Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation (IASTM) using RockBlades

Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation (IASTM), is a type of massage that uses stainless steel tools to gently encourage the muscles, fascia and nerves of the area treated to relax.

This is done by running the RockBlade (an IASTM tool) over the area of concern or to an area along the myofascial chains that could be leading to pain or tightness. Myofascial chains are basically the pathways that connect muscles to other muscles and carry forces through the body during movement.

Fascia is connective tissue that overlays every single muscle in your body so when this gets tight it can lead to pain and/ or tightness that doesn’t seem to fully settle with stretching or trigger point release.

Traditional massage techniques compress this fascia by pushing it into the underlying muscles whereas the instruments gently pull the fascia away from the muscles to allow the tissues and underlying nerves to relax in a different way.

This is especially helpful if you are one of those people who seem to be tight throughout their entire body (or down just one side), or are prone to muscle strains.

RockBlades can also be helpful for things like headaches, back pain, nerve pain and myofascial pain such as that found in fibromyalgia.

They can also be useful after prolonged physical activity such as triathlons, marathons, and other team sports where the muscles have been active for a prolonged period of time.

It can help provide a quicker recovery after sport combined with other techniques such as stretches etc. RockBlades can also be useful in preparation for an activity like a marathon or sport as it can assist in the preparation of the muscles in order for them to work more efficiently during the activity.

Some people develop back and neck pain because certain muscles groups are weak. Rockblades can help to reduce the tightness in the fascia that the person suffering from the pain might be feeling because their postural muscles are weak.

After doing this we can then train the postural muscles to work better and therefore reduce the problem of the fascia supporting the posture instead of the muscles.

Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilisation is used extensively with sporting teams in the United States and has been for over 15 years. The Rockblade itself was designed in conjunction with a group of medical scientists and engineers. They were curious as to how these adhesions form in the fascial tissue that covers the muscles.

It is known that no amount of muscle stretching or massage will reduce adhesions in the fascia that often are the cause of pain in the body. Headaches especially, if as a result of adhesions in the fascia, can even sometimes cause disturbances in vision and balance.

Other people with hypermobility issues can find relief with pain when treated using Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation (IASTM) or fascial release as often they have tension and adhesions in their fascia that can lead to subluxation and dislocation of joints.

It is very important if you have hypermobility issues and you are treated with a form of soft tissue release, that you also do an exercise program that will correct alignment and support the area that has been worked on.

Sometimes after treatments using IASTM tools such as the Rockblade, it may be necessary to use a form of kinesiology taping to support the area after treatment.