Structural Relief Therapy: A Better Way to Relieve Pain
By Tierney McCarver, LMT I
t can get exhausting searching for the most effective manual massage treat- ment to help alleviate chronic pain and discomfort. People will see many different therapists in hopes of finding some kind of relief following a session. Some believe it can take several sessions over a period of time to gain freedom from such pain. Of course, there is no magic solution due to the complexities of each individual. Every Body is unique and carries within it a map to healing. The therapist must locate the directions with the help of their client to find the easiest route to take. Structural Relief Therapy is one such modality that has been described by clients as “magic” during the first session because their pain is suddenly gone.
Structural Relief Therapy provides a fast, efficient way of relieving pain associ- ated with complex medical conditions including fibromyalgia, whiplash, thoracic outlet syndrome, orthopedic injuries, and sciatica. Structural Relief Therapy (SRT) is a melding of Positional Release Therapy, Strain-Counterstrain, fascia release and
14 ELM™ Maine - July/August 2019
Muscle Energy Techniques. These are all combinations of Osteopathic techniques broken down to provide a simpler ap- proach to those used by skilled Osteopaths.
What is Structural Relief Therapy?
Developed by massage therapist Taya Countryman, SRT is a non-invasive and advanced massage technique that stops involuntary muscle contraction, instantly increases range of motion, and dramati- cally decreases pain in the first session. Re- leasing the muscle contraction reprograms the jammed neurological signals of the muscles to and from the brain. SRT is an indirect approach to treating a person com- pared to deep tissue therapy which would instead, use a direct approach. The main principles followed using SRT are: moving tissue and joints into ease, going away from tissue and joint restrictions, taking over the work of the muscles in the contracted state, supporting unique structural patterns of the client, and stimulating a new neurological response to and from the brain.
Suppose a person is in a car accident
and suffers whiplash. The sheer force of the head jolting forward and backwards freezes and locks the neck muscles and fibers in that particular position. The neck muscles are now in a contracted state following the same pattern of the accident. A therapist using SRT would locate one of the most tender points in the client’s neck area then proceed to move the neck into a position of ease; most likely a position that mimics the movement of the head during the accident. Typically, this position will be held by the therapist for ninety seconds or more. Since these involuntary contractions are thought to result from a dysfunction in the transmis- sion of neurological signals between the muscle and the brain, holding the head in this position invites a new message to be sent to the brain by shortening the muscle. Once the therapist feels a change in the muscle tissue, the head is returned to a neutral position.
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