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Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain
What is Myofascial Release (MFR therapy)? How can it relieve pain? Let's discuss how MFR has improved our health and reduced pain and share articles about how MFR works. MFR helps so many different conditions that have compressed tissues, and entrapped blood vessels and nerves. The time to avoid MFR treatment would be if a person has cancer, because in releasing tight tissues, cancer cells could be released and able to migrate through the body.
Myofascial release is a way to stretch the fascial layers that holds our body together. The fascia is connective tissue that forms a web matrix that interconnects everything in the body. It has recently been described as the "Interstitium" or a new organ in the body.
Fascia can be too tight from injuries or surgical scar tissue, and hold the body in poor ergonomics which can lead to nerve compression. Fascia can be stretched or "released" and it will remodel itself by changing from a semi solid to liquid form which brings circulation to an area of compressed tissue which then expands the tissue and circulation, and it enables removal of metabolic waste products. Using their hands, the trained therapist will find the path of fascial restriction in the patient's body and push against it gently in a shearing motion, and wait for the tissue to start to slide. The patient can feel the movement and become body aware. This path of fascial movement can reach the full length of the body and cross over between sides. This path changes as it unravels, and often there is a vasomotor response that can be seen on the skin temporarily as a reddish area where circulation has been restored which is shown on the photo below near the therapist's hands. Treatment must be slow and gentle to prevent the body from guarding in a protective response. This is why aggressive methods to stretch fascia often fail and can cause injuries by tearing the fascia and forming scar tissue that just adds to the problem of fascial tightness.
Fascia also holds tissue memory, and in releasing it, sometimes there is a release of emotions tied to an injury that was a cause of the problem. Stress and injury can cause guarding behavior and tissue tightness that become permanent over time, and MFR and working on emotional health helps a person recover from the physical and emotional effects of stress and trauma on the body.
MFR is helpful to so many conditions that have an underlying physical cause. The physical therapist who developed this treatment method forty years ago is John Barnes. He has developed courses and MFR certifications for physical therapists. There is a lot of information about MFR at myofascialrelease.com as well as directory of therapists treating with MFR. A person may also contact Therapy on the Rocks in Sedona, AZ, and ask for recommendations of therapists who have been trained in the John Barnes Methods. MFR therapy is becoming better known and accepted healing therapy, although there are some doctors who are unaware of the benefits.
I wanted to create this discussion to help organize this information and I thought the Neuropathy group would be a good place to start because someone in pain might look here, but we could have this discussion in many discussion groups. Animals such as dogs, cats and horses have also benefited from this therapy. Hopefully as we collect information here, this discussion can be referenced and shared in the many other discussions on Mayo Clinic Connect.
Here is an incomplete list of conditions that can be helped with MFR treatment.
You may find this list and further information at https://www.myofascialrelease.com/about/problems-mfr-helps.aspx
Back pain
Bladder Problems (Urgency, Frequency, Incontinence, Overactive Bladder, leakage
Birth Injuries
Bulging Disc
Bursitis
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Cerebral Palsy
Cervical and Lumbar spine injuries
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic Pain
Degenerative Disc Disease
Endometriosis
Emotional Trauma
Fibromyalgia
Frozen Shoulder (Adhesive Capsulitis)
Herniated Disc
Headaches or Migraines
Infertility
Interstitial Cystitis
Menstrual Problems
Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Neck Pain
Osteoarthritis
Pelvic Pain
Plantar Fascitis
Pudental Nerve Entrapment
Scars (hypertrophic, hypersensitive, painful, burn scars, mastectomy scars)
Sciatica
Scoliosis
Shin Splints
Tennis Elbow
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
TMJ syndrome
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Vulvodynia
Whiplash
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Toni, no, luckily I am not home bound. I was seeing a P/T for my hip and neck who was not trained in the Barnes method of MFR. If I feel the need in the future, I will see the specialist I previously mentioned despite the cost. I am surprised though that insurance doesn’t cover it. Is it because those trained in MFR are not considered certified P/T’s due to lack of a degree in physical therapy and have only just taken this special training? Helen
@helennicola I pay less than $100hr for a Barnes trained therapist. I believe she is classified as a Master level. I may just be lucky to live in an area that has a greater # of them that drives down the price. I so look forward to when my therapist and I get to the point of internal myofascial massage for my IC. I’ve read that that’s been helpful for many IC sufferers
@helennicola I’ve been told it’s because it’s classified as a type of massage not physical therapy and I guess massage is not covered by insurance?
