Chiropractic Care to Elevate Your Health

Not all pain is caused by obvious injuries like broken bones or cuts. Some pain may stem from the myofascial tissues. These tough membranes are wrapped around your muscles to provide support and connect them to other parts of the body.

When myofascial tissue becomes stiff, it may restrict movement in both the muscles and joints. This can lead to joint and muscle pain. During myofascial release, your chiropractor will locate and release areas of myofascial tissue that are stiff and tight.

Myofascial Pain Symptoms

Myofascial pain can be caused by trauma — such as a car accident — repetitive motions or muscle tension due to stress. In fact, people who are often stressed or anxious may be more likely to develop myofascial pain. This could be due to frequent clenching of the muscles.

The symptoms of myofascial pain include a deep ache or pain in the muscle, pain that continues or worsens, or a sensitive knot in the muscle. The source of the pain is stiffness in specific areas of myofascial tissue — known as “trigger points.” Normally, myofascial tissue is elastic and moves when light pressure is applied. Trigger points, though, feel tight and rigid.

Unlike pain caused by broken bones or cuts, myofascial pain can occur over a wider area of your body. Also, the trigger points may not be located near the area where you are experiencing the pain. This is called referred pain.

Diagnosis of Trigger Points

During a physical exam, your chiropractor will identify areas of myofascial tissue that are stiff and rigid. This is done by applying light finger pressure to the body, looking for tissue that does not feel elastic or move easily. Again, the trigger points may not be located near the source of your pain.

Myofascial Release Treatment

After identifying the trigger points, chiropractors can use myofascial release therapy to reduce the stiffness in the myofascial tissue. This technique involves stretching and applying manual pressure to areas of the myofascial tissue that are tight.

During the treatment, your chiropractor will carefully observe your body’s response in order to know how much and where to apply the pressure. Loosening up the myofascial tissue can allow the muscles to move more freely. This may reduce your pain symptoms.

Muscle pain can result from many different causes. If are experiencing pain, consult your chiropractor to help you determine your best treatment options.

Manual therapy, also known as manipulative therapy, is a physical treatment primarily used by chiropractors to treat musculoskeletal pain and debility.

How Does Manual Therapy Work?

This form of physical therapy takes a hands-on approach rather than using devices or machines. When a chiropractor uses their hands during manual therapy, they apply pressure on the muscle tissue and maneuver the joints in an effort to reduce pain associated with muscle tension, muscle spasm and joint dysfunction.

How Does Manual Therapy Help?

When a person has insufficient movement and range of motion in their joints, it can lead to pain, discomfort and an interruption in function, movement and posture.

By implementing manual therapy, the following can occur:

-An increase in range of motion
-A decrease or elimination of soft tissue inflammation
-Pain regulation
-Relaxation
-Healing, stability and/or extension of contractile and non-contractile tissue
-Ease in movement and restoration of function

Types of Manual Therapy Movement

There are many manual therapy techniques, and, as a group, they aim to relax tense muscles and ease restricted joints. Overall, however, these procedures exercise three main types of movement:

-Manipulation. Sheer, rotational or agitated force that is rapid and results in an audible popping sound caused by the sudden breakdown of gas bubbles that develop during joint cavitation

-Massage. Recurring stripping, kneading or rubbing of the soft tissues for the purpose of redistributing fluid, relaxing muscles, increasing circulation, easing muscle tension, breaking up scar tissue and reducing pain

-Mobilization. Stretching the soft tissues in a slower, more regulated process in order to improve flexibility

Mobilization and manipulation are often talked about together. They use calculated movements of various speeds (slow to fast), force (moderate to strong) and distances to pull, rotate or thrust joints and bones into position to help release stiff tissues around the joint, minimize joint pain, reestablish alignment and assist with flexibility.

Types of Manual Therapy Techniques

Prior to executing manual therapy, the chiropractor will typically do an assessment of the nerve and blood supply in the treatment area, as well as look at the bone and muscles themselves. This helps him or her determine whether this physical therapy is appropriate for the patient’s needs. Contingent on the assessment, the chiropractor may perform one or more of the following manual therapy techniques:

-Soft tissue mobilization. Breaks up hard or rubbery muscle tissue (e.g., scar tissue), circulates tissue fluids, restores normal texture to tissue, reduces pain and lessens muscle tension through rhythmic stretching and deep pressure

-Strain and counter-strain. Focuses on fixing irregular neuromuscular reflexes that trigger structural and postural problems. Here, the chiropractor first determines where the patient’s tender points are. The patient is then asked at what point the soreness diminishes. The patient is next held in position (at a point where they are comfortable) for up to two minutes. During this time, the muscle is stretched mildly and then slowly taken out of this position, which lets the body reset its muscles to a natural level of tension so that healing can occur.

