What Is the Graston Technique®?

At Terrapin Care Center, we provide various methods to help relieve your pain and improve your quality of life. The Graston Technique®, in particular, is a modified form of manual therapy that uses specific instruments to mobilize soft tissues.

Today, your back pain rehab clinic explains everything you need to know about this method.

How It Works

While your tissues have the ability to repair themselves after an injury, they often do so in a haphazard pattern that causes scar formation, which can lead to stiffness, discomfort and limited range of motion. With the Graston Technique, we use unique handheld instruments while performing a special form of massage to relieve your pain and restore your mobility.

Currently, the Graston Technique employs six core tools. Most of them have blunt, rounded edges with either a convex or concave shape. Using these instruments, your back pain doctor will scan them over affected areas, allowing us to easily identify areas of restriction. The process also involves performing a distinct cross-friction massage to rub against scar tissues, re-introducing minor trauma to the affected areas. Doing so increases blood flow in and around this region that promotes faster and better healing of the injured soft tissues.

Conditions It Can Manage

The Graston Technique has been recognized as a leading modality in Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization for more than two decades for its effectiveness at managing various acute and chronic pain conditions. It helps treat rotator cuff tendinosis, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome.

The Graston Technique is also a great way to alleviate lumbar strain, fascial restrictions and other chronic musculoskeletal problems. Your back pain specialist explains that this method promotes faster recovery and rehabilitation, reducing your overall treatment time. It may also reduce your need to take anti-inflammatory medications or undergo more complex procedures.

For more information on the Graston Technique, call us at (301) 220-1930. You may also complete our form to request an appointment. We serve Silver Spring, Greenbelt and nearby areas in Maryland.