Eliminate restriction, tightness, and scar tissue.
You don’t need to live with nagging pain!
One of the most efficient ways to reduce tightness and eliminate scar tissue is Graston Technique. If you have areas of your body that are chronically tight or irritating, Graston can be the answer to finding long lasting relief. This technique involves using hand-held tools made of a special metal alloy and a skin friendly treatment salve or lotion. The tools are brushed or rubbed on the skin over areas where there is scar tissue and general tightness. While there are other imitations of this method, Graston Technique is the gold standard of what is known as IASTM, or Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation. Graston is important in the treatment of tendon injuries, such as tennis and golfer’s elbow, shoulder injuries, chronic tightness, and a number of other conditions involving muscle or fascial tissue.
The formation of scar tissue in your body, a process known as fibrosis, is responsible for much of the tightness and tension that both athletes and office employees experience on a regular basis. When muscles, tendons, or other soft tissues are irritated, either during an injury or from poor posture or repetitive motion, one’s body tries to protect these tissues by laying down extra collagen. This is the process of “fibrosis” probably has something to do with the tight shoulders you experience throughout the day at the desk or the nagging pain on the side of your knee when you try to squat or lunge. Graston Technique creates immediate results when fibrosis has been occurring on an area of your body. One piece of physical evidence of this is a “red response” in which small red dots called petechiae form on the skin where scar tissue breaks apart. While you might think you have a bruise, this red response is just surface-level and often dissipates in less than a day.
Beyond basic Graston Technique, in which a patient sits or lays stationary during treatment, Advanced Graston Technique methods can include movement and stability protocols, which help patients become pain-free and increase mobility faster. Many practitioners perform various simple forms of IASTM that might reduce scar tissue to some degree, but standard IASTM is often limited in its ability to fully restore function. Advanced Graston Technique methods can be the difference between feeling a bit less pain and being able to fully extend one’s arms or raise weights overhead without restriction. Incorporating movement and/or stability is an important way to increase mobility in areas where fibrosis has been restricting movement or causing pain. Dr. Barlas combines Advanced Graston Technique methods with other modalities of treatment such as Chiropractic Adjusting and Active Release Technique® to get lasting results with patients.
To schedule or find out more about how Graston Technique could benefit you contact Barlas Chiropractic at 206-954-7479 or message us through our website contact page.
I look forward to helping you be pain free!
Yours in health,
Seattle Chiropractic
(206) 954-7479