Myotherapy

Myotherapy is a branch of manual medicine that helps clients to manage and relieve pain and decrease movement restriction. Myotherapy involves an extensive physical evaluation and an integrated approach to treating affected muscles, connective tissue, joints and nerves. It uses standard methods of assessment such as neurological and functional testing to determine the particular cause of musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction.

Myotherapists work with holistic, long-term goals in mind and provide rehabilitation plans for clients to help prevent reoccurrence.

Employment prospects for complementary health professionals grew very strongly over the past 5 years and is expected to continue growing with 8,000 jobs predicted by 2023 (Federal Government Job Outlook, 2018)

As a Myotherapist some of your responsibilities may include:

• Initial consult with patient involves taking a detailed case history, assessing their health and developing and agreeing on a treatment plan
• Explain the diagnosis and treatment plan to the patient and respond to their questions and concerns
• Give treatment by deactivating trigger points, dry needling, musculoskeletal alignment, deep tissue massage, cupping, muscle stretching and a range of rehabilitative exercises
• Follow up appointments involve assessing the patients progress through questioning and examination and reviewing the treatment plan if necessary
• Keep adequate patient and financial records
• Carry out administrative tasks and business promotion

Your income will depend on factors such as the price you charge per hour, the number of hours you work and the number of patients you attract as well as your running costs and overhead.

In Australia the average Myotherapist:

• Works 4.3 days per week
• Charges $85.80 per hour
• Consults with 22 clients per week

Source: Steel et al., (2018). The Australian Complementary Medicine Workforce: A Profile of 1,306 Practitioners from the PRACI Study.

You'll need to show:

• Confident communication and interpersonal skills, in order to explain treatment procedures and build a positive rapport with patients
• An open, non-judgemental approach in order to helping patients to feel at ease
• Competent marketing, financial and organisational skills, in order to set up and run a successful business

Myotherapists can practice independently or within a multi-disciplinary setting and are able to confidently treat a wide range of clients within their scope of practice without referral. Practitioners may choose to work with specialised groups such as athletes and sporting teams, pre and postnatal care, aged care, rehabilitation and palliative care.

Clinical Practitioner

• Independent – in private practice
• Multimodality – work in a clinic alongside other natural health clinicians
• Mobile – hosting client consults in your place of work or at home

Clinical Practitioner niches

Niches for Myotherapists include:

• Muscle, joint and nerve pain
• Pregnancy pre/postnatal complaints
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Headaches/migraines
• Associated joint and vertebral dysfunction and pain
• Neck and shoulder tension; sporting and occupational injuries
• Knee, leg, shin, foot and ankle pains
• Lower back pain and sciatica
• Hand and finger pain or numbness
• Children’s growth pain syndromes
• Arthritis/multiple sclerosis
• Repetitive strain injuries – tendinosis, carpel tunnel, tennis elbow; bad posture and postural tension and stiffness

Sports teams

Being employed by a sports team to manage pre and post-game manual therapy.

Practitioner Educator

Teach and nurture the next generation of Myotherapists by:

• Lecturing
• Clinic supervision
• Webinar or online lecturer and workshop presentation