A common question that we are asked on a regular basis is: Do I need a Physiotherapy treatment or a Myotherapy/Massage session?
So, we’ll try to answer this as simply as possible below:
Generally speaking, you would see a Physiotherapist if you had an acute or chronic musculoskeletal injury, or pain. They are also able to assist you with general muscular tightness & discomfort – but usually they have a shorter session so are more able to focus on a specific area of concern – ie neck pain/tightness or low back & hip pain.
They are able to use a number of different modalities including (but not limited to) massage, dry needling, joint mobilisations, stretching techniques etc. They can also prescribe targeted exercises to assist your recovery and assist with injury prevention in the future. Physiotherapists are able to give you a diagnosis of what your issue is – where Myotherapists and massage therapists are unable to do so.
Myotherapists are able to provide you with a general, maintenance massage and they can also assist you with specific muscular tightness and discomfort. They utilise various massage techniques, dry needling, stretching methods and they can refer you on for further treatment with other practitioners if required. Myotherapy sessions are usually an hour in length, so you can have more areas treated in one session.
For new patients, we would advise seeing a physiotherapist first if you are suffering from any pain or tightness. They will then assist to determine if physiotherapy or myotherapy treatment would best work for you. Often, people who have been seeing a physiotherapist are referred on to a myotherapist for maintenance treatments – and it also is quite common for people to see a physiotherapist and a myotherapist concurrently, which can work really well at our clinic because practitioners can communicate your specific needs to optimise your recovery.
Please feel free to ask us about this further at your next appointment – or call us on (03) 9873 3333 if you have any questions.
