How Massage, Remedial Massage & Myotherapy Helps People With Leg Pain
Leg pain is extremely common, particularly in people who exercise. Even more so, in people that have just started, or begun to increase the amount of exercise they do. In saying that, leg pain will often also be caused by hip or knee issues, we have more info on that here and here.
The type of leg pain we are gong to be here is that coming from a muscular source or cause. Why is that so common in the people mentioned above? When we use muscles either for longer periods, or different ways to what their used to, or with greater load then what they are used to we stress the muscle tissue.
Now this stress isn’t bad. In fact it’s required to make the muscle stronger. But often what occurs is this stress will cause a tightening of the muscle tissue. This tightening is most commonly due to trigger points.
These points often will then cause muscular restriction/ tightness and often elicit an ache through the general area. They can also cause poor joint function, which leads to joint pain. At the same time this will leave you at much greater risk of injury.
Also when a muscle is stressed past it’s normal limits it leaves us susceptible to muscle strains and tears.
Massage, Remedial Massage & Myotherapy treatment for Leg Pain
Now this completely depends on the cause so we’re going to break it into 2 parts; Pain caused through muscular tightness & pain caused through actor trauma, such as strains or tears.
Leg Pain Caused Through Muscular Tightness
To start with, if leg pain is caused through muscular tightness we will determine the points that will be causing your pain. Following this we will identify other points that will be causing the muscle to not function as it should which may also be affecting joint function. This second step is so important in terms of preventing further pain and injury.
We then set about using massage, remedial massage or myotherapy techniques to release this tight tissue. Often as we start to work on an area we’ll find other tightness points and release those as well.
This treatment can be as light or deep as you like. Our therapists are trained and will check in regularly on pressure and it will be adapted to your wants and needs. We work within your pain tolerances to deliver a comfortable treatment that gets you results.
Following the treatment your therapist will often advise of some stretches to help release the tissue further. In many cases we also be give some strengthening exercises. These are fantastic at preventing this type of issue in the future.
In summary, massage, remedial massage & myotherapy is a fantastic way that you can help leg pain when it is caused through tight muscles. At Rapid Recovery it’s something that we deal with frequently and our result driven treatment, can get you fantastic results.
Leg Pain Caused Through Muscular Sprains & Strains
Typically muscular sprains and strains occur due to either a poor warm up or muscular fatigue.
Stopping these injuries from a poor warm up should be fairly simple. Ease into your activity with some gentle exercise combined with dynamic stretching. Your therapist will be able to give you a good idea on these.
Injuries occurring through muscular fatigue however can be a little trickier. With these there is often some level of muscular dysfunction and often trigger points before the injury occurs. Essentially the muscle will hold out to a point, and than pop – you’ve got a strain or tear.
We often find that regular massage helps to prevent these. After all, if a muscle is functioning how it should be, even under greater stress, it is less chance of injury.
Treatment:
Treatment for muscle strains and tears depends on how long ago the injury occurred. With all of these we will work the area around the strain or tear to help take pressure of it and optimise the healing environment.
Without going into heaps of detail here is the basics of what we do in terms of massage treatment for the actual site. Treatment initially will begin very gently, after all we want to promote healing, not destroy the healing that has already taken place. Depending on the severity, time since injury & how it is healing on future sessions your therapist can gradually get deeper. This will help to prevent adhesions from scar tissue, as well as helping to have the site of the tear function the best it can. This leads to less chance or a reoccurrence.
We must stress, the above is just a guide. Treatment plans we create are heavily individualised for muscle sprains & tears. There are so many variances when it comes to this type of treatment. Fortunately for you it is something our massage therapists deal with commonly & receive in house education on.
Finally, massage is extremely effective to help you heal from a muscular strain or tear. In fact, the smart move is to use it to help prevent future sprains or tears occurring. At the same time it helps the muscle to function properly and hence your body to perform better. This is the reason that many elite and professional athletes will have 4 compulsory massage sessions per week!