Manual Therapies

Physioterapeutical manual procedures for muscle and articular problems

The manual therapy is a physiotherapy specialization attending to prevent, evaluate and treat muscle, articular and postural problems through specific manual procedures.

The Clinica San Francesco has a physiotherapists staff able to carry out on patient several types of therapy, as the spinal manipulation, myofascial manipulation or induction and the therapeutic exercise in order to:

• reduce the painful symptom
• reactivate the lack of articular movement (hypomobility)
• keep the acquired movement
• reduce the hypermobility by specific therapeutic exercises
• reactivate the fascial/connective mobility
• provide an ongoing therapeutic information to patients

The orthopaedic physiotherapeutical manual therapies, provided by the Clinic, include the sports massage, lymphatic drainage, neuromuscular taping, functional bandage and osteopathy.

Sports Massage

The pre- or post-race sports massage is a particular type of massage that the physiotherapist can carry out on specific body areas before or after the sport performance.

Within an amateur or professional training programme, the sports massage allows both a greater recovery after the performance and a good preparation before the competition.

Therapeutic effects

• Stimulation of microcirculation
• Increase of local temperature and vasodilation
• Lymphatic drainage
• Decongestion and relaxation of tissues
• Reduction of muscle tensions
• Prevention of accidents

Lymphatic Drainage

The lymphatic drainage is a particular type of massage used by physiotherapist to facilitate the lymphatic circulation and remove the problems following the liquid stasis.

How to do a good lympho-draining massage?

The lymphatic massage, beginning from precise localization points of main lymphatic trunks and moving then in the interested area, is carried out without excessive pression and in centripetal direction to favor the collected liquid drainage, from the peripheral to circulatory system.

Therapeutic indications

• Venous insufficiency
• Primary and secondary lymphedema
• Circulatory disorders
• Muscle lesions
• Cellulitis
• Postoperative edema
• Articular sprain

Neuromuscular Taping

The neuromuscular taping is a particular type of elastic plaster with specific characteristics regarding elasticity, density and weft. Once applied correctly on the interested part, the taping permits to accentuate, between sessions, the effects of the rehabilitative treatment carried out by the physiotherapist.

Acting by mechanic and reflected way the outcome is a cutaneous tissue, microcirculation and muscle itself (inhibiting or facilitating) stimulation.

Functional Bandages

The functional bandage is a rehabilitative procedure consisting in a partial immobilization and dumping of articulation, useful to protect the healing phases and avoid relapses during the sport performance and not just.

Using an adhesive anaelastic plaster or partially elastic, the physiotherapist blocks the articulation in its pathologic movements.

Therapeutic indications

• Muscle or articular lesions
• Sprains
• Ematomas, venous insufficiency, lymphedema
• Dislocations
• Tendinopathies

Osteopathy

The osteopathy is a manual therapy focused on patient’s health, instead of disease. Using a causal and not symptomatic reasoning and a holistic view, the physiotherapist-osteopath searchs for the pain reason even away from the symptom area.

The osteopathy treats the skeletal muscle, visceral and craniosacral diseases with procedures that change from the soft tissues, viscera and nervous system manipulation to vertebral or peripheral manipulation.

Therapeutic indications

• Neck pains, backaches, sciatica
• Headaches, migraine
• Neuralgias, disc herniation
• Articular and muscle pains
• Gynecologic disorders or menstrual cycle pains
• Chronic tiredness
• Otitis, sinusitis
• Digestive or intestinal disorders
• Cardiorespiratory disorders