Manual Articular Approach - Jean Anne Zollars, PT, DPT, MA

“Articular” refers to joints in the body.  Jean-Pierre Barral and Alain Croibier, French osteopaths, developed MAA in response to a gentler and more specific way to treat joints, especially when patients have significant pain.  Joints have multiple components, including bones, cartilage, capsule, tendons, nerves, blood supply and fluid.  As with their other methods, Barral and Croibier listen and assess the various components of the joint, and treat the problematic components.  The treatments are very gentle, incorporating the patient’s active movement, so as not to cause pain. 

MAA is used in conjunction with other manual therapies, as a joint does not act in isolation, but part of the whole body.  For instance, a 50 year old woman came to the clinic with right shoulder pain and limited shoulder joint motion.  Assessment revealed not only tension in the supraspinatus, infraspinatus and anterior shoulder capsule, but also tension in the right phrenic nerve to the respiratory diaphragm, and liver restricion.  Her treatment included MAA for the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and shoulder joint capsule, neural manipulation for the phrenic nerve, and visceral manipulation for the liver.

MAA can help joint pain and immobility, sprains, tendonitis, rotator cuff injuries, spinal disc problems, and more.