Physical Therapy involves soft tissue mobilization (STM) to your soft tissues, which is the medical term for ‘massage’. Soft tissues include your muscles, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue or fascia. STM is more medically based, with a therapeutic intent versus just making you feel relaxed. The goal of soft tissue mobilization is to help to relax the tissue, increase blood flow or circulation, improve mobility or range of motion, improve muscle activation and reduce your perception of pain. A physical therapist will assess your soft tissues to find the most relevant dysfunction and will treat you using a combination of manual therapy soft tissue techniques or tools. Patients in physical therapy will also learn how to manage their soft tissue dysfunction on their own using a variety of at home tools for massage.

The Today Show asked Dr. Karena Wu, a Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedic Physical Therapy to discuss who uses these tools, why you would use these tools and how to use them. These tools are used both in the clinic and at home for self management. These tools can be bought online and used daily. Today Show anchors Sheinelle Jones, Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer demonstrated the physical therapy tools on different parts of the body as Dr. Wu explained how to use them and where to use them.

Thank you to the Today Show for highlighting tools that physical therapists use on their patients and for having Dr. Karena Wu back! To learn more, visit us at www.bestptnyc.com.