Physiotherapy helps restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain, and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities of patients suffering from injuries or disease. Physiotherapy helps restore, maintain, and promote overall fitness and health. Our patients include accident victims and individuals with disabling conditions such as low-back pain, neck-pain, arthritis, and soft-tissue injury.

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Treatment often includes exercise; especially for patients who have been immobilized or who lack flexibility, strength, or endurance. Physiotherapy helps encourage patients to use their muscles to increase their flexibility and range of motion. More advanced exercises focus on improving strength, balance, coordination, and endurance. The goal is to improve how an individual functions at work and at home.

 

When you arrive at Body Elements Chiropractic, the doctor will take a thorough history, and evaluation of the entire body including posture and biomechanics, range of motion and joint mobility to find out the cause of pain or disability. You will then discuss treatment options and goals, so that we can customize a treatment plan catered to you.

 

 

TYPES OF PHYSICAL THERAPY WE OFFER

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Electrical Muscle Stimulation

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Electrical Muscle Stimulation is an exceptional way to help the body in the healing process. This is accomplished by sending a very small electrical current into the affected soft tissue injury or muscle spasm. The therapy utilizes this current in an effort to help reduce swelling and release trigger points that may have the muscle locked up. It does this by helping the body to release natural relievers of pain often referred to as endorphins.

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This is a great therapy if there is a spasm in a back or neck muscle. It works well in relaxing the muscle and allowing it to return to its normal state rather quickly. Short therapy sessions are excellent at facilitating healing from acute and chronic pain.

 

Cold Laser

 

Cold laser units come in various sizes and shapes. Often the units used are handheld and similar to the size of an average flashlight. The treatment time required is usually dependent on two factors, the condition being treated and the size of the area affected. A major advantage of cold laser therapy units is the ability to penetrate deep into tissues and joints while retaining the capability to also treat conditions closer to the skin surface. People utilizing cold laser therapy as a non-invasive form of treatment report feeling little or no sensation during the treatment process. Regardless of how deep the light waves penetrate, the energy is eventually absorbed by the damaged cell providing it with the boost to begin working. Plants using the suns light to stimulate growth and healing is a good analogy to demonstrate the effects of cold laser therapy. As these cells are repaired, the body is able to decrease the sensation of pain, reduce swelling, and accelerate the time required to heal.

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Ultrasound

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Ultrasound is a therapy that is utilized in the office to handle injuries related to joints, muscle spasms, as well as most soft tissues. While it shares the same name, this ultrasound is not the same as the type of ultrasound utilized diagnostically to screen internally in the body. This ultrasound creates small sound waves that in effect vibrate and massage soft tissues and muscle. These sound waves do an excellent job in facilitating the body's healing process in addition to decreasing scar tissue formation.

Certain ultrasounds also create a heating effect to help relax the muscles or tightness in the body. This heat combined with the overall features of the ultrasound help to start the healing process at the most basic cellular level speeding up your road to recovery.

 

KINESIOTAPING

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Purpose of Kinesio Taping

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The primary purpose of kinesio taping is to not only provide support for joints and muscles, but also to aid in the elimination of pain and increase both lymph drainage and blood flow. Through the alleviation of the stress effecting the musculature, pressure is relived from nearby nerves, blood, and lymph vessels. As these systems begin to function properly, inflammation and pain begin to decrease, and the restoration of full range of motion is accomplished. In contrast to traditional taping methods that are primarily utilized to reduce motion and stabilize the joint, kinesio taping is applied in such a way that doesn’t cause compression of the underlying structures.

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How can Kinesio Taping help you?

