Proper conditioning prevents injuries
What is Functional Manual Therapy®️ (FMT™)?
Functional Manual Therapy®️ is a comprehensive approach to physical therapy that offers highly skilled hands-on treatment for orthopaedic, neurological, and sports related dysfunctions. The therapy looks at the problem from an entire body perspective and factors in the body’s optimum potential. In other words, it looks at the person as an integrated unit and not just as a skeletal structure or muscular system.
FMT™ involves three major concepts. The first is mechanical; it is how the body moves. Therefore the treatment addresses the mobility of all tissues in the body that can limit your function and prevent motion e.g. Muscle, nerve, joint, fascia, viscera, etc.
Once this is achieved then the next important thing is, can they function well?
Then comes the concept of neuromuscular training. The muscle needs to contract, have strength, endurance, and the ability to let go as well.
The third component is motor control; it is how the brain centre organises and controls the movement. i.e., which muscle will fire first when you want to do a movement.
Ideally the core muscles of the body, which are small postural muscles, should fire first (even at the thought or anticipation of movement) and stabilise the joint before the big mobility muscles can take over. Each session focuses on all three systems and ensures that the patient gets an effective home programme, which includes posture and exercise training to maintain the benefits of treatment.
How is Functional Manual Therapy®️ (FMT™) different from other forms of physical therapy?
Functional Manual Therapy®️ is not just a technique, it is a system of clinical reasoning that guides the FM therapist to assess the whole body.
Let us go by an example: If a person has pain in the knee joint, it may be driven from an old ankle sprain or a lower back discomfort or an inefficiently moving hip joint.
If you go to a regular physical therapy centre, they will use modalities and maybe some hands-on techniques on your knee joint. It is highly unlikely that they will assess your ankle, hip or low back area. So, your pain may or may not temporarily get better, but its cause has not been treated.
At VARDĀN, we are focussed on finding the root cause of your problem and fixing it. Once that has been taken care of, the next step is to make sure it does not come back and even if it does, you are in full control and can independently handle your condition.
This is done via very specific exercises to stretch and strengthen muscles and training the technique in activity of daily living or even sport specific activities. Basics like sleeping, sitting, standing and walking are taught again so that you don’t hurt your body unknowingly.
Is Functional Manual Therapy®️ ((FMT™) only for people with pain?
The answer is no. Opting for (FMT™) makes sense for people who are in pain, but the scope is not limited to such a situation.
Anyone who wants to be fitter so they can achieve their personal goals – be it playing 36 holes of golf in one day, going trekking or setting a personal best time in a marathon, can benefit from the therapy. The therapy can even help with something as basic as wanting to walk in a more efficient and effective manner in order to prevent injury.
In other words, the therapy is for everyone who is motivated to move more efficiently.
VARDĀN, a Times Group wellness initiative in collaboration with the Institute of Physical Art, USA brings the world-class Functional Manual Therapy®️ (FMT™) to India.
To schedule your appointment at VARDĀN centre, call 011- 43580720-22 (9am to 6pm, Mon to Sun); Email vardan@timesgroup.com or visit: www.vardan.in (16 A, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar- IV, New Delhi-110024)