#graston technique

The Graston technique is a form of manual therapy approach that uses instruments to break down the scar tissue developed from an injury. The technique is carried out by licensed physical therapists, chiropractors, and sports trainers who are well-trained in this method. 

The treatment includes stainless steel tools that allow the practitioners to identify the areas of restriction and break down the scar tissue that may be causing pain and limited movements.

Goals of Graston Technique

During an injury or surgery, the tissues in the body repair themselves by developing scar tissue that causes adhesions around muscles, tendons, and ligaments, leading to chronic pain, discomfort, and a limited range of motion.

The primary goal of the Graston technique is to reduce pain and increase function by breaking down the scar tissue and promoting the healing of the injured soft tissue. The treatment is more effective when combined with exercises and therapeutic modalities.

How Does the Graston Technique Work?

The Graston technique uses six tools made of stainless steel to scan over and identify the injured tissue. The tools are concave and convex-shaped and have rounded edges that are not sharp.

The Graston protocol includes the cardiovascular warm-up, the Graston massage, and the post-treatment stretching and cold therapy.

1) Cardiovascular Warm-Up

The cardiovascular warm-up is carried out before starting the Graston technique. Physical therapists suggest some cardiovascular activities such as riding a stationary bike or walking on a treadmill to enhance blood flow to the affected area and promote healing. 

This warm-up activity benefits all areas of the body, including the hands, arms, neck, and back. The practitioners may also perform ultrasound or heat therapy to warm up the soft tissues.

2) The Graston Massage

Then the practitioner uses the treatment tools for a limited amount of time to perform the Graston massage. He carries out a cross-friction massage to re-introduce a controlled microtrauma to the affected area. This causes inflammation in that area and an increased amount of blood flow, thus promoting the healing process of the affected soft tissues.

3) Post-Treatment Stretching and Cold Therapy

Then the physical therapists suggest some light stretches to compliment the movement impairment and strengthening exercises with light resistance and high repetitions to restore the mobility of muscles and treat the injured tissues.

They also suggest cold therapy to be applied for about 15 to 20 minutes to reduce soreness and bruises caused by the Graston massage technique and ease the discomfort.

Benefits of Graston Technique

The Graston Technique, which does not involve any medication or surgical procedure, offers several benefits to the patients. Its benefits include

Improve mobility and promote pain relief

Speeding up the recovery process

Decreasing overall treatment time

Minimizing the need for anti-inflammatory medication

Treating chronic conditions

Graston technique effectively treats chronic back pain, neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle strains, ligament sprains, tennis elbow, myofascial pain, Achilles tendonitis, and various other conditions.

Final Thoughts

Are you worried about back pain? Is it giving you sleepless nights? Is it stealing away your work focus? Then your one-stop solution can be the Graston technique. Graston techniques are performed by many orthopedics, occupational therapists as well as a physical therapist. It’s an advanced form of manual therapy.

What is Graston Technique?

It is a technique in which the therapist tries to scrape or massage the skin gently. By this, there is the removal of scar tissue done. The scar tissue is the one that gives the restriction to movement causing pain. The theory is if it’s removed it may promote stretching alleviating the pain. It is a manual therapy and also known as the soft tissue mobilization technique using instruments.

BENEFITS

The additional benefit to it is that it also provides relief to the other area like hip flexors abdomen shoulder as well as the other parts which are usually connected to the same fascia.

Faster rehabilitation.

Resolve the chronic condition from its root cause.

It is beneficial for the people who do not want to go for treatment involving a lot of medication. It also increases the range of motion and flexibility.

It promotes collagen formation in a correct pattern once again.

How does it work?

It is a 6 tool system made of stainless steel that uses a curved edge instrument that identifies the injured tissue. The instrument can also cause a minor injury or inflammation at that site causing more blood supply to that area. The therapist also gives a certain message to that area that causes cross friction promoting healing.

Procedure

Cardiovascular warm-up - it is essential to do before starting the treatment because it increases the blood flow to the area that has to be treated. Anything such as walking on a treadmill, bicycle riding can do.

The Graston massage - specific strokes through the hand for a specific amount of time for each person post the scraping off has been done. The patient might feel discomfort for a while maybe.

Stretching - Post-treatment has been done the patient is made to undergo some stretching exercises to ease out the tension over the muscles.

Cold therapy - finally the patient is treated with ice over the sore area. The cold pack helps relieve swelling and pain after the therapy.

Who should do it?

