Services We Offer
Chiropractic Adjustments
A chiropractic adjustment is a procedure applied by the hands of a skilled and seasoned chiropractor to improve and restore functionality, and relieve pain in any joint in the body. The adjustment can also be performed by using various instruments as well as traction devices (most specifically for the lower back and neck). While chiropractic is most commonly known for treatment of the neck and back, the majority of chiropractors focus their skill on the entire body, not limited to just the spine. The objective is to restore functional movement to joint segments that have had varying degrees of injury that have often been problematic for several years.
What to Expect From a Chiropractic Adjustment
You don’t need to do anything to prepare for a chiropractic appointment. On your first visit, your doctor will ask about your medical history and examine you, focusing specifically on the issue you intend to have addressed. They may do imaging tests like X-ray, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at your bones, joints, and surrounding soft tissues. Then they’ll create a treatment plan for you.
During your appointment
Your doctor will position you according to what issue is being addressed. Often, you’ll lie on either your belly or your back on a padded table, or sitting upright in a comfortable chair. Your chiropractor will focus on both the area you came in to have addressed, as well as additional areas that contribute to overall functionality. They’ll apply quick, controlled pressure to a joint or move a joint beyond its normal range of motion. The purpose is to remove pressure that is causing pain and/or loss of movement and strength, as well as restore motion to surrounding soft tissues and joint segments.
You may hear a popping or cracking sound during the adjustment. It’s nothing to worry about. What you hear is the sound of gasses like oxygen and carbon dioxide releasing from your joints. You shouldn’t feel any pain during the adjustment.
After the adjustment
You might feel some mild soreness in your joints and muscles after an adjustment. It’s also normal to be very energetic or to be fairly tired. You should start to feel the initial phase of improvement about 2 days after your initial visit. Your chiropractor may suggest that you hold ice or heat to your joints or muscles to relieve the soreness. There will also be prescribed home exercises that are tailored specifically to you and your recovery.
Flexion/Distraction
Flexion Distraction is among the best techniques used during an adjustment to help gently relieve pain by very comfortably pulling specific joint and disc spaces in the spine open, allowing a decompressive force to be applied to the vertebrae.
Why Flexion Distraction?
Flexion distraction is a type of adjusting technique chiropractors apply to their patients using the help of a specially designed table to gently decompress the spine and relieve symptoms such as low back pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, sciatica. This process uses non-weight bearing movement to allow for gentle relief of sticky or painful areas. Most patients enjoy the delicate nature of this technique used to decompress the spine. Flexion distraction is how we put the maximum amount of motion back into a joint that is feeling stiff or experiencing difficulty to do so on its own.
When is Flexion Distraction best used?
Patients suffering from acute low back pain, disc degeneration, disc herniation, and compression in the lower back and hips will benefit the most from this type of adjustment. While we would love to be able to “pop” someone’s back right into normal and pain free, as many of us know the body is more complex than that. Many conditions will require a different approach and often something more gentle than a typical adjustment.
Acupuncture Therapy and Sport Needling
Sport needling is an effective method for helping improve chronic pain and muscle discomfort. The treatment is continuing to grow in popularity throughout the United States, and Western medicine as a whole. While sport needling has drawn comparisons to acupuncture, it is entirely different from its ancient Chinese needling counterpart.
While both methods use the same tools — thin, stainless steel needles — sport needling is focused on targeting trigger points within muscles. These trigger points often consist of knotted or hard muscle(s) that have caused pain, stiffness, loss in the range of motion, or other discomforting symptoms. Acupuncture, on the other hand, is built upon the belief that targeting specific acupoints on the body will help promote the health of correlating body parts/organs.
IASTM
Uniquely designed tools to gently and effectively assist with soft-tissue/myofascial release – Decreasing pain and promoting faster healing of tight muscles and injuries
What is Instrumented Assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation?
Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization or Simply (IASTM) is a therapy tool which enables clinicians to efficiently locate and treat individuals diagnosed with soft tissue dysfunction. IASTM is a rapidly growing therapy rising in popularity due to its effectiveness and efficiency while remaining non-invasive.
IASTM is performed with ergonomically designed instruments that:
- Detect and treat fascial restrictions
- Encourage rapid localization and effectively treat areas exhibiting soft tissue fibrosis
- Support positive inflammatory effects to promote healing
- Prevent tissue degeneration
As in any Manual therapy treatment, supplementation with exercises and additional modalities e.g. joint mobilization designed to correct biomechanical deficiencies by addressing musculoskeletal strength and muscle imbalances throughout the entire kinetic chain is used in conjunction with IASTM.