OMM Treatment: Counterstrain

00:01 Counterstrain is also called spontaneous release by positioning.

00:05 It’s one of the newer forms of manipulation that uses body positioning and body placement as a way to release motion and enhance comfort.

00:14 What you do is, you find a tender point— an area in the muscle that’s a little bit mushier, a little bit more tender, maybe indented, and feels differently than other tissue.

00:23 If they’re uncomfortable there, you then try and find how you can position them to make them comfortable to get rid of that tenderness.

00:32 And once you find that point, and you get them from that point to a position of comfort, you hold them that way for about 90 to 120 seconds.

00:41 You monitor it with your fingers and you see how the tissue changes.

00:45 You generally start to feel a little bit of a pulsation or a little bit of motion in the muscle while you’re holding it.

00:52 And then after the 90 seconds, you bring them back to the normal position and you’ll generally feel a greater motion, and an enhancement of how the muscle feels.

01:02 So treating the tender point is a big part of counterstrain.

01:06 And it does enhance motion and functioning.

01:11 That is counterstrain.