Journal of Novel Physiotherapies
Open Access

Review Article

Instrument-assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation: Evidence for its Emerging Efficacy

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Terry Loghmani M
PT PhD, Associate Professor, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Department of Physical Therapy, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Tel: 317-278-3463
Fax: 317-278-1876
E-mail: mloghman@iu.edu

Received date: July 05, 2016; Accepted date: August 04, 2016; Published date: August 10, 2016

Citation: Loghmani MT, Bane S (2016) Instrument-assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation: Evidence for its Emerging Efficacy. J Nov Physiother S3:012. doi:10.4172/2165-7025.S3-012

Copyright: © 2016 Loghmani MT, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is a form of mechanotherapy used frequently by clinicians in the treatment of common musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this short review was to provide an overview of the literature related to modern day IASTM practice approaches. Thirty-seven articles were included which, although difficult to compare due to differences in techniques and study designs, indicate the beneficial effects of IASTM. Various levels of emerging evidence suggest the efficacy of IASTM as a mechano-therapeutic intervention, however, more well-designed studies with larger samples sizes, including randomized controlled clinical trials, are needed to further substantiate its efficacy and establish its effectiveness.

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