The day in the life of a Myotherapist is one which is diverse, challenging and always changing.

The job description always stays the same however the job itself changes with each individual client, bringing in a different symptoms, pain, personality, personal life and goals. Even though we may see similar syndromes or injuries, no one persons’ presentation will be the same as the next. So for the practitioner it is important to have fresh eyes, open ears and always be up to date with our knowledge and skills, to gain the best possible result for their wellbeing.

After the initial assessment we put together a detail treatment plan, to set out your goals, why you are here and what and how we are going to achieve it. To have this plan not only helps us as practitioners to maintain direction and clarity for our treatments, but also highlights to you the reasons and the method to give just as much understanding of the process.

Over the years I have found that the key to successful recovery for any client lies in their ability to take control and responsibility over the treatment and rehabilitation.

This rings true when I think of a patient, 27year old female, who came to the clinic 12weeks post hip reconstructive surgery. She was 10weeks post-surgery and was experiencing some muscular tightness, and didn’t feel like her recovery plan was working so after some research sought out some myotherapy to help with this.

Initially the main focus was to release the muscles using massage and dry needling around the effected hip and leg, these muscles had been working really hard to create stability around the joint. During our initial assessment a detailed history was taken, pain, restrictions and compensatory patterns were noted and measurable outcomes were set. Most importantly we set some functional goals. Some of these were, walk from the house to the station without pain, be able to get back into the gym, return to work full time and then she paused & said “oh that’s silly” I replied and asked “what was?”

“I’ve always wanted to do an iron man, but that’s just silly I can barely walk around the block”

“Fantastic, let’s put it in there. There is nothing wrong with aiming high and working towards it”

Over some weeks we worked with the musculoskeletal system to provide relief and get everything moving better. Once this was achieved it was time to start activating and strengthening, to get her back to where she was before the surgery and start achieving some of those big picture goals we spoke about. With involvement with a Physiotherapist, this client completed her rehabilitation in record time and started to tick some of those goals off the list & got discharged from physiotherapy in 12weeks since her initial appointment with them.

She started setting her own smaller goals, walk to the station twice a week, then three times, then four. Next minute it was everyday plus a walk around the block. She learnt and mastered what she needed to go if she needed relief or got sore, and knew when she was pushing her body too hard.
This client is now 1 year post surgery, she walks over 10,000 steps every day, is back to work full time and just got a promotion and is training with an Exercise Physiologist, building more and more strength every week, her leg press is now over 100kgs.

What stands out with this client in particular is her ability to acknowledge where she was at, that she needed some help getting there, learning and understanding how to get there, and taking full responsibility of her body, pain and rehabilitation to make sure she reached her goals.
This is really what excites us as Myotherapists, supporting our clients to their full capacities.

Leah Rampling – Elite Myotherapist