There’s many reasons our muscles lose flexibility or become tense, whether it be due to a workout regime, or simply down to the natural ageing process. Ageing can cause our tissue and spine to lose water retention as well as an increased stiffness in our joints and a loss of elasticity throughout the muscle tendons, making it more difficult to move around. Whatever the cause, soft tissue therapy is a massage and therapy technique used by professionals to restore normal flexibility to muscles, ligaments and tendons while releasing some of that tension through stretching and managing the soft tissues in the body.
For soft tissue therapy in Chelmsford, our experts here at Faye Pattison Physiotherapy have the technique mastered and are trained to put you completely at ease as they help enhance your physical wellbeing.
What happens during a soft tissue release massage?
The soft tissue release technique can be a little uncomfortable to receive but you can be rest assured our team will provide the highest quality of soft tissue therapy in Chelmsford and across the UK, helping you see positive improvement in no time.
To help with the process, soft tissue release is often performed after a lighter technique to help loosen the muscle and then followed by a more gentle technique at the end to aid relaxation.
Whereas most massages involve kneading and manipulating the body’s tissues, during a soft tissue release session, the tissues are held in particular positions before being moved and lengthened. The reason for this is it allows your therapist to assess the tissue more thoroughly and identify any tightness, movement restriction and important textures which helps them identify key areas that could benefit from treatment.
By adding manual pressure to the muscle, ligament or tendon your therapist will shorten the muscle before stretching it out (possibly by asking you to move in a certain way), to untangle and shift muscle fibres which can enhance flexibility and release tension. Treatment doesn’t have to end after the session, however. Clients can continue to aid their flexibility and recovery by doing certain things at home and in their everyday life after receiving soft tissue therapy.
Things you can do at home post treatment
Following your soft tissue therapy at Chelmsford’s Faye Pattison Physiotherapy Ltd you can try these tips to help continue the healing process.
1. Foam rolling
When foam rolling, you should start with a long, more relaxed motion and gradually build up to targeting a particular focus area. If you work aggressively on the tense area you could instead inflame the tissue, causing further pain or injury. An effective foam rolling session alongside therapy sessions can help loosen up the area and improve the soft tissue function.
2. Progressive workouts’
Tissue injury is quite often the consequence of putting too much pressure or weight onto the area due to a workout your body wasn’t quite ready for. That can be in the form of running for too long or lifting too much. While it’s great to challenge yourself through exercise, it’s important that you train up to those moments by slowly building up weight, speed and endurance. All of this will not only be beneficial when recovering from a soft tissue injury, but also to help prevent further pain or discomfort down the line.
3. Stretching
Incorporating both dynamic stretching, which is an active moment and static stretching which is lengthening the muscle for 30 seconds at a time, into your daily routine is a great way to continue recovery post treatment.
Benefits of soft tissue therapy
Soft tissue therapy is great for relieving tension and pain and in particular, can be used to target muscle tension, restricted joints, bad posture, balance issues and other issues including:
- Tendonitis
- Medial epicondylitis (golfer’s elbow)
- Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)
- Breathing issues
- Headaches and migraines
- Strains
- Arthritis
- Carpel tunnel syndrome
- Whiplash
