Principles of Manual Therapy

The book is ready for another update. Reviews suggest that it has been a valuable guide for the novice clinician, to have a good basic overview of the principles underlying manual therapy. Some of the methodology has been modified and updated and continues to be in a clinically applicable format. Manual therapy management of musculoskeletal dysfunction has been enhanced to add the neural component of somatic dysfunction. In this section, complementary to joint mobilization principles, terms like neurokinematics and interface mobilization have been described. Further, manual therapy interventions for specific conditions have been added as a section which gives the practitioner an idea as to how hands on interventions influence the primary musculoskeletal clinical diagnosis. A new section described the ‘neglected zones’ of the somatic chain outlines the need for addressing musculoskeletal dysfunction as a kinematic chain and offers as basic insight as to how adjacent joints can influence the primary dysfunction. Lastly, a new section has been added to the Thoracic Spine section describing the prevalence of rib related pain and dysfunction and their management.