Manual therapy is a special form of “therapeutic management of pain, limited motion, and poor posture”, etc., that uses the physician therapistʼs hand to achieve these goals (Di Fabio, 1992, p. 853). Manual therapy can be often very efficient, being an additional intervention to ususal medical care. The selection of appropriate manual therapy includes such criteria as the type of pain a patient has, special location for manual manipulation, peculiarities of this location, suggestions of the practice, etc (Fitzgerald, 1994).
For instance, the application of lymphatic facilitation improves the functioning of nervous, muscular and lymph system. Slow, gentle and rhythmic movements should be made to improve lymph circulation in a special, determined direction as well as progression of the patientʼs body (Benjamin and Tappan, 2005). The healing effect of this kind of manual therapy can be observed on the treatment of edema, lymphedema, colitis, arthritis, colds, psoriasis, allergy conditions and sinus conditions (Benjamin and Tappan, 2005). Lymphatic facilitation can be successfully combined with other therapies. However, the presence of such diseases or conditions as vascular diseases, malignant tumors, thrombosis, infections, phlebitis restricts the application of lymphatic facilitation (Benjamin and Tappan, 2005).
References
Benjamin, P.J. and Tappan, F.M. (2005). Handbook of Haling Massage Techniques. Pearson, Prentice Hall.
Di Fabio, R.P. (1992). Efficacy of Manual Therapy. Physical Therapy, 72: 853-864.
Fitzgerald, G.K., McClure, P.W., Beattie, P. and Riddle, D.L. (1994). Issues in determining treatment effectiveness of manual therapy. Physical Therapy, 74: 227-233.
Sharman, M.J., Cresswell, A.G. and Riek, S. (2006). Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching: mechanisms and clinical implications. Sports Medicine, 36 (1): …