Manual Therapy

Manual therapy describes your physiotherapist’s “hands-on” methods to assess and treat the musculoskeletal system. At Imokilly Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic we all utilise our expert manual skills to identify abnormalities of movement; pain; inflammation and muscle spasm and allow us to restore full painfree range of movement to an injured structure. Manual therapy can be applied to muscles (including tendons and fascia), joints and neural structures.

These are small movements applied to the spine or peripheral joint. We use these “accessory” movements to both examine and treat the stiff and painful joint and aim to fully restore its pain-free range of movement, such as full neck rotation to check your blind spot when driving.

This is a sudden thrust of movement at the joint’s end of range. It is mainly used to treat spinal joints and can be very effective if joint remains “locked” and is resistant to mobilisation. Great care is taken with these techniques. At Imokilly Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, our physiotherapists have been trained to manipulate at a postgraduate level.

Massage techniques are directed at the soft tissues of the body. As physiotherapists we use our anatomical knowledge and palpation skills allow us to diagnose and treat injuries and abnormal tension in the muscles. At Imokilly Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic we will then use specific massage techniques to restore normal movement and muscle tone.

These are techniques that help to address imbalance of the musculoskeletal system. Imbalances may develop as a direct result of trauma e.g. in contact sport, or from repetitive use such as poor desk posture. Soft tissue adapts to stress and may become short, tight, stiff or painful over time. These techniques can be taught to the patient as part of a home exercise programme.

Restriction of movement of the nerves and their surrounding soft tissue is commonly found as a result of injury or sustained poor posture, and is a cause of ongoing issues. There are specific mobilisations that safely target the neural tissue (termed “flossing”). These can be used by your physiotherapist and built into a home exercise programme.

At Imokilly Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, as part of our ongoing education and postgraduate studies we have physiotherapists with advanced qualifications in mobilisation and manipulation. Our “Hands-On” approach is used to assess and treat both acute and chronic conditions and we treat people of all ages from the young to the elderly.

For further information on Physiotherapy and the services available, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Imokilly Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic at (021) 4636642 or email appointments@imokillyphysio.com