Soft tissue manual therapy TorontoSoft Tissue & Manual Therapy

Soft tissue and manual therapy are terms used to describe hands-on techniques that involve movement of the body's soft tissues. Manual therapy is the broader umbrella, and can encompass bony manipulation and ligamentous manipulation too. Myofascial release, trigger point work, joint mobilization, hands-on stretching (AROM, PROM), traction, fascial spreading, and many more are all tools in this toolbox — and that's still far from the full list.

Not a diagnosis — for more information, contact me or another trusted healthcare provider.

Most sessions here draw on several of these at once rather than picking just one. I'll assess how a joint is actually moving — not just where it's tight — because tightness is very often the muscle compensating for a joint that isn't gliding the way it should. Working the joint restriction directly, alongside the soft tissue around it, tends to hold better than soft tissue work on its own.

Techniques I Use

• Myofascial Release
• Trigger Point Therapy
• Joint Mobilization
• Assisted Stretching

I hate the overuse of the term “alignment,” but over years of practice I've found it's possibly the most applicable term when we're looking at how muscles and joints interact across two or three different hinge joints. There's a compounded effect when mobility decreases in one place — say, your hip isn't able to rotate away from your body properly. That alone might not cause problems in your hip, but the lack of movement can change the way you're able to use your knee during sport, and because of that lack of external rotation, you may find yourself more prone to MCL injuries, or over time, develop tracking issues.

When I talk about alignment, I'm talking about how joints facilitate the movement of other joints. When we lose motion in one, the rest of the body is affected — what might be a few degrees of limited rotation in the hip might be a few absolutely essential degrees needed to adjust positioning in the knee.