it on fire. As the fire dies, they place the cup upside down on your skin.