Add Total Motion Release to your emergency kit.
By Leanne Depa, OTR/L
Whether you are headed out for a weekend camping trip or to you child’s sporting event, I bet you are carrying an emergency kit. Nothing takes the fun out of an outing faster than an injury, whether it is a twisted ankle or your back pain decides to flare up. Before packing up all of your things and heading home or to the doctor, there is something you can try.
Total Motion Release (TMR) is an awesome skill to have in your emergency kit. Having the skills to take care of chronic pain flare ups or minor muscle strains/spasms can not only keep you from heading home, but could save the day.
So what is TMR? Total Motion Release is a program developed by a physical therapist named Tom Delanzo-Baker around 2002. It is a structured program that teaches a client to be his/her own therapist. It is based on principles of manual therapy with a whole body approach. The techniques are gentle and focus on 6 main movements that can quickly ease spasms and restrictions. The main 6 movements have multiple variations and can be performed in multiple positions such as sitting, standing, kneeling & lying down.
You will be taught how to identify restrictions and asymmetries that may be contributing to your lack of range of motion and pain. Using knowledge of how myofascia works, you will be taught the 7 steps of rehab along with the movements needed to eliminate or significantly reduce your soft tissue pain. In addition you will be given the knowledge to figure out why your pain returns, in order to control the pain patterns.
Learning Total Motion Release techniques the majority of the time will not only save your outing, but will save your time and money spent going to chiropractors, massage and other therapists because you will become your own therapist.