What is Strain/Counterstrain®?

Strain/Counterstrain, originally called "positional release technique" was developed in 1955 by an osteopathic physician named Lawrence Jones. In observing a skilled Strain/Counterstrain practitioner you will immediately be impressed with how gentle and non-traumatic this technique is for treating the painful patient. A clinician is quickly able to assess the entire body for areas of pain and dysfunction and identify the specific treatment needed to correct the dysfunction and alleviate the pain. Let's explore how this innovative system works and who can benefit from this gentle technique.

How Does it Work?

Strain/Counterstrain is a manual therapy technique, meaning the clinician uses only their hands to find and fix muscle spasm and joint dysfunction. All muscles in the body have thousands of microscopic receptors called muscle spindles, that are responsible for how tight or how loose the muscle is at rest. These muscle spindles are part of your body's stretch reflex. A quick, unexpected stretch or strain of a muscle can cause the muscle spindles to become "stuck" in a protective, overactive mode where they send a continuous (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) signal to the muscle to contract. This results in muscles that are tighter than they should be and joints that get pulled out of alignment because of that tightness. This causes stiffness and pain!

Manipulating the joint and getting it to "pop" back into place is a temporary fix only, because the muscle continues to receive the message to contract from the muscle spindle, and the tight contracting muscle will eventually pull the joint out of alignment again. Strain/Counterstrain corrects these problems!

By passively moving the spasmed muscles and dysfunctional joints toward positions of comfort that shorten the muscle and take the tension out of the muscle spindles, Strain/Counterstrain allows the muscle spindles to "reset" themselves. Once "reset" the muscle spindles stop sending a message to the muscle to contract. The muscle then relaxes, and the misaligned joint usually returns to its normal position spontaneously. This allows the joints influenced by the now relaxed muscle to function optimally, increasing the range of motion and easing muscle pain. Strain/Counterstrain is an effective, but extremely gentle technique because treatment with Strain/Counterstrain moves the patient's body away from the painful, restricted direction of motion, and toward the position of comfort that is therapeutic.

Who Can Benefit From Strain/Counterstrain?

Strain/Counterstrain has an extremely broad application for physical ailments and can be used for the very acute traumas (i.e. sports injuries, motor vehicle accidents, ankle sprains, post-surgical, etc.) to the more chronic (i.e. osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, TMJ pain, headaches, etc.). Its value with the acute patient is unmatched because it is so gentle and non-tramatic. The clinician is guided by what feels good to the patient and often dramatic changes are made in decreased pain, muscle guarding, and swelling. These changes facilitate the patient's healing processes for a faster and more complete recovery. The gentleness of Strain/Counterstrain makes it safe and effective for treating fragile patients (i.e., infants with torticollis, elderly patients with osteoporosis, stress fractures, pregnancy or pelvic pain patients, post-operative pain, etc.) and the pain associated with excessive joint motion or hyper-mobility. Strain/Counterstrain is valuable for the chronic pain patient because it will treat out a long-standing neuromuscular problem reducing the tone of a muscle in spasm. By diminishing the spasm, muscle pain is abated and joint function in normalized.

Strain/Counterstrain is a non-traumatic manual therapy technique that can be used on a large population of musculoskeletal pain patients. If you can benefit from this technique look for a clinician who has attended Jones Institute Strain/Counterstrain courses. In the Chicagoland area, only ARC Physical Therapy has practitioners certified in this natural and painless treatment technique, and all of our professional staff receive one-on-one clinical training to perfect their skill in performing Strain/Counterstrain.

Unsure if Strain/Counterstrain may be right for you?

Then call us now to schedule a no obligation, free consultation to determine if Strain/Counterstrain is appropriate for you, or fill in the free consultation form at the right and we will contact you to schedule an appointment with one of our skilled licensed physical therapists. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE . . . BUT THE PAIN!

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