Muscular Function

One of the prime aims of the manual therapist is to improve circulation- circulation of fluids; this fluid is mainly water, but it contains, among other substances, red blood cells, so it's fairly common to refer to this vital fluid as blood. To get a clear picture of your role as a manual therapist, promoting circulation, I encourage students to visualise this watery substance moving through the veins, arteries, and lymphatic vessels.

Remember, also, that this water moves through the body in much the same way as a river moves through many parts of the country; it is a vital conveyor system, in some places moving ships with their cargo, in our body, it carries whatever is provided by our digestive system, or whatever it is that we consume - if a painkiller that we swallow has to get to the intended site, its only avenue is the circulatory system.

The heart has a major task of a circulatory pump, but it is aided - or it should be - by our muscular system. If you are sensibly active, then the muscles you use will also pump fluids. If you are idle, for whatever reason, then pumping is left to the heart.

So, in simple terms, muscles aid the heart, by:

contracting, moving the adjacent joint, compressing the joint, squeezing fluids out of the joint components,

expanding the muscle bundle, compressing its own blood vessels,

encouraging all opposing muscle groups to be stretched, which influences fluid movement in these zones as well.

This is the ideal situation; contraction of one group, and stretching of another group, followed by the reverse movement - maybe extension, followed by contraction. But, what we are often confronted with, or what we often experience ourselves, is:

(a) an over-strenuous series of flexions/extensions such as participation in a challenging athletic event, or

(b) a sustained contraction of one muscle group, perhaps promoted by stressful circumstances.

An over-strenuous exercise programme can strain the tissues, and interfere with the normal movement of fluids - just as surely as the involuntary contraction of muscles prompted by the demands of living.

Your work as a manual therapist really doesn't need too much modification in this regard; the person trying desperately to stay afloat emotionally in these challenging times will experience almost the same circulatory disruption as the athlete, the truck driver, the school teacher or the parent.

Think about it possums, there isn't a lot of difference between corrective massage and remedial massage when you think about it..