Benefits of Hands-on Physical Therapy

Hands-on physical therapy is a highly beneficial technique for patients with any kind of pain, joint stiffness, or muscle tension. It is one of the primary treatments practiced in physical therapy clinics for addressing musculoskeletal disorders.

Hands-on therapy is a technique performed by skilled manual therapists who use their hands to gently manipulate the joints and soft tissue to restore more natural movement to the body without causing harm to the muscles or joints.

This article explains the benefits of hands-on physical therapy:

1) Enhance Circulation

Poor circulation in the body can lead to several issues such as pain, swelling, tightness, and tension. When hands on physical therapy Houston TX techniques like massage are performed, friction is created between the skin and fingers that stimulates an increased blood flow. 

Physical therapists prefer effleurage, wringing, and lymphatic draining methods of massage to improve circulation. An increased blood flow can remove waste products and toxins from the body, maintain muscle strength, decrease muscle tightness and tension, and enhance relaxation.

Massaging the affected area widens the blood vessels and brings them closer to the skin surface, promoting relaxation in the blood vessels and reducing blood pressure. This process is termed vasodilation that allows an increase in blood to travel through the vessels, thus enhancing circulation.

Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is another hands-on technique that utilizes metal tools to promote the healing process. This method introduces controlled microtrauma to the soft tissue area to stimulate a local inflammatory response, thus enhancing circulation. This increased blood flow remodels the affected soft tissue structure and promotes better movement.

2) Help in Pain Management

Hands on physical therapy Houston, TX, is best known for helping patients manage their long-term pain, thus improving their overall quality of life. Patients struggling with chronic pain find it difficult to lead a peaceful life since their painful conditions would have changed their course of life. They may rely on harmful or addictive medications that can provide temporary relief from their discomfort.

Regular hands-on therapy during a physical therapy program can help minimize both acute and chronic pain with reduced need for harmful medications or drugs. Highly trained and licensed physical therapists use their hands and fingers to put pressure on muscle tissue and manipulate joints in order to ease pain resulting from muscle tension, joint dysfunction, or muscle spasms.

Certain musculoskeletal conditions like back pain can limit mobility and range of motion, leading to pain, discomfort, reduced function, and change in posture. Hands on physical therapy help improve natural movement without pain by restoring mobility to stiff joints and reducing muscle tension. 

Thus, this method of physical therapy effectively reduces acute back pain caused by soft tissue injuries such as muscle strain and chronic back pain resulting from conditions such as sacroiliac joint dysfunction. The most common hands-on physical therapy techniques that reduce pain include mobilization, manipulation, and soft tissue massage.

3) Improve Mobility

Lack of adequate mobility might be a significant issue for many regardless of age, especially older adults. Regular hands on physical therapy Houston TX treatment can help improve and maintain the normal mobility that is limited due to various conditions and injuries. Mobilization and manipulation are the most common methods of manual therapy utilized by trained practitioners to enhance the range of motion.

Joint mobilization is one such technique that is the skilled passive movement of the joint in the desired direction to improve mobility and normalize joint function. When a joint experiences limited mobility and stiffness, muscles surrounding the stiff joint lose their ability to contract and relax and become tight. The mobilization technique effectively treats joints in the neck, upper, middle, and lower back, sacroiliac, shoulder, wrist, hand, hip, knee, foot, and ankle.

Joint manipulation is the skilled passive movement applied to a joint with high velocity and low amplitude thrust to restore optimal motion, function and reduce pain. This method has been clinically proven to effectively treat musculoskeletal pain and promote faster recovery in conditions such as acute back sprains. It is primarily used in conjunction with other treatment techniques like targeted exercises.

4) Strengthen Injured Areas and Prevent Re-injury

During the physical therapy program, practitioners conduct an assessment every day to identify the loss of strength due to injuries and help patients return to their pre-injury state. Hands on physical therapy Houston, TX, offers a wide range of techniques that can be applied to improve strength.

Maintaining regular hands-on therapy appointments can also help prevent future injuries by keeping the body in a working state and training it to move better. This will be more beneficial for athletes who are at a high risk of sustaining injuries often. If specific movements repeatedly cause pain or damage, consulting physical therapists would significantly help avoid re-injuries.