-Joint mobilization. Loosens the constrained joint and boosts range of motion by delivering slow speed and amped up distance of movement.

-Muscle energy technique. Designed to activate restricted joints and lengthen shortened muscles by using voluntary contractions of the patient’s muscles against a defined counter force implemented by the chiropractor, who helps by taking the muscle to a specific position and placing it in a precise direction
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-High velocity, low amplitude thrusting. Restores the sliding motion of joints and allows them to open and close efficiently. This more aggressive technique involves taking a joint to, but not beyond, its restrictive barrier.

Most people have used heat at one time to sooth normal aches and pains — such as the use of a hot bath, a heating pad or even an old-fashioned water bottle.

Even today, these types of heat therapy play an important role in chiropractic practice to increase circulation and relax the muscles. At the same time, heat therapy can help reduce pain.

Types of Heat Therapy
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The types of heat therapy vary, from simple methods such as the use of warm wraps and heating pads to more advanced techniques such as the use of therapeutic ultrasound. All of these, though, are designed to relax muscles and promote healing.

Some of the most common heat therapies used by chiropractors include:

-Moist heat packs. These are applied over several layers of towels to prevent burning of the skin.

-Warm whirlpool bath. This technique involves a combination of immersion in heated water and massage from water jets; this may be combined with movements in the water.

-Paraffin bath. The hands, wrists, elbows, ankles or feet are dipped in paraffin wax to soothe chronic injuries.

-Fluidotherapy. This method is a dry technique, involving the use of hot air containing cellulose particles that is circulated over the skin.

Benefits of Heat Therapy

Heat has long been used for its healing and soothing benefits. But heat therapy may provide other benefits, such as:

-Increased blood flow
-Reduced inflammation
-Relief from muscle spasms
-Decreased stiffness in joints
-Pain relief

Heat therapy can also be used before other healing therapies, including stretching, exercise, massage and physical adjustments. The heat can increase how easily scar tissue or tight joints will move.

How Heat Therapy Works

Some muscle spasms are caused by a lack of blood flow to the tissues. Heat applied to the area can bring more blood to the tissues, along with extra oxygen and glucose needed by the cells.

Heat therapy also reduces inflammation and swelling by speeding up the activity of the cells, lowering the pH inside the cells and stimulating the release of helpful chemicals. These chemicals cause the blood vessels to widen, allowing more blood flow to the injured, inflamed or painful tissues.

Although heat therapy can improve many symptoms, some people may experience negative side effects after treatment. They may experience greater pain, achiness or stiffness. If you experience any of these symptoms, tell your chiropractor, who may suggest other treatments.

Applying ice after an injury is a common method for reducing pain and swelling. It is especially effective for athletes, who often experience sudden, painful injuries. This type of cold therapy, also known as cryotherapy, is used by chiropractors for the same purposes.

Types of Cold Therapy

Many types of cold therapy are available to reduce pain and swelling after an injury, including the use of:

-Ice packs
-Ice massage
-Slush bucket (half water, half crushed ice)
-Whirlpool with ice water
-Cold wet towels

Benefits of Cold Therapy

Cold temperatures cause blood vessels to narrow, which reduces the flow of blood into an area. As a result, cold therapy:

-Reduces swelling and pain after injury
-Slows movement of fluid into tissues
-Reduces the amount of chemicals that cause inflammation in injured tissue
-Reduces bleeding
-Slows the movement of pain signals from nerves
-Decreases muscle spasms by reducing the contraction of muscles

Cold therapy may also keep cells in the injured area from dying due to the lack of oxygen. This is because an injury can reduce blood flow — and oxygen — to the area. However, cold therapy slows the activity of cells, which reduces how much oxygen they need to stay alive.

Tips for Best Cold Therapy

For cold therapy to work, cold packs should be applied as soon as possible. Pain and inflammation are common within 72 hours after an injury.

To avoid frostbite, cold packs should be applied for only 10 minutes at a time, with breaks of at least an hour in between. The ice can be applied several times a day, for three or four days after an injury — or as directed by your chiropractor.

Also, cold packs should never be applied directly to the skin. Instead, a towel should be placed between the skin and cold pack.

Cold therapy may not be appropriate for everyone. Some people respond to cold temperatures by breaking out in hives or developing pain in the joints.

