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Alpha Treatment Options
Lightforce Laser
Lightforce Laser is a non-invasive, clinically proven treatment that works to reduce inflammation and pain for deep tissue injuries. The laser works by both healing and stimulating mitochondrial activity within the cell.
The laser energizes cells to increase circulation to an injury to speed healing and lessen pain and swelling. When used alongside chiropractic care and exercise, it can significantly improve rehabilitation efforts and positive health outcomes in just two to four sessions.
Electric Muscle Stimulation
Electric Muscle Stimulation, also referred to as E-Stim, uses mild electrical pulses that seek to manipulate nerves and stimulate injured muscles to reduce pain. It is a non-invasive treatment that helps people recover quickly from injury, as well as to experience less pain and stiffness.
E-Stim works by causing muscle contractions that improve blood flow and oxygen to the injured area, increasing the repair response. Electrical stimulation can also help to block pain receptors that send signals from nerves to the brain to provide pain relief.
Chiropractic Adjustment
A chiropractic adjustment is a treatment in which chiropractors use either a small instrument or their hands to apply sudden and even pressure to a spinal joint. Also known as spinal manipulation, the goal is to improve a patient’s range of motion, reduce nerve pain, and improve general physical movement and function. A chiropractic adjustment is used primarily to reduce the symptoms of neck injuries, headaches, and low back pain.
Manual Traction
Manual traction is a technique performed by clinicians to encourage spinal decompression. Spinal decompression helps to relieve pressure on the individual vertebrae of the spine.
It is a treatment that works best for sciatica, disc herniation, spinal stenosis, degenerative joint disease, and degenerative disc disease. The goal is to improve a patient’s range of motion and reduce pain.
Spinal Decompression
Who is Spinal Decompression Therapy Useful For?
The spine is the backbone and support of the body consisting of vertebrae and ligaments. The spinal column runs through the middle of the disks, ligaments, and bones, and serves as a neural pathway. Spine degeneration or injuries can predispose patients to back pain. Sometimes the culprit is compression placed upon the nerves and spinal cord. The goal of spinal decompression is to treat pain symptoms and provide relief sometimes with, and sometimes without, surgery.
What Conditions Does Spinal Decompression Treat?
Although there are several reasons that a patient might benefit from spinal decompression therapy, these are some common symptoms:
- Pinched nerves - when a nerve is pinched or compressed, it can lead to numbness, tingling, and pain
- Bulging disks - when the cushion separating the vertebrae wears thin
- Herniated disks - disk pressure on a nerve
- Spinal stenosis - is a narrowing of spinal space due to bulging or herniated disks or bone spurs
- Sciatica - damage to the sciatica nerve
Therapeutic Ultrasound
Therapeutic ultrasound is a tool that many physical therapists use to provide concentrated healing using deep heat for soft tissue injuries. The tissues affected include tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints.Different from diagnostic ultrasound, it produces heat that provides energy to the body to expedite healing, improve circulation, decrease pain, and increase elasticity.
Non-Thermal Effects (Cavitation)
Ultrasound not only provides heating properties; it introduces energy into the body, whereby microscopic gas bubbles expand and contract through a technique called cavitation.Theories hold that the expansion combined with the contraction speed up cellular processes to aid in quicker healing.
What is Ultrasound Used For
Physical therapists use therapeutic ultrasound for a variety of different injuries, the most common being:
- Bursitis
- Muscle strains and tears
- Tendonitis
- Ligament and sprain injuries
- Joint tightness or contracture
- Frozen shoulder
X-Ray
X-rays have long been a standard of care to examine injuries to the bones, joints, and other areas of the body. Invisible electromagnetic energy is used to reproduce images for organs, bones, and tissues. Sometimes they can be used for soft tissue injuries, but they will not provide the same quality of information as an MRI or other tools. Things that might be seen on an x-ray are broken bones and fractures.
Nerve Sensory Testing
Neurological or nerve sensory testing uses an electromyogram (EMG). It measures the electrical activity of the muscles during contraction and rest. The main goal of a nerve sensory test is to find out how quickly and proficiently nerves can transmit electrical signals. Nerves are responsible for controlling the muscles of the body via electrical impulse signals. Those impulses push muscles to react in a specific way. The nerve sensory test is a measure of the responses that are then used to pinpoint if there is a problem with muscles and nerves and their paths of neural communication.
Why is a Neurological Sensory Test Performed?
For patients, there are a vast number of causes for muscle numbness and pain experienced in the lower extremities. Things like Poor circulation, injury, diabetes, and other predisposing medical conditions can lead to nerve damage and an inability for the nerves to carry communication from the brain to the muscles. A nerve sensory test can be used to examine nerve damage or any type of nerve disorder that might be leading to the problem.
Symptoms that might indicate a sensory test might be helpful are muscle weakness, tingling, numbness, paralysis, spasms, or other nerve perception issues. An EMB can typically reveal any damage to the muscles and nerves, issues, or abnormalities and get to the root cause.
Impairment and Disability Ratings
We use impairment and disability ratings to determine the ability that a patient has to perform occupational duties related to daily activity and work. A disability rating is usually a measure of acute deficiencies, while an impairment rating is used to assess physical loss to the body. The main goal of both tests, however, is the same, to identify the degree of impairment and disability that the patient is limited by.
Rehabilitation Exercises
When it comes to injuries, the key to healing and regaining function is by first addressing the extent of damage, and then addressing it through corrective exercises. Many other successes from traditional therapies will be short-lived if the original cause of the injury is not corrected. We use various strength and conditioning exercises, prescribed to our patients, in the same way that a medication would.
The goal of rehabilitation exercises is to improve your overall physical abilities and quality of life. Exercise is used to return a patient’s full functioning through re-building muscle power, endurance, strength, and overall mobility and flexibility.
