Everybody knows what Physiotherapy is. So what is Myotherapy?

Somewhere in that initial consultation comes the Physiotherapy question.

‘What’s the difference between Myotherapy and … like … Physiotherapy?’ they ask me.

I have spent the last 20 years trying to come up with an answer to this question in less than 400 words. Putting it really simply, myo means muscle. So Myotherapy manipulates muscles and tendons – the soft tissues. But physiotherapists do soft tissue manipulation too, so that doesn’t really explain it.

A better explanation.

It is easier to understand the difference in terms of what kind of conditions myotherapy is really good at solving.

If I were to really generalise, I would say that the strength of Physiotherapy is in acute injuries. An acute injury is like when you tear something, twist a knee, roll an ankle an so on. In this scenario there is immediate swelling or bruising. The rehabilitation of these kinds of injuries over 4-6 weeks is the real hallmark of Physiotherapy.

Myotherapy on the other hand is excellent at finding long term solutions to those invisible pains. Pains that reoccur for months or years on end like headaches, knee pain or lower back pain that turns up regularly. This type of pain is referred to as chronic pain.

If you want to know how Myotherapy is different to Physiotherapy in more detail then check out Part II of this article. It is also worth reading What is Myotherapy and How does Myotherapy really work?

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– Tim