Soft Tissue injuries

Soft Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injuries can occur from injury, sprains, strains, repetitive injuries and neuropathies. Dr. Nolet treats soft tissue injuries with Active Release Technique, Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) and trigger point therapy.  Some of the conditions included under soft tissue injuries include tennis elbow, calf pain, plantar fasciitis and carpel tunnel syndrome.  According to a paper in Manual Therapy by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration these soft tissue conditions are helped by soft tissue therapies such as Active Release Technique (myofascial treatments).

active release technique

Active Release Technique (ART): ART is a soft tissue system/movement based soft-tissue technique that treats problems with muscles tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.  It is used for headaches, neck pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow and many other soft tissue injuries.  ART has over 500 specific protocols for most of the different muscles of the body.

 

Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM): IASTM is a technique that uses stainless steel tools to treat myofascial soft tissue issues.  The tools help find areas of soft tissue restriction and can then be used to free up myofascial adhesions and scar tissue.  The treatment helps restore range of motion and reduce pain.

IASTM treatment instrumentsIASTM treatment

 

Trigger Point Therapy: Trigger point therapy uses pressure over tender knots in the muscles called myofascial trigger points. Ischemic pressure is a firm but light pressure on the muscles knot that is at first very tender.  With continued pressure on the trigger point the pain gradually starts to dissipates over 20 to 60 seconds. Often the pain from a trigger can send pain to a  different areas of the body. Trigger points at the base of the skull (sub-occipital area) can refer pain to the forehead.  Trigger points in the shoulder blade muscles can refer pain down the arm.  So often the pain someone is feeling ends up coming from a different area of the body.  The trigger points were mapped out by Travel and Simons who injected saline solution into the trigger points to reveal the muscles pain referral patterns.