Massage Therapy is a manual therapy which manipulates soft tissue providing therapeutic, pain relieving benefits as well as promoting and maintaining a healthy body. Massage Therapy used to be considered a luxury, something that was reserved for pampering or an event that allowed one to splurge. Our high tech, high stress life styles have dramatically changed this trend. Our health care system has a tendency to treat the symptom with medication rather then find the cause of our problem. Since muscular pain is generally activity and stress related, medication will rarely get to the cause of the problem. The therapists at Verde Valley Myofascial Release are experts therapeutic massage techniques aimed at getting to the source of the problem. Massage Therapy has become very specialized and has a variety of different modalities including: Swedish massage, trigger point therapy, Myofascial Release, shiatsu and reflexology. Therapeutic massage can utilize any of the above modalities and is designed to treat specific conditions such as pain and dysfunction from accidents or injuries as well as chronic muscular pain and dysfunction. The therapists at Verde Valley Myofascial Release specialize in therapeutic massage with advanced level training in Myofascial Release. Myofascial Release specifically targets connective tissue, the most abundant tissue in the body. Connective tissue will shorten in response to trauma, repeated postures held over time, inflammatory conditions, just as an example. Regular massage techniques will not correct tightened connective tissue and will only provide temporary relief. As a Physical Therapist for over 28 years, I was fortunate to find Myofascial Release very early in my career. I have seen its benefits over and over for both acute and chronic conditions. People are sent to Physical Therapy by their doctors when they have muscular conditions which require skilled intervention. However, most Physical Therapy clinics treat their clients with pain reducing modalities such as electric stimulation and ultrasound and put them on exercise programs without ever addressing their muscular imbalances. If they work on their clients directly, it’s generally for a very short 10-15 minute period. The problem is still present in their body and the results are either ineffective or very short lived. It’s not uncommon for me to hear someone talk about going to Physical Therapy for a particular problem and not getting the relief that they were seeking. This trend is causing more people to turn to Massage Therapists for both stress reduction and pain remediation. Diagnoses such as Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain have become very common. I believe this is due to the problems never being appropriately addressed and masked by pain relievers and anti- inflammatory medication. Massage Therapists need to have an advanced level of training beyond their Massage Therapy license or certification in order to have the skills necessary to properly assess and treat pain and muscular imbalances effectively. The Massage therapists at Verde Valley Myofascial Release have worked closely with Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy in a therapeutic environment. This relationship has provided our therapy staff with the skills necessary to be successful treating a vast variety of acute and chronic muscular conditions. Verde Valley Myofascial Release has two locations to serve you; Sedona and Cottonwood, AZ. We also provide mobile services. Get to the root of your problem rather then chasing it around your body or settling for temporary relief.
Check our our website for valuable articles and pain reducing techniques (www.verdevalleymfr.com).
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Jody Hendryx, PT