It can be done in acute conditions such as back pain, neck pain, ankle pain, hip pain after all accidents or car accidents, slip disk patients can also opt for the treatment.

The chronic conditions that might require this treatment can be cervical strain, Carpal tunnel syndrome, Tennis elbow.

Who should not do it?

Any condition which is contraindicated for soft tissue mobilization should not opt for the same. Warm-up pregnant women and breastfeeding women. The person with uncontrolled blood pressure and diabetes. A person on anti-cancer and anti-platelet drugs.

FAQs

Is it painful?

Yes, It can cause pain or discomfort during the procedure as it is known to be micro-invasive and it should not give intense pain. But it is only for a short period.

Is it safe?

It is safe if you fall under the appropriate criteria for taking the treatment. The therapists are trained enough to carry out the procedure without any shortcomings.

What can be the side effects?

As the soft tissue is been broken down there can be mild redness, soreness, bruises post-therapy, which can go in 1-2 days.

Conclusion

More interviews today. Then instead of having lunch with the candidates (and the higher ups) I took a quick Uber to the sports chiropractor I saw a few times a few months ago; around the same time I was getting shockwaves shot into my right foot by the podiatrist, but before the lasers shot into both feet (again, by the podiatrist).

This guy (the chiro) has previously done a lot of soft tissue work including dry needling, manual tissue therapy (i.e. deep (and I mean DEEP) tissue massage), and my favorite - the Graston Technique.

Gosh Kent, what’s the Graston Technique? 

Well, you take one of these ridged stainless steel implements:

... and rake it across any tight spots in your muscle/fascia until it feels like your skin is being removed. Repeatedly. I didn’t get a good look because of the tears streaming from my eyes, but I’m pretty sure he used ‘GT2′ today. I think it stands for “Grievous Tribulator v2″. A few hours later and I’ve got some nasty abrasions (pictured above) that will most likely develop into some bruising (in case you don’t recall me mentioning it, I don’t generally bruise very easily).

I limped back to the office and joined in the tail end of the Code Platoon post-interview de-brief where we all shared our opinions of the candidates. It’s always interesting to see when my interview team (looking for teamwork/culture qualities) has the opposite rating of a candidate looking for other attributes (e.g. technical aptitude, integrity, or problem solving). I recall a few that I thought had a great culture fit but I suspected they wouldn’t do well on the more technical interviews. I was usually right, but one candidate proved me wrong. Good for them, but they got nixed by a different team.

Quick 1x1 meeting with my supervisor and it was about time to head home - another day without the opportunity to hit the gym. Didn’t even have time for lunch :(

Taco Tuesday with Surprise Texas Tamales*. Lifted after the kids went down, finally making use of the leg curl/leg extension part of the new bench I got last week.

The Graston Technique was originally created by a machinist who had the desire to speed up his own rehabilitation process after the lack of progress with conventional therapy techniques. After experiencing success on his own injury rehab, he partnered with Ball State University professionals to develop the technique and full set of tools.

What Graston is all about?

You might have heard about Graston or the Graston Technique from friends or social media as it popularity continues to rise, but what is Graston really about? Graston is essentially a soft tissue treatment technique, which utilizes specialized instruments to treat both chronic and acute soft tissue conditions. With the unique Graston instruments and technique, we are able to effectively treat scar tissue and restrictive fascia while eliminating pain and restoring normal function and range of motion about a joint. The instruments can interrupt and break down thick and irregular scar tissue, which causes dysfunction of movement and disrupts normal neural pathways often resulting in pain. The use of the Graston instruments allows for greater soft tissue treatment, with a decreased treatment time.

The Graston Instruments:

The complete set of Graston instruments includes 6 specially designed instruments. Each instrument uniquely shaped, which allows for a wide variety of uses on virtually every body part. Each surface of every instrument is designed to fit and contour to different parts of the body, ensure that no matter where the soft tissue injury is, at least one of the instruments can effectively target that area. Whether pain is present in your neck, wrist, back, thigh or foot, there is a Graston tool that can target that area.

What can the Graston Technique treat?

Graston can be used to treat a number of different conditions, from chronic to acute. Graston can be an effective treatment for essentially all soft tissue conditions including:

Back and neck pain

Achilles tendonitis/tendinosis

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Golfers and Tennis elbow (medial and later epicondyltis)

Hamstring injuries

Quad or IT band pain

Knee pain (patellarfemoral pain/disorders)

Shoulder pain (deltoid/bicep tendon/rotator cuff tendinitis or tendinosis)