Physical Therapy

PHYSIOTHERAPY

Electrical Muscle Stimulation
Often referred to as "muscle stim," the therapy involves low levels of electrical impulses delivered to the injured, painful tissues to reduce pain and speed healing. Often described by patients as a pleasant, "tingling" sensation, or "electrical massage," these impulses stimulate the body to increase circulation and release natural pain relievers, called endorphins. As a result, you will experience decreased pain and inflammation, as well as faster healing of the injured tissues. This therapy is often used to treat acute or chronic pain, as well as strains or sprains of the muscles, joints, and soft tissues of the spine and extremities.

Ultrasound
This treatment should not be confused with diagnostic ultrasound, often used in prenatal screening, but is instead a therapeutic procedure that utilizes sound waves to treat injured muscles, joints, and soft tissues. The sound waves vibrate the tissues back and forth at the cellular level, creating a deep, micro-massage effect, which helps to increase local circulation. In the case of a recent injury, this helps to decrease scar tissue, and adhesion formation, which would otherwise interfere with the body's healing process. The sound waves also decrease inflammation by destroying unwanted inflammatory cells. Therapeutic ultrasound also accelerates healing by stimulating the activity of the cells responsible for cellular and tissue repair. In chronic cases, special settings are used to create a deep-heating effect, heating the tissues far below the skin's surface. This heat, along with the vibrations that are caused by the ultrasound, help to "melt away" the muscle spasms, trigger points, and "knots" felt in our muscles.

Traction & Spinal Decompression
Whether applied manually or mechanically, the benefits of traction or "decompression" are similar. It is an excellent therapy choice to reduce pressure on cervical (neck) or lumbar (lower back) discs. Traction effectively reduces joint and nerve pain, pressure, and inflammation, caused by bulging or herniated discs. This procedure is quite comfortable, and lasts several minutes. Our chiropractic physicians also specialize in teaching you how to decompress your own spine, through a series of therapeutic exercises.

Hot & Cold Therapy
Many people are not sure when to use heat and when to use ice in the self-treatment of pain and injuries. As a rule, any treatment should be individualized to the unique needs of the patient. That said, the advice that follows will serve as useful general guidelines on the proper use of heat & ice. This advice is given with the recommendation that you also seek out care from your chiropractic physician or other qualified health care provider.

Cold Therapy
Ice therapy or cryotherapy is often thought of as the therapy of choice for acute injuries. If you are having pain as the result of an identifiable injury (from a fall, or a blow, or a sprain, strain, sports injury, car accident, etc.) then it is usually best to use an ice pack for the first 24-48 hours. Apply the ice pack for 10-20 minutes (not longer), and repeat at least three times per day, or up to once every hour if pain is severe. Also, it is important that you do not apply the ice directly to the skin. Instead, wrap the ice pack (or bag of frozen peas) in a paper towel or thin damp cloth prior to applying to the injured area. The ice will reduce pain, muscle spasm, inflammation and decrease tissue damage.

Heat/Cold Contrast Therapy
If your pain is not the direct result of an actual injury, or if the pain has persisted for more than 48 hours, it is usually best to use moist heat followed by cold. This technique is also especially useful in treating various non-traumatic, inflammatory forms of joint and muscle pain, including arthritis, chronic tendonitis, and swelling. The best way to do this is to apply moist heat for 3-5 minutes, followed by an ice pack or very cold water (50-60 degrees) for 30-60 seconds. Just one single repetition of this therapy, performed 1-3 times per day (depending upon the severity of your symptoms) is usually all you need to do.

Important details to keep in mind:
The heat needs to be moist – not dry. Dry heat will dehydrate the soft tissues and interfere with the healing process, so you should never use a dry heating pad. Moist heat can be applied by letting the hot water from a hot shower directly heat the affected area for 3-5 full uninterrupted minutes, or by soaking in a bath, or by applying a specially designed hot moist pack that stays hot. Note that a hot wet towel will not retain the heat long enough to be effective. Do not apply heat for longer than 5 minutes. If you want to apply the heat longer because, for example, you’d like to take a long bath, then be sure to interrupt your bath every 3-5 minutes to apply cold to the painful area for 30-60 seconds. You should also never apply heat without following it with ice. Applying dry heat, or heat not followed by ice, or heat longer than 5 minutes will result in temporary pain relief, but at the expense of decreased circulation which will lead to increased pain and swelling minutes or hours later. However, when used correctly, the combination of heat & ice recommended above will increase circulation, thereby reducing pain & inflammation, relax tight muscles, as well as dramatically accelerate tissue repair and recovery.

To summarize, follow the rules below when using heat therapy:

1. 1.Always use moist (never dry) heat.
2. Apply the moist heat for only 3-5 minutes.
3. Apply cold immediately after the moist heat for 30-60 seconds.
4. Perform the hot/cold treatment at least once per day, but ideally 2-3 times per day or more, depending on the severity of your pain and/or swelling.