Soft Tissue Techniques
Hands-on therapies to reduce tension, enhance mobility, and support healing.
Soft tissue techniques are an important part of modern chiropractic care. These therapies target the muscles, fascia, tendons, and ligaments — the soft tissues that support and move your joints. When these tissues become tight, overworked, or injured, they can limit movement, cause pain, and contribute to postural or mechanical issues.
At Oak Chiropractic, we integrate soft tissue therapy into many treatment plans to help:
Reduce muscular tension and pain
Improve flexibility and range of motion
Support proper movement patterns
Enhance recovery from injury or repetitive strain
We use a variety of techniques, depending on your specific condition and comfort level. Here's an overview of the most commonly used soft tissue therapies in our clinic:
Massage Therapy
Massage therapy involves the manual manipulation of soft tissues to reduce tension, improve circulation, and promote relaxation. In a chiropractic setting, it’s often used to loosen tight muscles before or after adjustments, relieve trigger points, and support recovery from stress, overuse, or injury.
Massage can be targeted and therapeutic, focusing on specific muscle groups or regions, or more general, depending on your goals. It helps improve blood flow, reduce inflammation, and decrease tissue tension, making it a useful tool in both pain relief and ongoing wellness care.
Active Release Technique (ART)
Active Release Technique is a specialised form of soft tissue therapy used to treat problems caused by overuse, repetitive strain, or injury. It involves the chiropractor applying pressure to a muscle or fascia while you actively move the area through a specific range of motion.
This combination of pressure and movement helps break up adhesions (tight, sticky areas of connective tissue), restore mobility, and relieve nerve impingements. ART is especially effective for conditions like:
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Sciatica
Shoulder impingement
Hip or groin pain
Tendonitis and repetitive strain injuries
Cupping Therapy
Cupping therapy is an ancient technique that uses suction cups placed on the skin to gently lift and decompress the underlying tissues. This negative pressure increases blood flow, loosens fascia, and helps release areas of tightness or stagnation.
Cupping can be static (with cups left in place) or dynamic (moving the cups across the skin), depending on your needs. It’s commonly used to treat chronic muscle tightness, postural stress, and sports-related fatigue. While it can leave temporary circular marks on the skin, cupping is generally painless and deeply relaxing.