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1 ReactionBusterbrwn, Great that you found someone, I think you’re correct, I live in the triangle area of NC which boasts many university hospitals, doctors, great healthcare all around and only 1 person who specializes in MFR! Go figure. I wish you much success with it. Helen
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1 ReactionBusterbrwn, yes, makes sense, thanks for that answer. Helen
@busterbrown I tried to see if my insurance covered it and they don't so your right probably all are like this
Hi again Helen. That is strange. I guess coverage depends on the health insurance. I have had MFR with home health this year. I was the one to instigate treatment with a local home health agency. It did my “shopping around “ and found a physical therapist who had 20 years experience with MFR and dizziness or balance disorders. I only wanted a PT clinician to come out. No skilled nurse or CNA( Certified Nursing Assistant) was needed. Remember all PTs have to get a PhD degree through college to qualify as a PT. They get their license for the state they will be practicing in. I believe there is a a medical license look up in every state. There is one in my state. It can be done online. One can look up licenses for all medical disciplines i.e. doctors, nurses, CNAs, therapist in speech, occupational, and physical, etc. All PTs can perform treatments under their license. Some are more qualified than others because they received special training through a certification program. You may ask for a PT who has experience with a certain treatment or one that has certification. A certified PT in a particular field may be harder to find. Hope this helps. Toni
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1 Reaction@bustrbrwn22 @helennicola If you see a PT who does traditional physical therapy and who is also MFR certified, you get the best of both worlds, and they know how to write their notes so insurance will cover it. If they just said it was only MFR treatment, insurance probably doesn't want to pay. Have that conversation with your therapist. Insurance wants to see that yes, there is a need for therapy with some kind of issue to solve, and they want to see steady progress over the course of treatment with measurements and progress reports that show range of motion and strength. If you have an issue that takes longer than a few sessions to solve, you would have time to see if adding MFR will work. You may need to do some traditional work too, and that may be able to be home exercises and have the therapy sessions be the manual work with MFR. Also ask about a cash rate if no insurance is involved that would be equivalent to what insurance and a copay would cover. $175 an hour is building in surplus for the "discount" for being in network with the insurance that comes off the top. Of course they need to cover business expenses too, but a cash rate might be closer to half the retail cost. See if you can negotiate the rate if you need to pay cash only.
Another suggestion that doesn't involve insurance would be to take the workshop that John Barnes' practice does for the general public to teach MFR techniques which you can do as a couple. It is probably taught once a year, and they change where the location is from year to year, so you may need to travel to go. Info would be on the MFR website and they do sell out early. Once you learn how it works and understand how it feels when it is done correctly to yourself, you can figure out your own ways to self treat and actually feel when the tissue starts to slide and release. A person can't get every thing from every angle themselves, but you actually can do a lot to help yourself. It would be nice if insurance and medical practices were more accepting of the benefits, and some are, but remember in med school, they don't learn on living tissues, and all of the properties of living fascia that can convert to a liquid and reorganize itself are lost.
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3 Reactions@loness you are right! Insurance companies will not cover “massages”. Coverage all depends on the documentation. Toni
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1 Reaction@jennniferhunter, Well now....that is a great idea. Enroll as a couple and learn at-home MFR techniques. Thanks, Jennifer.
And for all of you who run into insurance issues.........I was told that insurance companies will honor Occupational Therapist treatment. It seems like sometimes it is more about the PT/OT differences and not the MFR. May be worth exploring.
Creative minds take on challenges so easily.
May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
Chris
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