Have you recently suffered an injury that’s now causing pain in your joints–perhaps your shoulder or knee? Or maybe you’re living with osteoarthritis or another musculoskeletal condition that impacts your overall mobility. Either way, physiotherapy at Stride Sports & Physiotherapy can help. One of the primary ways we do so is through manual therapy for joint pain.
Many people consider manual therapy one of the foundations of physiotherapy. These different hands-on techniques provide comfort and pain relief while improving mobility in an affected joint. And they pair excellently with other proven approaches to joint pain management, such as therapeutic exercise.
But what exactly is manual therapy? It’s actually an umbrella term referring to several different approaches to care. What they all have in common is that they use human touch–manual therapy involves a physiotherapist using their hands to help you find relief.
Several different manual therapy techniques can be effective for joint pain, regardless of the source of that pain. If you’re curious to learn more, keep reading–or call Stride Sports & Physiotherapy to set up an appointment and find out for yourself!
Understanding Joint Pain: What It Is, and What Causes It
Joint pain is by no means an uncommon experience. Most Canadian adults will experience it at some point, whether in their back, hips, knees, wrist, or elsewhere. Furthermore, joint pain can have any number of different causes, from injury to aging.
The first step in addressing joint pain is understanding why it’s happening. Our therapists will always work with you to uncover the source of your joint pain so we can provide a care plan that addresses the cause, not just the symptoms. Here are just a few reasons why you might be experiencing joint pain:
- Arthritis: When most people think of joint pain, they immediately think of arthritis, an umbrella term for several conditions that cause joint inflammation. Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the two most common forms.
- Sprains: Injury to your ligaments is another leading cause of joint pain. Ligaments are the tough bands of tissue that connect the bones of a joint, and if they become torn or overstretched, it can lead to pain and immobility.
- Strains: Sometimes, what appears to be a pain in your joint may be rooted in the muscles surrounding it. A strain occurs when a muscle or tendon (the tissue connecting your muscles to your bones) overflows or tears. Depending on the location of the strain, it can cause pain and immobility, just like a sprain.
- Degeneration: Your back and neck are two of the most common locations for joint pain. While that pain can have several potential underlying causes, one of the more common is issues with your spinal discs, the small cushions that nestle and protect your vertebrae. If those discs start degenerating, usually due to aging, you can experience back and/or neck pain.
How Manual Therapy Helps Alleviate Joint Pain
While joint pain can vary wildly in location, cause, and severity, it’s almost always accompanied by joint immobility. So movement is not only difficult because of the pain but also because you can’t fully extend your joint!
Manual therapy techniques help address both pain and immobility. At the same time, they can promote blood flow to the affected area, which can help facilitate healing if you’ve suffered an injury. This ability makes manual an ideal early step in any physiotherapy program to address joint impairment.
While manual therapy techniques alone can not usually resolve the source of your joint pain, they blend very well with physiotherapy techniques that can address pain at its source, such as therapeutic exercise.
At Stride Sports & Physiotherapy, our therapists will utilize manual therapy for joint pain to prepare your body for more intense treatment. If the idea of exercise feels impossible, manual therapy will help loosen the soft tissue, reduce pain, and get your joint moving a little more than it had been previously. Before you know it, you’ll be rocking all aspects of your physiotherapy treatment!
Common Manual Therapy Techniques for Joint Pain
Your physiotherapist will work with you to determine which specific manual therapy techniques will work best for your symptoms and conditions. We’ll conduct an in-depth evaluation when you come in for your appointment, reviewing your health history and symptoms and performing various movement screens.
From there, we’ll develop a customized treatment plan, including any manual therapy techniques we might want to try. Here are some of the best manual therapy techniques for joint pain specifically:
- Joint mobilization: This gentle technique involves guiding your affected joint through its current range of motion, working to gradually increase it over time. It helps improve mobility and can help reduce pain, too.
- Joint manipulation: This technique is a more intense type of joint mobilization, helping alleviate pain and improve mobility a bit more quickly. During a joint manipulation, our therapist will sharply thrust your joint through its range of motion, often resulting in a popping sound.
- Soft tissue mobilization: This technique focuses on your soft tissue–your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Our therapist will use their hands to gently mobilize and massage the affected tissue, reducing muscle tension and pain while promoting relaxation and mobility.
- Myofascial release: This technique focuses on your myofascia, a strong, thick tissue that protects your muscles. If your myofascia is restricted, you may feel pain throughout your body, including in your joints. By “releasing” the tissue, our therapists can reduce that restriction, which helps with pain and immobility.
Get Moving Again with Manual Therapy!
Joint pain can significantly impact your overall quality of life, preventing you from moving freely, completing day-to-day tasks, and enjoying your favorite activities. Manual therapy is an important part of a comprehensive physiotherapy care plan and can help you find the relief you need as you work through your program.
If you think you might benefit from manual therapy for joint pain, schedule an appointment with Stride Sports & Physiotherapy today!