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So how can kinesio taping help you? Since kinesio taping has demonstrated a positive effect on the vascular, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems, it has been shown through research to assist with healing, increase range of motion, and decrease the symptoms of several conditions. As mentioned above, kinesio taping has been used by several famous athletes, but it is more commonly used by individuals involved with manual labor, people undergoing rehabilitation, people who frequently engaged in exercise, and high school and college athletes. Some common conditions that have been shown to benefit from kinesio taping include:

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• Conditions causing muscular dysfunction

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

• Low back and neck pain

• Shoulder problems

• Knee problems

• Patella dysfunctions

• Plantar fasciitis

• Post surgery stabilization

• Support for ankle sprains

• Reduction of swelling

• Tennis elbow

• Whiplash injuries

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Cupping

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Cupping therapy might be trendy now, but it’s not new. It dates back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern cultures. One of the oldest medical textbooks in the world, the Ebers Papyrus, describes how the ancient Egyptians used cupping therapy in 1,550 B.C. Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. People get it for many purposes, including to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation and well-being, and as a type of deep-tissue massage.

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Uses for Cupping

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Cupping is often recommended as a complementary therapy for the following conditions:

• Back pain

• Headache or migraine

• Knee pain

• Muscle pain and soreness

• Neck and shoulder pain

• Sports injuries and performance

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Cupping shouldn't be done on areas where the skin is broken, irritated, or inflamed, or over arteries, veins, lymph nodes, eyes, orifices, or any fractures. Pregnant woman, children, older adults, and people with certain health conditions (such as cancer, organ failure, hemophilia, edema, blood disorders, and some types of heart disease) are among those who shouldn't have cupping. People taking blood-thinning medication also shouldn't try cupping.

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IASTM (Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization)

 

Injury and many conditions often lead to muscular guarding and pain. Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is a manual therapy treatment technique that utilizes specially designed stainless steel instruments to assist in detecting and treating areas exhibiting scar tissue, soft tissue restriction, adhesions or chronic inflammation.

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What to Expect

IASTM is relatively gentle and has been found effective for use after acute injury for ligamentous injuries. Our specially trained therapists use the instruments, which vary in shapes, sizes and brands, to comb over and isolate dysfunctional tissue.

The instruments are not meant to replace the therapist’s hands, but rather enhance his or her ability to detect adhesions and soft tissue restrictions. The technique combines the use of the instruments to treat the targeted tissue, reducing symptoms associated with the restrictions enough to allow participation in an individualized plan of care.

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The Benefits of IASTM

• Mobilize muscles, tendons and ligaments to decrease pain

• Improve mobility

• Stimulate rehabilitation and recovery

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IASTM is indicated to treat the following injuries:

• Various tendinopathies such as tennis or golfer’s elbow and Achilles tendinitis

• Chronic muscle strain

• Chronic ligamentous strains

• Excessive scarring

• Running-related injuries, including plantar fasciitis and Iliotibial band syndrome (IT Band)

 

Mechanical Traction/Decompression

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SPINAL TRACTION/DECOMPRESSION (PETTIBON TECHNIQUE)

This gentle, non-surgical procedure can provide lower back and neck pain relief, sciatica pain relief, and is a state-of-the-art procedure for, bulging, herniated or degenerative disc disease in the neck and lumbar regions.

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The gentle distractive forces of the Spinal Decompression create a decompression of the spine with unloading due to distraction and proper positioning, to improve blood flow and nutrient exchange to the injured area. You'll experience several cycles of stretch and relaxation, which graduates to a peak over a period of several minutes.

 

HOW LONG DOES THE TREATMENT TAKE?

Therapy sessions typically last less than 20 minutes, 3 times a week for 1 month, transitioning from passive to active treatments as you respond, with most patients feeling pain relief with as few as 6-10 treatments. Most patients are released from treatment after 8 weeks.

A complete program targeting the function of the stabilization ligaments, tendons and muscles is a vital part of Spinal Decompression. Exercise and adjunctive therapies such as heat, muscle stimulation, ultrasound, and cold therapy can assist in rehabilitation of these structures. Our goal is to not only help heal the disc, but to also enhance muscular control and support of the back and neck.

Regular home exercise and periodic visits to our office will help in maintaining your spinal health and reduce the probability of reoccurrence. Clinical results of this procedure have been effective in over 75% of the patients treated and most patients find long-term relief or effective management of their pain when they complete the entire program of treatments utilizing the Spinal Decompression.

 

Call our team at Body Elements Chiropractic if you have questions about spinal decompression/traction.

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