Neuromuscular therapy was discovered both in Europe and the United States at roughly the same time in the 1930s, both groups having no knowledge of each other. Your massage therapist combines skill, experience and an extensive knowledge of anatomy to follow a well defined series of treatment protocols and get you well.
Neuromuscular therapy recognizes five causes for your muscular pain:
- Ischemia: Tight muscles can lead to a decrease in blood flow by compressing important blood vessels. As a result, the muscle is not given an adequate supply of oxygen. This is known as ischemia. A poor blood supply also means the muscle doesn’t get enough nutrition and the byproducts of metabolism aren’t removed. All of this will lead to a muscle that is hypersensitive and painful
- Trigger points: These are small nodules of muscle fibre contraction within a muscle, often called “knots.” Trigger points are known to refer pain to other areas of the body.
- Nerve compression: The nerves of your body control muscles. When a nerve is compressed the muscles that the nerve controls will contract and go into spasm. The nerve may be pinched by either bone, ligament, or muscle.
- Posture: Long term poor posture will lead to muscular imbalance. Some muscles will shorten, while the opposite muscle will be elongated. Say you spend long periods of time with shoulders rolled forward while using a keyboard, phone, or reading. The muscles on the chest, such as your pectoral is major, will be too short. The muscles of your upper back, the rhomboids and trapezius, will be stretched. The result is tight and painful muscles.
- Biomechanical dysfunction: When bad movements become habit, biomechanical dysfunction develops. This is repetitive strain. Think of the golfer who uses a poor swing many times over, the woman who puts her handbag on the same shoulder all the time, or the warehouse worker who always lifts with his or her back.
Using the methods of neuromuscular therapy, your RMT will remove the above five causes of muscular pain, restore normal biomechanics, and prevent future injury.