Massage
There
are many forms of massage or soft tissue manipulation. At Mortdale Physiotherapy,
Andrew uses a variety of techniques according to the person's needs, and often
mixes and combines techniques. Massage can be fast and vigorous particularly
before (to tone up the muscles), and after (to relax the muscles) sport or any
heavy muscle work. This also disperses lactic acid produced by the muscle activity.
Massage needs to be slow and deep to work through more long standing muscular
tension.
Shown above are
pictures of remedial, therapeutic or Swedish type massage. Andrew is also trained
in traditional Chinese and Shiatsu pressure point techniques which he tends
to combine to enhance the relaxing effect on the muscles. Massage can be used
to relax the person before manipulation of the spine, and conversely, sometimes,
manipulation can help reduce the tension in the muscles before massage.