Manually assisted exercise is exercise mixed with manual therapy. It transforms a passive treatment into an active one. The primary purpose is to elicit muscles to work in the range and direction that the body demonstrates a need in. Manually-assisted exercise helps your body learn to exercise in your full available range and ensures the muscles are firing correctly. There are no serious risk, although patients may be sore afterward. It improves tissue extensibility, increases range of motion, reduces soft tissue swelling, and inflammation. No other healthcare profession performs this routinely. Physical therapists almost exclusively perform it.