Musculoskeletal & Remedial Treatment.

Restoring movement through structure, function and adaptation.

Pain or restricted movement can develop for many different reasons - including overuse, injury, repetitive strain, changes in movement, muscular tension, reduced joint mobility or adaptations following previous injury or surgery.

Treatment is tailored to what I find during assessment rather than following a fixed routine.

Musculoskeletal and remedial treatment focuses on the muscles, fascia, joints and other soft tissues involved in movement and function.

What can treatment include?

Depending on your needs, treatment may incorporate a combination of:

  • Remedial massage uses hands-on techniques to work with muscles and other soft tissues, including fascia and connective tissue.

    It can be useful for a range of musculoskeletal presentations, including:

    • Muscular tension and stiffness

    • Overuse and repetitive-strain complaints

    • Activity-related muscle tension

    • Neck and shoulder tension

    • Back and hip discomfort

    • Restricted movement

    • Areas of persistent muscular tightness

    The pressure and techniques used are adapted to your symptoms, tissues and tolerance.

  • Trigger points are localised areas of increased sensitivity within muscle tissue that can contribute to local tenderness and referred discomfort.

    Trigger Point Therapy uses specific manual contact where the pressure is adapted to the individual and does not need to be excessively painful to be effective.

  • Muscle Energy Techniques use controlled muscle contraction and movement as part of hands-on treatment.

    They may be used to work with muscular tension, joint movement and functional restrictions.

    Because the client actively participates in the technique, the intensity can be carefully controlled and adapted to the individual's comfort and ability.

  • Functional Release is a gentle manual approach that combines specific tissue contact with the person's movement.

    Rather than holding the body in one fixed position, the technique works with the person's natural movement to explore and encourage more comfortable tissue mobility.

    It can be particularly useful when movement is restricted or when more direct techniques are not appropriate.

  • New Manual Articular Approach was developed through the work of Jean-Pierre Barral and Alain Croibier.

    It is a gentle approach to assessing and working with joint mobility, taking into account not only the joint itself but also the surrounding soft tissues.

    The approach may consider:

    • Joint movement

    • Surrounding muscles and fascia

    • Tendons and ligaments

    • The relationship between the joint and neighbouring structures

    • How the joint functions within the wider movement pattern

    The techniques are generally gentle and precise, making them useful when a person is experiencing pain or when stronger mobilisation is not appropriate.

    When might NMAA be used.

    Depending on the individual presentation, NMAA may be incorporated into treatment for:

    • Joint stiffness and restricted mobility

    • Shoulder and rotator cuff-related complaints

    • Hip and pelvic restrictions

    • Neck and spinal movement restrictions

    • Sprains and soft-tissue injuries

    • Tendon-related complaints

    • Joint-related pain and discomfort

    • Movement restrictions following injury

    The presence of joint pain does not automatically mean that the joint itself is the only source of the problem. Muscles, fascia and other surrounding tissues can influence how a joint moves and loads.

    For this reason, assessment considers the joint in relation to the surrounding structures rather than focusing only on the location of the symptoms.

Back, neck & spine.

  • Lower back pain and stiffness

  • Neck pain and tension

  • Thoracic and upper-back restrictions

  • Movement-related discomfort

Shoulder & upper limb.

  • Rotator cuff-related shoulder pain

  • Frozen shoulder

  • Shoulder stiffness

  • Upper-limb muscular tension

  • Repetitive-strain complaints

Hip & lower limb.

  • Hip stiffness and discomfort

  • Pelvic and lower-limb movement restrictions

  • Muscular tension and overload

  • Activity- and sport-related complaints

Headaches & jaw tension.

  • Tension associated with headaches

  • Neck and shoulder tension

  • Jaw and TMJ/TMD-related muscular tension

Joints & muscles.

  • Joint stiffness

  • Reduced mobility

  • Muscular tension

  • Trigger points

  • Overuse and repetitive strain

  • Recovery following injury

What conditions can musculoskeletal and remedial treatment help with?

I commonly work with:

A treatment tailored to you. No two people present in exactly the same way.

Two people may describe their symptoms as “shoulder pain”, for example, while having very different contributing factors and movement patterns.

This is why I assess the individual rather than simply treating the name of a condition.

The treatment may stay local to the area of discomfort, or it may include related areas where the assessment suggests they are relevant.

Where appropriate, other FLO approaches such as Visceral Manipulation or Neural Manipulation may also form part of the session. The goal is not simply to work harder on the painful area. It is to understand what may be influencing its movement and function, and choose an appropriate way of working with it.