What 6 Weeks of IASTM Can Do for Your Clients.
As massage and manual therapy professionals, we're always looking for effective ways to help our clients improve their mobility and reduce discomfort. Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) has become a popular technique, but has there been any clear evidence that using it consistently on its own truly makes a difference?
A recent 6-week study aimed to shed some light on this. Researchers wanted to know if a continuous IASTM program, without other treatments like stretching or resistance exercise, could change joint flexibility and muscle/tendon properties in healthy individuals.
The Study:
Fourteen healthy men, aged 19–35, participated. For six weeks, three days a week, they performed IASTM on the soft tissues of one lower leg (the back of the calf and Achilles tendon). Their other leg served as a control.
Before and after the intervention, several measurements were taken:
- Ankle Dorsiflexion Range of Motion.
- Maximal Passive Torque (MPT): A measure of how much stretch the participants could tolerate.
- Muscle and Tendon Stiffness: Measured using shear wave elastography on the gastrocnemius muscle and Achilles tendon.
Key Takeaways for Your Practice
The results offer some exciting insights for the manual therapist and body worker.
- Increased Flexibility: The 6-week IASTM program significantly increased ankle dorsiflexion range of motion. This suggests that consistent IASTM can indeed lead to improved joint flexibility.
- Improved Stretch Tolerance: Participants also showed a significant increase in maximal passive torque, indicating that their stretch tolerance improved. This means they could comfortably move further into a stretch.
- No Change in Stiffness: Interestingly, the study found no significant changes in muscle or tendon stiffness. This challenges the common assumption that IASTM directly reduces the mechanical stiffness of these tissues. Instead, the improvements in flexibility seem to be linked to increased stretch tolerance, possibly through changes in how the nervous system perceives and responds to stretch.
What Does This Mean for You?
This study suggests that regular IASTM, even when self-administered, can be a powerful tool for enhancing joint flexibility and stretch tolerance. This is great news for:
- Athletes: Help them achieve optimal range of motion without necessarily altering muscle or tendon stiffness, which can be beneficial for certain sports.
- Clients with Mobility Restrictions: Support them in safely increasing their joint movement.
While IASTM is often combined with other modalities in clinical practice, this research highlights its standalone efficacy in improving flexibility. It also opens the door for further exploration into the neurophysiological effects of IASTM.
It's important to remember that this study involved healthy individuals, and subjective patient feedback was used to gauge the intensity of the IASTM. Future research might explore objective measures of pressure and look at different populations, including women!
However, these findings provide compelling evidence that IASTM can be a valuable addition to your professional toolkit, helping your clients move more freely and with less discomfort by enhancing their stretch tolerance and joint flexibility.
Many professionals choose to join us to preserve their own body too. Especially the hands and small joints of the thumb. I wrote about this further here.
UK IASTM RockBlade Courses with me: LINK
This is the study referenced: Ikeda, N., Hiratsuka, K., & Isaka, T. (2024). Effect of 6-Week Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization on Joint Flexibility and Musculotendinous Properties. Sports, 12(6), 150. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports12060150