Spinal Manual Therapy

Spinal Manual Therapy may help:

Spinal manual therapy is an umbrella term for 5 different levels of mobilising or manipulating your spine or sacroiliac joint.
The first four grades involve mobilisation. Grades 1 and 2 aim to decrease pain while grades 3 and 4 increase movement. Grade 5 moves into manipulation, where we apply a controlled thrust to your spine to make the joint move further than it would on its own.
Here at Vitalis Physiotherapy, manual therapy also involves joint mobilisation combined with movement, which is gentle and effective in reducing pain and restoring movement. That’s known as the Brian Mulligan Concept.

How Is It Done?

In most cases, manual therapy starts with us asking you to lie on our therapy bed. Your Vitalis physiotherapist will show you which position to lie in and will start manual therapy by applying specific graded pressure to your spinal joints.

You may hear a popping noise that sounds a bit like cracking your knuckles. That’s normal, but do tell us if you want to stop at any point.

Manual Therapy for Spinal Stenosis

Your spinal canal contains your nerve roots and spinal cord. In spinal stenosis, this canal compresses, pinching the nerve roots and spinal cord that sit inside. If you have spinal stenosis, you may feel pain, cramping, weakness or numbness in your lower back, legs, neck, arms or shoulders, depending on which part of your spine is affected.

Spinal stenosis can be caused by osteoarthritis, a bulging disc or thickened back ligaments. It usually gets worse over time. Some patients find it hard to walk because of the pain. Sitting down or leaning forward often provides short-term relief.

A recent clinical trial showed manual therapy for spinal stenosis resulted in short-term improvements for people diagnosed with this condition. The trial divided patients into groups to compare treatments. The people who reported the fastest improvement in symptoms and function were in the group receiving manual therapy for spinal stenosis from a trained professional alongside stretches and strength training.

What Are the Benefits?

Spinal mobilisation or spinal manipulation may help to restore the spine’s mechanics , reduce pain and trigger the body’s natural healing process.

Some studies show that manual therapy may:

Which Conditions May Be Treated With Manual Therapy?

At Vitalis Physiotherapy, we use manual therapy to treat:

Lower back pain
Neck pain
Spinal stenosis
Sciatica
Upper limb radicular pain
Lower limb radicular pain
Sacroiliac joint pain.

Would I Benefit From Spinal Manual Therapy?

If you have back pain, neck pain or spinal stenosis, sciatica, upper limb pain, or sacroiliac joint pain then you may benefit from spinal manual therapy.

Our physiotherapist would need to examine you thoroughly before recommending a course of treatment. For better results, we usually combine manual therapy with the prescription of specific exercises.

Please book an appointment with your physio around me and we’d be happy to discuss your symptoms and recommend the most appropriate treatment.