A knife can be both dangerous and life saving depending on who is yielding it. Practitioners utilizing soft tissue instruments in their practice can cause further tissue damage or prevent tissue healing and break down scar tissue depending on the manner in which the instruments are utilized, and is proper assessment is carried out prior to any treatment.
From online blogs, forums, and to research of soft tissue instruments are perceived as being the full treatment, and the other components such as proper assessment, exercise, and manual therapy of helping your patients get better is rarely discussed.
Our tool is a tool, we designed it to be efficient and cutting edge, but without proper assessment, application and exercise prescription, it is just a tool.
The M2T-Blade team recently sat down over lunch and started to discuss some of the fallacies and misconceptions that practitioners have while using Soft Tissue Instruments.
1. Treatment with Soft Tissue Instruments Shouldn't Cause Extreme Bruising And Irritated Skin
Microtrauma does occur to start the healing process and is expected to produce a very reddened and warm reaction. Any bruising
should be minimal at best. Significant amounts of bruising would indicate a clinician using too much pressure as well as probably treating beyond the area of restriction.
Using any Soft Tissue Instrument is not about being so aggressive that you leave large purple marks and essentially produce superficial capillary hemorrhage. Some redness and petechia is OK, but the over aggressive black and blue is not needed for desired treatment outcome.
2. Instruments Don't Replace Your Hands
As a manual practitioner, your hands are your greatest assets and no technique or device can ever replace them. Soft Tissue Tools will only enhance and add as an aid for assessment.
Always palpate first, then use Instrument.
3. You Don't Need Extreme Force While Using Instruments
It's not about using a lot of force or that it must cause pain to be working. Deep Tissue work isn't about the amount of pressure used or in causing pain.
4. Soft Tissue Instruments are just tools, and not a treatment program
Manual Therapy across all professions is putting your hands on the patient and manipulating tissue. Through your hands you can feel tissue density,
Tools are simply extensions of your hands. They can identify different dysfunctions, locate adhesions, and apply a different force then your hands.
5. Patients can be active and play sports after receiving treatment using soft tissue instruments.
Given that the technique using soft tissue instruments was performed appropriately, patients should be able to go about their
normal activities including sports and work. There may be some associated discomfort but
it should not be limiting