Techniques Used By Registered Massage Therapists

Contract Relax/PNF Stretching

Contract Relax Stretching (also called PNF Stretching) is  used by massage therapists to gain length in shortened, tight muscles. It can be very effective for improving range of motion and flexibility. This technique resets the connection between the brain and the muscle spindles (stretch sensors in the muscles), allowing the muscle to lengthen more. It can also be used at home as part of your home-care routine.
FYI: your RMT will not be wearing short shorts, lol.

Hydrotherapy

Heat and cold for therapeutic benefit is easy for patients to use at home and for your massage therapist to use in treatment. Heat encourages circulation, which means the area is bathed in nutrient and oxygen rich blood, while toxins and cellular debris are washed away. Ice or other cold therapy can be used for an anti-inflammatory effect,  natural analgesic and alternative to anti-inflammatory medications.

Hydrotherapy can also be used to break a pain-tension cycle by allowing the nerves in that part of the body to feel something other than pain. 

Joint Mobilization Techniques

Range of motion can be restricted by the muscles surrounding a joint or by the ligaments and other tissues in the joint. Stiff joints is a very different feeling than tight muscles. Stiff joints can also affect how your muscles function, and vise versa. Its important to treat both if you want to resolve the issue. RMT's use joint mobilizations to release this restrictions and improve range of motion directly at the joint. 

MET/Osteopathic Adjustments

Muscle Energy Technique is used to assess and treat misalignment of the spine, pelvis and rib cage primarily.  It also commonly used by osteopaths. The therapist puts the patient into a specific position and then cues contraction of specific muscles against resistance to gently pull the joint back into correct alignment. Its very gentle and effective. 

Myofascial Release

Myofascial Release is typically done without oil on the skin so there is no glide of the hands on the tissue. The sensation is like your skin is being pulled and stretched but at a deeper level.  It can be very relieving as the application is slow and the therapist is really feeling the tissue react under their hands. Fascia surrounds and supports all the organs, bones, joints, vasculature, nerves and muscles of the body. Fascial adhesions are areas where the fascia is "stuck" and restrict range of motion, cause postural dysfunctions and pain. 

Neurokinetic Therapy

NeuroKinetic Therapy is an assessment and treatment protocol that involves precise muscle tests to identify faulty firing patterns. This protocol gives us the opportunity to change the programming of the Motor Control Center (MCC) in the cerebellum. The MCC coordinates all movement patterns in the body.

A combination of health history, previous injuries, surgeries, posture and screening tests to help us figure out where to start looking for a related muscle, ligament, scar, tendon, etc. From there we are able to find the driver of your dysfunction and correct it.  

Its all about balance. You've heard of yin and yang/ energy in and energy out. If there is a muscle being overused, it is related to a muscle that is under-used and both must be addressed to restore balance.

​Kasey Thompson is certified in NKT. 

Swedish/Deep Tissue Massage

Swedish/Deep Tissue Massage is what most people think of when they describe massage. Oil is used on the skin to allow glide of the therapists hands. Long, flowing strokes of varying depth and rate are applied. This may be light to firm considering that "no pain, no gain" is a myth. We now know through modern pain science that we are not actually changing the physical quality of the tissue, but rather affecting the nervous system, which controls the quality of the tissue. 

Therapeutic Exercise

We encourage our patients to be involved in their own health and wellness routine by teaching home-care exercises, stretches and mindfulness techniques. 
Your nervous system learns by repeating, so when we find the source of your problem we need to reinforce the effects of our treatment by repeating it. Simple exercises done with little to no equipment can typically achieve this.

Trigger Point Release

A trigger point is essentially a "knot" in a muscle or fascia that is locally painful and may refer pain to another part of the body. A great example of this is tension headaches. You feel the pain in your head, but it's coming from the muscles in your neck.

Massage Therapists use many techniques to release trigger points and sometimes use the theory and mapping to figure out where you pain is originating. 

Trigger point therapy was developed by Dr. Janet Travell, who was president Kennedy's personal MD (cool eh?).