μυς (mys)
Myo-: from the Greek word “mys,” meaning “muscle.”
-therapy: from the Greek word “therapeia,” meaning “treatment” or “healing.”
myotherapy; a comprehensive and holistic approach to assessing and managing soft
tissue conditions through specific, manually applied therapeutic techniques.
Treat the person first, and their symptoms second .
Soft tissue is defined as tissue that connects, supports or surrounds other structures and organs of the body. Soft tissue includes muscles, nerves, tendons, fat, blood or lymph vessels, fascia and tissue around joints (synovial tissue).
Muscle: Inherited from Middle French muscle, a borrowing from Latin mūsculus (“a muscle”, literally “little mouse”)
The word musculus, meaning “little mouse” is derived from an idea that the shape and movement of some muscles when repeatedly contracted (shortened) appears to look like a small animal is running around under the skin for example your forearm/ flexors, and also the biceps were thought to resemble scurrying mice.
Note when the Brachialis muscle contracts, it pushes up from underneath, giving more tone and definition to the Biceps brachi sitting on top.
Myotherapy sessions are usually longer (60 to 90 min) than the average referral
from a doctor for massage or physio, which allows a longer look at the person
rather than the complaint.
Massage therapy primarily serves prevention and
general well-being. Myotherapy specifically addresses musculoskeletal pain and
dysfunction, and looks for what is causing it rather than where it is felt.
Massage therapy typically uses long, flowing strokes or deep pressure for
relaxation. Myotherapy takes a clinical approach and uses various hands-on
techniques to work out what condition the body is actually in.
Myotherapy is more specialized in addressing specific pain issues and dysfunctions, with a comprehensive approach that involves detailed assessment and varied techniques, distinguishing it from general massage and physiotherapy.
Since the 1970s the word myotherapy has described a specific type of manual therapy focused on painful trigger points, the tender, referring spots where the layers of tissue have stopped sliding over one another. Bonnie Prudden coined the term, building on the earlier work of Travell and Simons in the 1960s, who researched the cause and treatment of pain arising from myofascial trigger points.
In 1960, Dr. Janet Travell, MD, gave a lecture on myofascial pain and trigger points at the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, where Simons was the head of the Space Biology Departments. Simons was deeply impressed by Travell and her research, leading him to collaborate with her. Their extensive partnership resulted in the publication of the “Trigger Point Manual” in 1983, the first comprehensive guide on diagnosing and treating myofascial pain.
A tight but flexible woven web rich in mechanoreceptors like Pacinian corpuscles and Ruffini endings, which are essential for proprioception (body position and movement awareness) and nociceptors, which detect pain, fibroblasts, collagen fibers, elastin fibers, ground substance (becomes more viscous through trauma and through immobility), myofibroblasts, and various immune cells, covering the body completely from inside and around internal organs, reaching just under the skins outer surface. Providing structure and sensory information for the brains two sided nervous system, fascia mediates the important roles of the autonomic nervous system and immune regulation.
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