Okay, there’s more to this post than that, otherwise, being an osteopath writing this, I’d really be shooting myself in the foot.
Manual therapy is great for relieving stress and tension, getting joints moving better and reducing pain for many complaints.
However, when it comes to building strength and changing movement patterns, hands-on therapy isn’t all that effective, in fact, it sucks!
But the point of this post isn’t to shame manual therapists, like myself, but to instead highlight the importance of doing the right things at the right time. I could just as easily do a post called ‘exercise therapy sucks’ because introducing exercises at the wrong time would also lead to problems.
When dealing with musculoskeletal pain, it is always best to relieve tightness, restriction and pain first (usually best done with manual therapy) before then introducing postural and functional changes, using exercise therapy to change how you move, preventing recurrence.
Not everyone needs both types of therapy, especially in acute cases or some cases which have been brought on by trauma. However, those that need rehabilitation exercises and fail to do them will often just end up ‘firefighting’ the problem, sorting it to a degree but then just waiting for the next episode of pain or other symptoms.
It is important for practitioners to assess each person’s needs and know the limitations of their treatment methods to make suggestions based on what is right for that individual. This is exactly what we do at SoCo Therapies.
To book in a free 15 minute consultation give us a call on 01202 422000