Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitysister
graston actually tooled the tools for astym....  |
I didn't know that.
Based on what you are saying I think you should definitely try ART and even better would be an ART who also uses Gastron.
I'm not discounting the sincerity of your pt here only the logic. And if he has never been trained in ART I can understand it. There is no reason to skip right to metal instruments as opposed to using the hands first and most pracs who use both save Graston for those cases that are REALLY tough where the tissues are so hard they are resistant to being released by hand. And with that comes the idea that Graston is for those cases needing MORE pressure that goes deeper and deeper.
The guy that developed Graston was trying to do manual release therapy on himself. If you've ever tried a lot of self tp release (as an example) you know that some areas are impossible to get to and the lack of leverage means that it just wheres out your hands...especially if you have to do work over large areas. Which is why we have Theracane and such.
So this guy developed these metal instruments to SAVE his hands. Now since then the whole thing has been branded and many now think there is an advantage to it but nobody that is versed in both thinks that there is better than ART and they tend to always use ART as their primary therapy.
ART is more expensive to get certified on. Not that Graston isn't pretty damn expensive but ART is way expensive. You have to wonder how many choose based on the money.
ART has a network of providers so that you can check on your pt's cert. I'm not sure that Graston has that as yet..they were supposed to be working on it.
Manual release doesn't ruin the hands if it is done right so the argument that PT's need to use instruments doesn't hold water. It usually just means they apply more pressure than is really needed and don't know how to use their hands to advantage.
Like you say..your guy didn't apply much pressure..so why instruments? The HAND and touch is always going to be a better tool.