There are inflammatory rheumatic diseases and degenerative diseases of the joints, or arthrosis. The main symptom of these diseases is the painful restriction of movement in the joints.
Functional Muscle Therapy (fmt) is concerned with these painful restrictions in movement, the main problem of those affected. This means that, in fmt, I do not treat the inflammation found in true rheumatism, which is triggered by an autoimmune condition. This has to be approached from another quarter. The emphasis, then, is on painful movements of the joints, which patients with rheumatic diseases mainly suffer from. How can fmt help with this?
First let us remind ourselves that, in a joint movement, it is the joint itself and, not to be forgotten, the muscles and fascia which are involved. The muscles carry out the movement. School medicine sees the main cause of pain to be the changes in the joints. From the point of view of fmt, tense and shortened muscles or scars and adhesion of fascia are the main cause of the pain when moving or in certain positions.
Bear in mind that warmth is usually found to be beneficial (except in cases of acute inflammation). Warmth does not alter the changes in the joint, but it does have a relaxing effect on the muscles.
In fmt, the therapist tries to identify the affected muscle/fascia, i.e. the muscle/fascia causing the pain, and treat it to make it able to function again. Joints can only move freely if the myofascial system is intact.
