Laurence Axtens - Osteopath

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An expert in musculoskeletal problems Laurence Axtens uses a wide range of modalities to help minimise your pain and increase your mobility.

Laurence Axtens - Manual Techniques Used

Servicing area

Lismore, Richmond Hill, Lennox Head, Byron Bay, Ballina, New South Wales

Focus areas

Wellbeing Tonic Health & wellness Structural integrity Lifestyle Lower back pain



Manual Techniques Used
  • HVLA (High Velocity Low Amplitude) adjustment
  • Soft Tissue Massage
  • MET (Muscle Energy Technique)
  • Chinese Glass Cups
  • Uro and Katti Basti
  • Lymphatic Drainage
  • Indirect techniques

Call us on 0419 636 943 to discuss the best treatment for your needs


Why Should You Try One Of These Techniques?
Because they work to reduce pain and increase mobility.


Which Technique Is Best For Your Needs?

HVLA (High Velocity Low Amplitude) adjustment:
Short quick trusts at the edge of restricted range of motion are utilised which often create a clicking sound as the articulation is cavitated. The same noise people can make when they crack their knuckles. This, when done exactly where there is physiological restriction, can increase mobility at the joint and drastically reduce pain in the movement of that joint.

This potent technique can only legally be performed on a patient's neck by registered Osteopaths, Chiropractors and or specifically trained and certified Physiotherapists and General Medical Practitioners.

HVLA is thought to reorder the neural response of the periarticular tissues - these extra articular areas are rich with nerve receptors both for pain (nociception) and for position and movement in space (propriorection).


Soft Tissue Massage:
The traditional swedish techniques of effleurage (stroking), petrissage (kneading) and tapotement (percussion) are regularly used as treatment and to diagnose soft tissue issues. To these are added deep tendon frictions and both long lever and short lever myofascial stretches, which can release hypertonic or knotted muscle tissues.

Humble as these techniques may seem they are vital to facilitate high velocity techniques and to provide whole treatment integration and reduce muscle memory recoil.


MET (Muscle Energy Technique):
These techniques involve the active involvement of the patient to treat muscles and facia. The patient is asked to contract their muscles at the same time the practitioner controls the movement of the effected limb or trunk. Although isometric contraction is usually utilised to reduce tissue tension, concentric and eccentric contraction can also be used to strength or retrain neuromuscular tissue.
Although no one denies the efficacy of these techniques, the physiological reasons for its efficacy is still the focus of much debate.

At present a complex interaction between cerebrum, cerebellum and direct muscle reflex are considered the mechanisms which makes these techniques work so well.


Chinese Glass Cups:
Just as Julius Sumner Miller once sucked an egg into a bottle using a lighted tapper, so can I create a vacuum just above tight myofascial tissues and distract or decompress those tissue with a tapper and small glass jar.

This powerful techniques often leaves circular superficial bruising but as a replacement for deep tissue massage it is less painful and more effective.

Furthermore cups have a diagnostic ability to draw what is below the epidermis to the surface and inform the clinician regarding previous infection and blood stagnancy.


Uro and Katti Basti:
These oil soaking techniques for the heart (uro) and lower back (katti) have long been used in Ayurvedic medicine to provide deep warmth, lubrication and nutrition to painful and immobile tissues.
A well of dough is built over the painful region of the body and mildly heated black sesame oil is poured into the well and is allowed to stand for 15 minutes.

This is adequate time for the oil to penetrate the skin and work its way into the tissues. This feeds the skin and underlying tissues and helps rejuvenate the lymph system so important to the functioning of the immune system. Gentle yet potent, virtually everyone can cope with and get benefit from these techniques.


Lymphatic Drainage:
This whole body array of techniques requires the release of eight myofascial diaphragms; axillae, upper and lower thoracic, inguinal, and popliteal diaphragms.

This is followed by manual pumping of the feet and or rib cage in combination with repetitive superficial effleurage. These combined techniques open the pathways of the lymph system and pump the lymph around the body. Lymphatic drainage modulates the effect of the body's immune system - dispersing areas of inflammation.


Indirect Techniques:
Unlike HVLA and most METs, indirect techniques such as Balanced Ligamentous Tension (BLT) and Strain and Counter Strain (SCS) work by stacking the planes of motion of the body into the ease. In this way the actions of the body are gathered into the most pain free position the clinician can manage. In this state the painful stimuli is reduced and muscle guarding down regulates and the body moves back into a more natural and unaffected position.


What Do You Have To Do Next?

Patients are required to do homework after each of their sessions, as a 50 minute session with a therapist isn't totally adequate - you have to own your own well being. You need to enjoy getting better because the homework doesn't stop, it becomes part of your new lifestyle; a fun part.

Re-learning to play respectfully is absolutely vital to the quality of your new life. On-going treatments might include singing in the shower, juggling, skipping, beach walks and short periods of morning sun baking.



For more information about any of the Modalities we use or to organise your next appointment, just give us a call or click on the 'Make an Enquiry' button today to talk to us instantly


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