Soft Tissue Therapy for most part, is used when clients are already in some sort of pain and discomfort, and are at that stage where their lives are being impacted by that pain, discomfort and they are looking to eliminate it. In this type of scenario, usually the issues are minor, mildly annoying and have been left unattended until they become chronic and that's where the pain and discomfort kicks in and really starts to impact their lives. In the case of minor issues, that haven't yet develop into a chronic issue, something like an over-use strain, a sprain, a small tear, muscle tightness or lack of mobility in a joint: soft tissue therapy has different assessments/techniques that can easily help eliminate the pain, discomfort, promote healing and restore good body movement which means the client can quite quickly return to their normal life. It's also an opportunity to educate clients on better movement patterns and lifestyles choices that would improve their current lifestyle with balanced, efficient, effortless movement which would go along way to preventing any future injuries. They come to realise how useful soft tissue therapy is, not only as treatment for injuries but as a preventive therapy and a therapy to enhance performance and feel good. 

In an ideal scenario, clients would come to soft tissue therapy when the case is minor however as mentioned before, too often they tolerate these minor issues and by ignoring these minor issues they may become chronic. Not only will they have chronic pain and discomfort, without their awareness their body may have created over-compensation movement patterns which results in other areas of the body being impacted. Which results in over-use issues/injuries, muscle weaknesses, muscle imbalances, poor joint movement, neuromuscular reactionary patterns, etc.                                          

What could of been easily treated has now become a much more complex problem solving scenario. The therapist will now need to focus on many more layers which may take long to resolve and may take the body more time to be treated an re-remember good movement patterns and responses. In these cases, quite often clients may have 'tried' many treatments with not sufficient tangible results so may be fatigued and disillusioned. By taking the proper steps of progression in treatment, treating the current pain/discomfort, taking into account the emotional and mental state of the client, their lifestyle, dealing with muscle imbalances and re-education, the client starts to primarily feel physically and emotional better, moves better and is able to live their normal life. Hopefully from that experience they will learn the importance of looking after themselves and that prevention is better than cure and will learn better strategies to live a better life.  

With some chronic conditions such as auto-immune conditions,  soft tissue therapy is not there to solve the problem but there as a managing tool. It can be a great managing therapy for many medical conditions as it promotes healing , encourages drainage, encourages blood flow and nutrients, calms down the nervous system, maintains balance in the musculoskeletal system, and is feel good. 

On the flip side, it can be used as part of a recovery system for sports and physical activity.....used to promote healing, recovery, relaxation after sports and to prevent injuries and maintain good body movement that can enhance performance.  Or in direct injury, whether from sports or another type of accident, the sooner the right treatment plan is used, the greater the chance of a quicker and successful recovery. 

By using all the tools available to soft tissue therapy: assessments; hands on treatment; exercises; lifestyle guidance; education; it helps with minor issues, chronic issues, pathologies, accidents, sports injuries, sports performance, physical and mental wellbeing. Eliminating/managing pain, discomfort, tight muscle fibres, muscle imbalances, etc. Soft Tissue Therapy gives the body the opportunity to find it's natural balance which means on a whole the body functions better, which means less injuries, less energy usage for more efficient effortless movement. It's also an opportunity to educate the client and give the client confidence to live a full life and understand that there are many great strategies to help them if any issues occurs, not only for ad hoc issues but as a long term strategy.                                                                                                              Susana José  move feel live better