Physiotherapy at COMPHYSIO can be very useful in treating MO, but the most useful therapy is prevention of MO occurring in the first place!
If you sustain a muscle strain or contusion, seek proper care and advice from your physiotherapist at COMPHYSIO in the treatment of this injury. Poor care including activity or self-treatment which is too aggressive, can increase your chances of developing MO. Heed the advice given to you by your physiotherapist and check in regularly with them so they can monitor your rehabilitation and watch for signs indicating that your injury is not improving as it typically should, which may indicate that MO is developing.
MO can develop due to poor or aggressive care of an injury, but for some unlucky individuals it can also occur even with the proper care and treatment provided. In these cases focus needs to turn to providing the appropriate care to the injury once the MO has been confirmed.
Your physiotherapist at COMPHYSIO can guide you through the appropriate rehabilitation to recover from MO. Initial treatment will focus on decreasing your pain. Your therapist may use modalities such as ultrasound, interferential current, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, ice, heat, or other modalities to ease your pain. They may also use some gentle massage to the injured muscle both for pain relief and to encourage mobility of the tissues and the limb. Aggressive massage directly over the area can cause further injury if the bone hasn’t fully ossified so your therapist will take caution when doing so. This treatment is best reserved for once it has been confirmed that the boney growth is no longer proliferating, which your doctor can confirm from the diagnostic tests that have been done.
Rest from aggravating activities will be an important part of your treatment as well. Your therapist will advise you against any activity that brings on pain. They will prescribe gentle stretching exercises to help preserve your current range of motion and slowly assist you to gain further range. Pain during stretching should be heeded and not pushed passed. Your therapist will review the limits of your stretching to ensure you are not being too aggressive, which can hinder your recovery.
In addition to stretching, your therapist will prescribe gentle strengthening exercises. Initially these exercises may only consist of simply tightening your muscle without moving your limb (isometric exercise) but gradually as you recover and gain more range of motion, more intensive exercises will be prescribed. When appropriate, exercises that assist you to return to your normal activities both for work and play will be incorporated into your rehabilitation.
In addition to physiotherapy treatment, anti-inflammatory medication may be useful in some cases to assist with the MO healing process. Your doctor will determine if and when this may be most useful in your individual case.
Over time the body usually either naturally reabsorbs the boney tissue that has formed or the boney tissue remains present but full range of motion and strength is gained and the body just works around the now permanent boney tissue within the muscle. In some unfortunate cases, despite appropriate rehabilitation, pain in the muscle remains and range of motion and strength cannot be progressed. In these cases your physiotherapist will suggest that you see an orthopaedic surgeon as surgical treatment will need to be considered.