Soft Tissue and Remedial Massage Therapy

Soft Tissue Therapy derives its origins from Sports Massage. Although the term ‘gentle tissue therapy is a relatively new one, massage has been used by traditional healers to alleviate pain and aid healing for over 5,000 years.

Soft tissue therapy is a remedial massage on steroids. It is hands-on bodywork that can get you out of many painful episodes. Gentle tissue therapy reduces tensile and compressive stress on your body and can dramatically speed up the healing process.

Soft tissue therapy is the mobilisation/manipulation of your tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, fat, muscles, fibrous tissues, nerves, blood vessels, synovial membranes, and connective tissue. It goes under many names, but most know it as massage.

Your muscles function by increasing their tension and contracting, then relaxing. They get shorter in length when they contract. They may contract voluntarily, i.e. when carrying out a movement or involuntarily as in response to pain or your body trying to protect itself. Pain, muscle weakness, a restricted range of motion, and a misalignment of the skeletal system can occur if the muscle loses its mobility. These may be to do with the formation of scar tissue/adhesions following injury if the muscle cannot relax sufficiently (for a variety of reasons) or there has been a prolonged lack of lengthening movements to that area.

Types of Soft Tissue Therapy we use:

• • Myofascial release
  • Trigger point therapy
  • Sports massage
  • Deep tissue massage
  • Connective tissue massage
  • Positional release
  • Deep, transverse frictions

Soft tissue injury (STI) is a general term for injuries to connective tissue. They may take the form of bursitis, tendonitis, sprains, strains and contusions.