Frequently Asked Questions

Our aim is to look at the functioning of the whole body and person, and take a holistic approach to treatment. Dependant on what you want from your treatment, this could involve taking a history of symptoms and your lifestyle, looking at your posture and assessing your joint movement and muscle balance.

Once an assessment has been carried out, we will tailor the treatment to get the best outcome for you, whether that be to relieve pain and move better, recover from an injury and rehabilitate as best as you can (the number one risk of injury is reoccurrence of the same injury), or prepare effectively for sporting events. Treatment may involve a variety of relaxing soft tissue techniques, including sports massage, but will not necessarily be confined to this. Please see the description below to see what techniques we use.

After the treatment, we can provide you with some specific exercises to help you restore balance, functional strength and feel and perform better, which fit within your lifestyle, and will be a mix of targeted stretching and strengthening exercises. We can send these to you electronically so you have something to refer to. For example, these could involve core muscle exercises, glute training, or mobility exercises that target those ‘tight’ and niggly or underused/weak muscles which might be causing dysfunction in your body.

Sometimes, where our symptoms present in the body, is not where the problem is. We will seek to identify via our observatory and palpatory skills to see if there is something which is causing any pain or dysfunction which you may not have realised, and can then help to treat and advise you to feel and move better.

Of course, sometimes we may have to sign post you to other qualified professionals such as physiotherapists, Osteopaths, Podiatrists or your GP. We cannot diagnose injuries and conditions but we can help you feel and move better and rehabilitate.

There are several techniques our therapist may use to help your musculoskeletal body, depending on the circumstances:

• Effleurage uses a light, quick stroking action to warm up an area before any deeper work begins.
• Petrissage uses slower, firmer strokes to manipulate the underlying muscles and soft tissues.
• Deep Tissue Massage uses a smaller surface area such as thumbs, knuckles and elbows with firm pressure to work on muscles deep within the body.
• Frictions are repeated movements across an adhesion or scar tissue with firm pressure intended to limit the lasting effects an injury can have.
• Trigger Pointing uses constant, firm pressure on an area of muscle in spasm to release it. Trigger points can cause localised pain or referred pain to a different area of the body.
• Muscle Energy Techniques are one of our favourite techniques in the rehabilitation of injuries and improving range of motion in dysfunctional or ‘tight’ muscles. It involves gently contracting and stretching the muscle to improve muscle tension/spasm, range of motion, proprioception, break down muscle restrictions and adhesions, restore muscle tone and strength and boost circulation.
• Myofascial Release is a slow technique in which we seek to melt into the tissue to help release shortened muscles and improve posture, both on a deep and superficial fascial level.
• Peripheral Joint Mobilisation is a technique which involves passively moving your joints at varying speeds and ranges to help modulate pain, increase range of movement and address any underlying altered joint mechanics.
• Soft Tissue Release is a technique which locks into your muscle before the therapist moves the muscle/joint, or asks you to move your joint (massage with motion). It aims to lengthen fascial tissue, improve range of motion and increase flexibility in the muscle fibres and joints. It can be a highly effective treatment for certain conditions such as golfers and tennis elbow, muscles around the shin, or plantar fasciitis.
• Soft Tissue Mobilisations manually separate the muscles away from one another and the bone, which can be highly effective for increasing range of motion, decreasing congestion and restrictions, promoting healing, enhancing athletic ability, release tension and help to heal inflammation. It can be a highly effective treatment for ‘tight’ and overused areas, such as the traps, lats, pecs and triceps.
• Kinesio Taping – Developed by Dr Kenzo Kase in Japan, “K-tape” is a fascial taping which aims to improve proprioceptive and neurological pathways to help fascial healing and improve performance and functioning.
• Exercise Advice – Exercise has been proven to be the best way to improve our health and wellbeing. Further, as we age, our muscle strength naturally declines. By recommending and guiding you through different types of exercises which can fit into your lifestyle, we can help you to look after yourself, improve your health and maintain it. Alternatively, if you are an amateur or professional athlete, we can recommend exercises to help you improve your performance or recovery effectively from injury.

Our therapy sessions are aimed at anyone, of any age, who would like to function, feel or perform better, and take control of their health. If you are suffering from pain or tension in your muscles, or would like to improve your health or performance, then our service is for you. Below are examples of the conditions and types of people we have treated:

• Sports people such as runners, golfers, cyclists and tennis players, whether for injury prevention or rehabilitating from injury/pain
• People suffering from chronic back pain, whether there is no identifiable cause or a diagnosis such as spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis or conditions such as multiple sclerosis
• Overuse injuries
• Recovery from soft tissue injuries like soft tissue strains and sprains
• Neck pain
• Headaches
• Sacroiliac pain
• Shoulder pain
• Knee pain
• Hip pain
• Ankle pain
• Elbow pain such as tennis or golfers elbow
• Post-operative rehabilitation
• Helping to relieve stress, anxiety and improving sleep

If a treatment is for maintenance purposes there should be no discomfort. If you are seeking treatment for rehabilitation, then the treatments could be uncomfortable at times, but should never be painful. We aim to help the tissues and joints move more effectively, and helping the tissues to relax can be beneficial for this. Causing your muscles to tense up would be counter productive.

Absolutely. Maintenance and a “body MOT” can be a great way to maintain your health, or perform at your optimum in sporting activity or everyday working life.  Seeking therapy can also be great way to feel like you are actively doing something for yourself, relieve stress and provide peace of mind and relaxation.

You will see the benefits from our treatments with as little as one treatment per month, but for best results weekly or fortnightly could be recommended. It all depends on the complexity of your issues and what your health or fitness goals are.

It all depends on the individual treatment. Please wear anything you feel comfortable in but loose shorts and a t-shirt or sports bra are recommended. Please bear in mind that if we need to treat a specific area, then ideally we need access to the skin to do so.

Our address is 46 Waterside, Silsden, BD20 0LQ. Treatments are carried out in a relaxing space in a room which is adjacent to our main residence. Free parking is available. You will enter through a white door which is separate to our house and you will not need to enter our main premises. We have self-contained toilet facilities if needed.

• Complete our contact form at https://myhealthandharmony.uk/contact/
• Email us at hello@myhealthandharmony.uk.
• Telephone us on 01535 410540. If we cannot get to the phone, just leave a message and we will contact you book as soon as possible