Many painful conditions can be eased, or completely relieved, by manual therapy. This often combines passive treatment, such as massage, with active rehabilitation exercises that mobilize, stretch, tone or balance dysfunctional muscles or joints. It is important to understand as much as possible about your pain – its causes and prevention and treatment strategies – so that you avoid both “pain behaviour” and recreating problems through misuse of your chosen therapy or exercise discipline.
When you are recovering from pain and injury, or trying to maintain or improve physical function, you should perform exercises in a slow, fluid and measured way, avoiding stiff, jerky movements. The key features are control, concentration, rhythmic precision and repetition, with use of focused breathing to help coordinate movements.