μυς (mys)
Myo-: from the Greek word “mys,” meaning “muscle.”
-therapy: from the Greek word “therapeia,” meaning “treatment” or “healing.”
myotherapy; a comprehensive/ holistic approach to assessing, diagnosing and managing soft tissue conditions through
various specific manually applied therapeutic techniques.
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) (that is, all tissue excluding skin, subcutaneous tissue, cartilage and bone).
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 how the Brachialis muscle when contracted pushes up from underneath, giving more tone and definition to the Biceps brachi sitting on top.
Myotherapy sessions are usually longer (60 – 90min) than the average referral from a doctor for massage or physio.
Taking a longer analysis of the patient to discover their honest condition.
Massage therapy primarily serves prevention and general well-being, while myotherapy specifically addresses musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction, investigating their causes on a holistic cellular level.
Massage therapy typically employs long, flowing strokes or deep pressure for relaxation. In contrast, myotherapy takes a clinical approach and uses various manual (hands-on) techniques to discover what condition the mind and body is 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 70’s has the word myotherapy been used to describe a specific type of manual therapy that focuses on treating muscle knots or painful trigger points which Bonnie Pruden coined after reflecting a rational approach based on pathogenesis and the earlier work of Travell and Simons in the 60’s 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), 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.
