What To Expect During A Myotherapy Appointment
If you’ve never been to see a myotherapist before, you might wonder what to expect. Trying a new type of physical therapy can feel awkward if you don’t know how your session will run!
Even if you’re familiar with myotherapy, every clinic is a little different. So it can be handy to know how your practitioner works. So let’s go through what to expect in a myotherapy appointment at The Wellness Nest, and what you might like to prepare prior to your visit.
What to think about before your appointment
Before your first myotherapy appointment with us, there are a few things to consider:
Do you have any scans, x-rays, MRI or other test results about your injury or condition? If so, please bring them along so that we understand what is going on.
Are you taking any medications, or do you have any recent changes to your health? Certain medications, illness and pregnancy will all affect which treatment will best suit your needs. To make sure we offer you the best care, we need to know about these.
What are your long-term goals? At The Wellness Nest, we help relieve your symptoms. But we also believe that myotherapy is a fantastic tool for supporting long-term health goals. So if you do have specific goals around your physical fitness, abilities or challenges, let us know.
When you arrive at the clinic
You’ll find the clinic located inside the Lifestyle Working Collins Street Building. When you arrive in the beautiful foyer, head to the lifts and up to level 1. Once you reach level 1, walk over the foot bridge and turn left. The Wellness Nest is two suites down, inside Melbourne Osteopathic Clinic.
When you find your way up to The Wellness Nest, a staff member will greet you, and invite you to make yourself comfortable in the cosy waiting room. You might also like to enjoy a complimentary cup of herbal tea or water.
We do ask that you arrive 5-10 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment time. If it’s your first time, you’ll need to fill in a new client intake form.
How a myotherapy appointment runs
At the start of your first appointment, we’ll spend a bit of time chatting before starting treatment. Your practitioner will ask you a few questions about why you’ve come in. We may also do a few physical assessments such as checking the range of movement or your posture.
Once we have all of the necessary information, we will let you know what the plan is for your session. You can also ask any questions you might have about the treatment plan and techniques we’ve suggested.
With the treatment decided, your myotherapist will let you know which pieces of clothing you might need to remove for your treatment, and whether to start off lying on your front or back. They will then pop out of the room so you can get changed and get comfortable on the table.
Your myotherapist will leave a towel for you to cover yourself with. Just do this as best you can – there’s no need to apologise if it’s not perfect! When we come back into the room, we can easily adjust the towel before beginning treatment.
Every treatment is customised, based on what you will benefit from
Clients will often ask us, ‘what is a myotherapy treatment like?’ The answer is that it really depends on you. We tailor treatments to what will benefit you most, based on your symptoms, current state of health and goals.
Your myotherapy session may include a combination of:
Assessment of any injury or area of concern
Remedial massage
Trigger point therapy
Joint mobilisation
Dry needling
Cupping
Stretching
Taping with rigid and/or kinesio tape
Prescribed exercises (aka your homework!)
An important part of any myotherapy session at The Wellness Nest is open communication. If you don’t know or understand anything we’ve explained, please say so! We are always happy to go over anything to make sure you know why we’re offering a specific treatment to you.
If you’re not comfortable with a particular treatment, let us know. For example, if you have a needle phobia, we can adapt a treatment plan to exclude dry needling.
After your session is done
Once we’ve finished up your treatment, your practitioner will leave the room so you can get dressed.
We know that there’s nothing worse than going back to work and finding makeup all over your face or your hair all messed up! That’s why in the clinic room, you will find deodorant, hair ties and makeup wipes. Please use these whenever you need.
Once you’re dressed, we’ll have a quick chat about your future care. This might include exercises to do at home to help strengthen the muscles and joints, or other modifications to your everyday routines that can reduce the pain or symptoms.
Your myotherapist will also let you know when they would like to see you again, and how many sessions they expect you’ll need to achieve your goals.
We’ll head out to the front desk to arrange your payment. At The Wellness Nest, we are able to offer private health rebates for many of our clients. Our HICAPS facilities allow you to claim on the spot, so remember to bring your private health insurance card along.
Finally, we’ll book in your follow-up appointment. Then you’re on your way!
Time to book your first appointment? Head to the booking page here.