Most manual therapists have traditionally been taught a very mechanical model when it comes to soft tissue therapy. Recently, many people would agree that the benefits we achieve with soft tissue therapy can be attributed to both the neurological effect as well as the biomechanical effect. This more modern approach can often mean that we can have significant effects with our clients using less forceful hands-on therapy than we have traditionally used. This is great news for those clients that don’t particularly like or respond to forceful, heavy hands-on treatment, but it’s also great news for therapists! If we don’t have to use as much pressure then we may have more longevity in our profession, with less overuse injuries and less physical load.
The new RockTape Soft Tissue Course focuses on the integration of the neurological components of soft tissue therapy and the traditional mechanical benefits of soft tissue therapy. Our “less is more” approach helps you to get the best result for your clients, with the minimal effective dose. It can be a surprise to some people that we can have dramatic effects with very light interventions, but if we stop thinking mechanically and start thinking more in a neurological model this certainly makes sense. The brain and nervous system are the boss, and if we make them feel safe, we can see immediate benefits in our clients. This can be through a number of symptoms such as pain reduction, improved range of movement, or less tension and guarding.
In the Soft Tissue Course, we teach practitioners how to use various tools to interact with the nervous system and the soft tissues. Whilst we can use our hands to achieve many of these benefits, the use of various “novel” tools can provide a different stimulus to the brain and nervous system and as such have different outcomes for different clients. The tools that we explore in this course are massage tools, our silicone RockPods/cupping devices, floss bands and vibration devices.
The course looks at each of these tools in isolation and how to safely and effectively use them to promote benefits at a neurological and soft tissue level. We then look at common clinical conditions and how we can use the various tools to treat the symptoms and causes that can occur.
The philosophy of RockTape courses is always to learn the concept not just the technique. This ensures that people understand the “why”, not just the “how”. This means that you can return to the clinic with some new treatment modalities and approaches that you can incorporate into your treatments immediately. Many practitioners who attend the course are familiar with one or two of the modalities, but perhaps have not considered the others, or how the existing modalities they already use can be used a little differently to positively affect both the neurological and mechanical systems. Every practitioner is always learning, and the evidence is always evolving. Come along to the Soft Tissue Course and update your thinking around how your manual therapy is working.