If you have questions about cold therapy or think you might benefit from this type of treatment, please contact our office to schedule an appointment and receive more information.

Spinal Decompression
Do you have lasting back pain, unable to find relief throughout the day? Do you have pain, weakness, or tingling in your legs (sciatica), or a bulging or herniated disc in your low back, or in your neck? Are your spinal joints wearing down, or your nerves being pinched? If you deal with these issues, then nonsurgical spinal decompression may be right for you.

The chiropractors at Curis Functional Health, use spinal decompression on a regular basis to relieve the pain from bulging or herniated discs. We have a motorized table that works to relieve back pain, disc pain, sciatica, neck pain, and other conditions. Chiropractors use it to gently, slowly, stretch the spine to relieve muscle tension, then gently “pump” to relieve the pressure on your spinal discs (the gel-like cushions between your bones in your spine) and nerves that are along your spine. Over time, non-surgical spinal decompression treatment works to relieve your pain, retract bulging or herniated discs, and works to remove any pinching or compression that may be occurring to nerves in the area that is being treated. The treatment also helps promote the restoration of nutrient-rich fluids into the tissues, as well as water, and oxygen. It can be performed on the low back, or the neck, in our office.

Decompression is performed by having you lie face down, or face-up, on our decompression tables. Your customized treatment is then entered into our computer-controlled units based on your needs, and the treatment lasts 15-20 minutes. These treatments are oftentimes paired with chiropractic adjustments, electrical muscle stimulation, and ice or heat. You may require anywhere from 6-24 of these treatments depending on your condition.

Forceful spinal manipulation is not always necessary to treat conditions of the lower back, mid-back and neck. Gentle chiropractic treatment, such as drop table techniques, involves less powerful spinal maneuvering and slower, low-velocity movements that allow the affected joint to stay within its passive range of motion.

How Does the Drop Table Technique Work?
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Also known as the Thompson technique, the “drop” approach uses a special chiropractic table. The table used has segments that can be lifted up and then dropped when a thrust is applied by the chiropractor. The drop allows gravity to assist and work in combination with the manual adjustment, and all of this provides a lighter adjustment than that which comes with some other chiropractic techniques, such as those that involve twisting positions.

To further clarify, the table has various sections that are raised between 1 to 2 inches relative to the rest of the patient’s body. Once the section of the table is lifted, it is fastened in place and the stiffness of the table is altered based on the patient’s body weight. When the chiropractor applies a gentle thrust to the area needing adjustment, the table releases and drops down, causing that segment of the body to fall too. The drop table comes to a rest, but the patient’s body momentum continues for a short period. This momentum is equally as critical to the drop table technique as the thrust and dropping of the table are, because it aids in alignment.

What to Expect After a Drop Table Technique

The number of sessions needed depends on the type of condition the patient has and its severity. However, in general, the patient should have better range of motion and less pain with each treatment.

Active Release Technique or A.R.T is a trademark soft tissue technique. The overuse of muscles can naturally develop scar tissue and fibrous ad- hesions that shorten (weaken) muscles. The fibrous tissues can also compress blood vessels and nerves, resulting in fatigue, tingling and/or numbness. These changes in muscu- lature are often accompanied by pain and limited ranges of motion. Active Release Technique treats various problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, nerves & blood vessels. A.R.T providers will always begin a therapy session with an evaluation of muscle texture, muscle tightness, muscle motion, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves.

When there is damage to muscles and other soft tissues including pulls, tears, or not being able to get enough oxygen (hypoxia), it can result in the body producing rough, thick scar tissue in the affected area.

Scar tissue restricts the tissues from moving freely because they bind them and tie them down, and as scar tissue builds up, muscles shorten and become weaker, nerves become ensnared and tendinitis can develop due to tension on the tendons. This can lead to reduced range of motion, pain and loss of muscle strength. Should a nerve become trapped, the person may additionally experience numbness, tingling and weakness.

What Do Active Release Techniques Aim to Do?

Active release techniques (ART) attempt to address problems in individual tissues, since one tissue or structure can affect another structure both directly and biomechanically. With this method, the chiropractor identifies problems with movement, pressure and stiffness between the nearby tissues, and then addresses them.

While scar tissue and muscle tension can be addressed with massage, electrical modalities and applying pressure to trigger points, ART seek to take a different approach. It is not just about treatment; it’s also about understanding the muscles and how they have been affected.

