Muscle aches, pains, strains, spasms and nerve impingement

Soft tissue therapy helps to restore balance to overworked muscular aches, pains and dysfunctions -whether acute (recent onset) or chronic (long standing).  

Soft tissue therapy works on other systems, affecting the whole body.  Balancing the nervous system for instance is important for helping to alleviate stress and balancing hormonal activity.  Hormones play a major role throughout the body and stress is the obvious driver of many upsets in our health.  

You can also enjoy soft tissue therapy for for relaxation, to assist with physical health and help stay injury free.

All forms of soft tissue work and bodywork influence muscles, ligaments, tendons and the tissue called fascia that holds them all together. To varying degrees, trigger points, neural points and reflex points are involved as well.

Through continuous massage action, or isolated cross fibre moves sensors in the body called mechano-receptors are affected.  The brain and spinal cord receives signals and updates from these receptors and sends return information to the muscle and body tissues. Different parts of the body have higher numbers of certain kinds of receptors.

There's a lot of new research going on about mechano-receptors and there are different kinds: some respond to stretch, others to vibration and others again to very light touch.  Some when stimulated affect the tone of muscles making them more relaxed. However the muscles are not separate from the surrounding fascia.  One effect of receptor stimulation is to make the fascia more relaxed and gel-like: a process called thixotrophy. 

Many instances of pain in the body are due to the dysfunctional state of fascia and not necessarily the muscles and tendons/ligaments themselves.  It has been found when fascia reaches a balanced and more fluid state it has a corresponding effect on the tone and state of muscles and the nervous system overall.

The nervous system, especially the sympathetic nervous system's adrenalised fight/flight state is reduced and pacified with parasympathetic system dominance that favours rest/digest and repair. In a stressed state the body's hormone balance can be compromised, and when this happens over a long period, the stress becomes chronic.  This is often the key factor that lies underneath many disease states and inflammatory conditions. Soft tissue therapy assists with lymphatic drainage, and therefore detoxification and decongestion of tissues too.

Other effects on the nervous system include release of neurotransmitters in the brain such as seratonin which is associated with restful states (especially sleep) - and is a mood enhancer that works against depression. Current research suggests that people who suffer from eg fibromyalgia don't get enough seratonin release during sleep and this is why they wake up feeling pain and discomfort in their muscles.

Some forms of soft tissue therapy includes moves being made over acupoints on energy meridians.  In this regard some soft tissue therapy is can be a blend of western and eastern approaches to the human body and its energy system. 

Soft tissue therapy can be applied with varying pressures to suit the issues being addressed and stage of treatment. It can be applied differently for someone who is fit with good musculature and seeking the therapy for relief of muscle tension, compared to babies, children, the elderly and people suffering conditions or who have had surgery and lighter or a very light touch is indicated for them.