Advanced Manual Therapy Skills
Our experts at Pain & Movement Solutions utilize a hands-on approach to help you meet your goals faster.
Our clinicians have received advanced training in a variety of highly skilled manual therapy techniques to speed the progress of your recovery.
Manual therapy techniques are skilled passive movements of joints and soft tissue to improve tissue extensibility; increase range of motion; induce relaxation; mobilize or manipulate soft tissue and joints; modulate pain; and reduce soft tissue swelling, inflammation, or restriction. Techniques may include manual lymphatic drainage, manual traction, massage, mobilization/manipulation, and passive range of motion.
Physical therapists select, prescribe, and implement manual therapy techniques when the examination findings, diagnosis, and prognosis indicate use of these techniques to decrease edema, pain, spasm, or swelling; enhance health, wellness, and fitness; enhance or maintain physical performance; increase the ability to move; or prevent or remediate impairment in body functions and structures, activity limitations, or participation restrictions to improve physical function.
Reference: https://guide.apta.org
Click each title below to read more about each topic.
Is Your Back Really out of Alignment?
30 Years of Research says, “No”!
The idea that “you’re out of alignment” and putting you back into alignment to get rid of your pain has long been debunked by an outstanding number of research articles over the last 30 years.
If your vertebrae was “out” even just the slightest bit, it would be causing severe, life threatening injuries to your spinal cord. In addition, research tells us time and again that shoulder height discrepancies, anterior pelvic tilts, and the infamous one leg longer than the other do not cause pain and injury.
If it’s not my alignment – then what is causing my pain?
Nerve sensors in our body respond to various stimulus (touch, temperature, injury). The spinal cord and brain then evaluate the stimulus, taking into consideration previous experiences, current stressors, lifestyle behaviors, etc. to determine if the stimulus warrants an alarm signal of pain.
Brain Suspects Threat “Pain Alarm Sounds” Muscles Tighten & Inflammatory Chemicals Release
Who can help me get better?
If you have been told that you are “out of alignment,” this completely contradicts scientific evidence for treatment of pain.
PAIN & MOVEMENT SOLUTIONS IS YOUR ANSWER
- Educated Doctors of Physical Therapy who practice according to the current evidence
- Spinal mobilizations to decrease pain
- Comprehensive Treatment Programs to Help you STAY Feeling Better
Joint and Spinal Thrust Mobilizations
Our skilled practitioners will utilize a variety of joint and spinal mobilizations to improve your pain and mobility. The practitioner uses their hands to apply a controlled, sudden force to a specific joint or less forceful thrusts to provide stretching of the joint. Patients may hear popping noises, like when you crack your knuckles.
The popping is not your bones popping back “into place.” Within the joint, there are pressure changes that implode tiny gas bubbles. This change in the joint stimulates nearby nerve endings, which send a signal to your brain that is different than the pain signal your brain is getting from that same body part.
This results in:
- Relaxation of Muscles
- Increased Blood Flow
- Short-Term Decrease in Pain
IASTM Technique
The IASTM (I-A-stim) technique uses instruments that enable clinician to detect and effectively treat areas exhibiting scarring, fibrosis, fascial restrictions and chronic inflammation in soft tissues (muscles, tendons, etc.). These problems may develop as the result of injury, surgery or overuse. The technique is effective for new injuries as well as chronic, nagging conditions.
Benefits of IASTM
- 2 minutes of IASTM is equivalent to 20 minutes of standard massage
- Fosters faster rehabilitation and recovery
- Reduces the need for anti-inflammatory medication
- Resolves chronic conditions thought to be permanent
Learn more here.
Dry Needling
Dry Needling is an effective therapy that treats muscular tension and spasm by advancing thin, solid filament needles into the related muscles to stimulate underlying neural, muscular and connective tissues. This process essentially “reboots” the muscle and the decrease in pain is related to the removal of muscular compression on joint, nerve and vascular tissue.
Benefits of Dry Needling
- Natural Pain Reliever
- Restores motion and function
- Reduces muscle tension and trigger points (muscle knots)
- Desensitizes irritated tissues
- Increases blood flow & Initiates tissue healing
- Normalizes biochemical and electrical dysfunction of motor end plates
- Accelerates return to active rehabilitation
Who Can Benefit?
- Those who suffer from:
- Neck pain
- Low back pain
- Muscle strains
- Headaches/migraines
- Sciatica
- Arthritis
- Stenosis
- Tendonitis
- Osteoarthritis
- Bursitis
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Plantar fasciitis
- Shin splints
- Fibromyalgia
- Athletic Performance
- And many others
Learn more about Dry Needling here.
Cupping
Cupping is the process of utilizing silicone tools that produce a suction, vacuum effect on the skin to promote overall healing. Our clinicians may place more than one cup at a time which will be left in place for several minutes or moved around to produce desired results.
Cupping is utilized to:
- stimulate blood flow
- reduce myofascial restrictions
- draw out toxins in the tissues
- promote overall healing