Osteopathy for your feet
There are a wide range of manual Osteopathic techniques that can be useful when treating foot and ankle dysfunctions. Soft tissue massage, joint mobilisation and high-velocity thrust (manipulation) techniques are just a few that we use here at MOH, and they can be a really valuable part of our holistic treatment approach.
Restoring functional mobility at the individual joints in your foot and ankle can improve your foot’s ability to shock-absorb and distribute mechanical forces up the leg and through the pelvis and spine.
Manual treatments can have immediate beneficial effects like improving your joint mobility and decreasing your muscle tone and pain sensitivity. You’ll usually notice that this brings functional improvements as soon as you get back on your feet.
Here in the video below you can see one of our osteopaths, Della demonstrating some of these simple mobilisation techniques. This type of treatment can have a profound effect on the way your foot & ankle moves, feels and functions, but it can also provide a valuable window of opportunity for us to then focus on exercise prescription and functional rehabilitation. Manual Osteopathic techniques can often be the best way to remove those restrictions and allow optimal movement and return to your full functional capacity.
It is always important to use active approaches like Clinical Pilates and resistance training to challenge the body and drive the adaptive responses because this is the only way to stimulate long term improvements in muscles, tendons, joints and the nervous system. But it is often the grass-roots Osteopathic manual techniques that can clear the way for these active treatment approaches.
Want to know more?
You can learn more about our approach to foot & ankle pain and improving function by checking out blogs in the MOH foot & ankle series;
- Functional Osteopathic assessment of the foot & ankle
- Effective exercises for foot & ankle strength
- Functional exercises for foot & ankle mobility
- Pilates for ankle strength & stability
- Myotherapy for ankle dysfunction
For more information, ideas and exercises check out our Health Tips blog.
