Soft tissue injuries and acute trauma can cause a significant amount of pain. In fact, tendons, ligaments, and muscles take a long time to heal properly, which is why many people continue to experience pain long after the initial injury. Fortunately, treatments like neuromuscular therapy can address aches and pains caused by the muscular system. As a targeted approach, you can use this therapy to reduce pain in specific body areas, as well as improve overall health.
7 Benefits of Neuromuscular Therapy
Specialized soft tissue treatment like neuromuscular therapy is one of the best ways to restore injured soft tissues and return normal function to the body. But what are the benefits of this treatment? Aside from balancing the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system to reduce pain, this treatment has other benefits such as:
1. Reduce or Eliminate Pain
One of the most common acute injuries in the world is a pulled muscle, and there are many ways to pull or strain a muscle. Sometimes muscle aches are the price for overworking or overexerting the body. Other times, muscle aches are caused by sudden impacts, such as whiplash from a car accident, or wrong movements that overstress the muscle. Sometimes, muscle pain can even be caused by swelling in the joints that causes the body to overcompensate.
Neuromuscular treatments can reduce or eliminate body pain. This therapy works to correctly manipulate the nervous system to reduce pain in affected areas, which can make recovery from acute injuries easier and reduce everyday aches.
2. Better Healing
Traditionally, treatments for muscle aches and pains are treated by alternating ice, heat, and rest. But because it takes a long time for muscles to fully heal, traditional treatments are not effective in the long-run. In fact, many people simply learn to live with muscle pain until it eventually gets better. But when muscles do not heal correctly, you are more prone to future muscle injuries in the future. For example, when you strain your back once you are predisposed to strain your back again.
Neuromuscular treatment will ensure that your muscle injury is healed correctly so that you can avoid repeat injuries in the future. This is particularly important for those who lead active lifestyles or those who work physical jobs. Healing better now can save you time and energy in the future.
3. Improve Posture
Much of the time, poor posture is caused by stress and strain on the body. For example, slumping forward may be caused by tension in the spine, back, or shoulders. The trouble with poor posture is that it creates a cascading effect over time; poor spinal posture today means back pain tomorrow and potentially spinal degeneration as you age.
Luckily, neuromuscular treatments can improve posture by releasing tension in the muscles that contributes to incorrect spinal alignment. Improving posture with neuromuscular treatments can be done by treating the back, the neck, or the legs.
4. Increase Ease of Movement
If you’ve ever severely pulled a muscle, then you’re likely no stranger to the concept of “babying” an injury. The basic fear is that if you move in the wrong way, you will re-injure yourself or cause additional pain because your injury is not fully healed. This is particularly true for neck and shoulder injuries, which can be incredibly painful and limit the range of motion in the process of healing. In fact, for pinched nerves in the neck and frozen shoulder, there is a high risk of losing the full range of motion for a long time.
Neuromuscular treatments are designed to help ease your movements to return full range of motion and confidence in your ability to move without sustaining another injury. Through the process of this therapy, you will be able to have greater efficiency of movement.
5. Better Flexibility and Strength
For those who have sustained injuries that have caused limitations in range of motion, then it may be a top priority to return flexibility and strength to the body. The human body is designed to be flexible and elastic, but sometimes muscle injuries can limit overall flexibility. This is usually because the muscle atrophies during the healing process and grows weaker or less able to bend or flex.
Neuromuscular treatments will help restore the flexibility and strength in your body. By learning special stretches and self-care habits, you can gradually increase the flexibility and strength in your whole body, not just in injured muscles.
6. Increased Circulation
The circulatory system is responsible for transporting oxygen, nutrients, and vital parts of the immune system throughout the body. However, poor circulation is common for many people, particularly those who have health concerns, those who aren’t active enough, and those who have metabolic disorders. When circulation is pore, it’s more difficult to be and feel healthy.
With neuromuscular treatments, you restore circulation throughout the body and increase blood flow to injured areas of the body. This is largely done through manual stimulation to increase circulation. One of the biggest boons of better circulation is pain relief and decreasing swelling in the body.
7. More Energy
Along with increasing circulation is increasing energy levels in the body. It can be hard to feel spry and energetic when you are experiencing soft tissue injuries. In fact, constant pain can be exhausting, particularly if your pain increases with daily movement. Even more alarming, people who are in pain also tend to experience trouble sleeping, which means you won’t be able to restore energy levels with a nap.
Through neuromuscular treatments, you can increase the amount of energy in your body. This is in part because these treatments reduce pain, which will help you feel more energized, and in part because these treatments increase energy through nervous system manipulation.
How Does This Therapy Work?
Usually, this therapy is done by manipulating pained areas with stretching and self-care tactics. Similar to massage and physical therapy, this treatment manually stimulates the body to reduce pain and increase flexibility. The best example of this treatment is using pressure points in the muscles on the neck to reduce neck pain. Additionally, this therapy will teach you the stretches and self-care habits you should use at home to improve your health and reduce the likelihood of additional injuries.
What Can Neuromuscular Treatments Help With?
Most soft tissue injuries are caused by straining or overexerting the body. Acute injuries can happen as a result of sudden impacts and movements, or they can be caused by repeated movements over time. Many conditions are commonly treated with neuromuscular treatments, such as:
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Arthritis
- Neck pain
- Headaches
- Tendonitis
- Sciatica
- TMJ syndrome
- Circulatory problems
- Back pain
- Shoulder pain
Candidates for this treatment include those who are experiencing acute musculoskeletal pain. We can assess your qualification for this treatment during a consultation appointment.
Neuromuscular treatments have several benefits that can improve the health of your body. In addition to reducing pain, these treatments can increase energy levels and circulations, improve posture, and restore flexibility, strength, and ease of movement. Whether your injury is new or you’ve been living with pain for a while, neuromuscular treatments can restore full-body health. To learn more about the ways neuromuscular therapy can benefit you, contact B3 Medical in Wesley Chapel, BC today.
