Advanced Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
If you are an active Calgarian, you know that injuries and repetitive strains can bring your lifestyle to a sudden halt. Whether you are dealing with a lingering sports injury from running along the Bow River, restricted mobility from a previous surgery, or chronic neck pain from long hours at the desk, damaged soft tissue can be incredibly stubborn to heal.
At Shephard Health in Kensington, we offer the Graston Technique®—an advanced, evidence-based form of Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM). This specialized therapy allows our clinicians to effectively detect and treat scar tissue, fascial restrictions, and range of motion limitations, helping you heal faster and get back to moving freely.
When you injure a muscle, ligament, tendon, or fascia, your body’s natural response is to create scar tissue. While scar tissue is a normal part of the healing process, it is not created equal to healthy tissue. Healthy muscle fibers run in parallel, organized lines, allowing for smooth stretching and contracting. Scar tissue, on the other hand, forms in a dense, irregular, "crisscross" pattern.
This haphazard webbing binds up your soft tissues, restricting normal movement, reducing blood supply, and trapping nerves. Over time, this leads to chronic pain, stiffness, and a high likelihood of re-injury. Traditional massage can help, but dense, deep-rooted scar tissue often requires a more specialized, targeted approach.
The Graston Technique utilizes a specialized set of six patented stainless-steel instruments. These tools are ergonomically designed with unique treatment edges and angles that contour exactly to different parts of the human body.
During your session, your Shephard Health practitioner glides these instruments over your skin. The stainless steel acts like a stethoscope for soft tissue—it amplifies the feeling of the tissue underneath, allowing the clinician to distinctly feel fibrotic tissue, adhesions, and restrictions.
Once the scar tissue is identified, the instruments are used to apply precise pressure and friction. This controlled micro-trauma breaks the cross-links of the scar tissue and initiates a localized inflammatory response. By re-triggering this inflammatory cascade, we essentially "re-start" the healing process, increasing blood flow, stimulating cellular repair, and promoting the realignment of healthy collagen fibers.
Because Graston Technique is so effective at breaking down fibrotic adhesions and restoring normal tissue mechanics, it is a highly versatile treatment. We frequently use it at our Calgary clinic to successfully treat:
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