After the chiropractor has gotten a feel of the tissues and their texture, motion and tension, he is able to understand and assess the motion of each tissue relative to the one adjacent to it. Now equipped with this knowledge, he can determine whether to:

– Apply a contact tension
– Shorten the tissue
– Make the tissue glide relative to the tissue nearby
– Lengthen the tissue
– By doing one or more these, movement can be restored; fibrous adhesions can be broken down; trapped nerves or blood vessels can be released; pain can be reduced; and oxygen and blood can be efficiently delivered to the muscles and tissues.

How Are ART Different From Other Techniques?

There are more than 500 specific moves associated with ART, and each allows the chiropractor to recognize and rectify problems that affect each individual patient. For this, ART do not take a cookie-cutter approach, nor do they only treat problems with muscles. In addition, these “soft tissue system/movement-based massage techniques” treat tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.

However, unlike massage, the patient does not lie motionless, and neither pressure nor movement is lateral to the muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons. Instead, ART use longitudinal movements, and they require the patient to be both a participant and non-participant in their care. In some levels of treatment, movement of the patient’s tissue is done by the chiropractor. In other levels, the patient must actively move the affected tissue in a specific way while the chiropractor employs tension. So, in many ways ART are not strictly a massage; instead, they are a form of manipulation.

What Conditions Do ART Treat?

Because the muscles and other soft tissues can be manipulated, a variety of conditions — all of which are typically the result of overused or overworked muscles — can be resolved with this technique:

– Headaches
– Carpal tunnel
– Back and shoulder pain
– Sciatica
– Tennis elbow
– Shin splints
– Plantar fasciitis
– Knee problems
– Tendinitis

ART Has Helped These Patients

“A.R.T has helped me break through years of neck and upper shoulder tightness & restricted range of motion. A.R.T has even helped with my vertigo. I have tried many different natural alternatives for four years to help the vertigo and A.R.T has been the most beneficial.”
– Sonia Bilderback

“When I first started I thought there was no hope in continuing with my crossfit workouts. After several months I am almost 80% better and back to crossfit. Not only has this helped my flexibility, this has given me hope. I love our time together and love laughing about how good it hurts. She works wonders!”
– Maggie Shaffer

“ART has helped me tremendously! Before seeing my chiropractor I couldn’t run without pain. Now I can run as far as I want without fear of hurting long after.”
– Andrea Murphy

“The treatment I’ve received have saved my “exercise” life! Realizing the root of the problem and treating it through active movement versus medicine or pain killers is worth every cent. A.R.T has helped me gain range of motion and strength back that I had lost from my injury.”
– Robby Shaffer

Imagine living a better life – whether it’s holding off on surgery for a bum knee, or finding relief from chronic pain, or feeling more energetic and alive. Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy (PEMF) can help.

When chronic pain is your struggle, as it is with 100 million Americans, PEMF creates cellular rejuvenation to keep inflammation down. More powerful than magnetic therapy, it offers a deeply penetrating way to naturally, non-invasively achieve pain relief.

A workout for your cells, PEMF therapy helps not only to relieve pain, but also increase energy, improve sleep quality and elevate mood. Even conditions such as osteoporosis show so much improvement that NASA uses it for astronauts to rebuild decreased bone and muscle upon returning from long-term space travel.

With PEMF each cell receives an individual charge that allows it to deliver oxygen more efficiently, leaving your body breathing a sigh of relief.

PEMF THERAPY

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy has helped our clients find relief from numerous forms of chronic pain and other ailments. The therapy uses high intensity, short duration electromagnetic pulses of energy that safely penetrate the body to stimulate better cell function. Typical treatments last either 30 or 60 minutes, ideally two to three times per week, although our staff will work you as the client to devise the optimal treatment plan.
PEMF therapy has been used for decades, perhaps most prominently by doctors at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), to help astronauts recover from bone density losses and muscle atrophy after extended periods of space travel. Research scientists around the world have published extensive clinical studies on the application of PEMF therapy to address common chronic ailments such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, and neuropathy. Physicians have successfully used PEMF to accelerate healing of acute (non-chronic) conditions such as bone fractures, joint sprains, and post-operative inflammation.

More than just for pain, research shows us that the PEMF device can help to rebuild bone, which can be helpful for those with osteoporosis. Current research on PEMF’s use in depression, as well as debilitating neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, is extremely promising. Our experience has shown us that after a session on the PEMF machine people feel, energized, positive and tend to sleep more soundly.

The clinical research has documented virtually no negative side-effects from PEMF therapy and contra-indications are extremely limited – generally to implanted electrical devices such as pacemakers and pregnancy.

If chronic pain is keeping you from living the life you want, PEMF therapy could be the solution that you have been hoping for.