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Services
Manual Therapy
Manual Therapy is a gentle, hands-on approach to treatment using various techniques in order to address pain, restricted motion, inflammation, and alignment. This can help the body move correctly, allowing for exercise and re-education to work properly. I use several osteopathic techniques, including Fascial Counterstrain, Muscle Energy, Visceral Manipulation, Neural Manipulation, Joint Manipulation and Mobilization, and various soft tissue techniques.
With such a range of techniques, I don't believe that pain has to be a part of the healing process. Instead, we can put the body in the best position to do the work of healing.
Concussion and Vestibular Therapy
By addressing the cranial, dural and nervous system in addition to the musculoskeletal system, patients can holistically manage trauma to the head. By restoring the motion to the cranium and spine, addressing tissue and neural tension, and addressing blood flow and venous return, motion can be improved, and swelling can be addressed. This can greatly help with pain, headaches, dizziness, and concentration issues.
With the vestibular system, treatments similar to headache and concussion manual interventions are used, as well as assessment of the vestibular, proprioceptive, and vision systems that help comprise your vestibular system. Corrective and adaptive exercises are also prescribed to help retrain, or compensate, for any changes in function. This can get you back on your feet, driving, working and playing again.
Visceral and Neural Manipulation
Visceral and Neural manipulations are osteopathic techniques developed by Jean Pierre Barral, PT, DO. According to the Barral Institute, visceral manipulation is "based on the specific placement of soft manual forces to encourage the normal mobility, tone and motion of the viscera and their connective tissues. These gentle manipulations can potentially improve the functioning of individual organs, the systems the organs function within, and the structural integrity of the entire body."
Neural Manipulation, according to the Barral Institute, "examines mechanical relationships between the cranium/spine hard frame to the dura and neural elements" of the body. "Neural manipulation identifies and releases local nerve restrictions while at the same time examines the effect these local fixations have on the rest of the body."
These techniques can help with painful conditions ranging from obstructed bowel, to post-surgical nerve entrapment, to digestive issues or scar tissue restrictions you didn't know could be affected by manual therapy.
Exercise prescription and Movement Analysis
Whether working to retrain muscles and neural connections after an injury or surgery, or working to stabilize the joints of someone with hypermobility, we can focus on your individual needs. Looking at the whole body and evaluating the kinetic chain, will illuminate any problems with movement. This could be a tight joint, or a muscle that's firing too late. Depending on how you move, we can prepare an individualized, evolving program to support your goals. Whether those goals are sitting at work without pain, or getting a PR at your next ultramarathon!
Headaches and TMJ/Jaw Pain
Headaches, Migraines and TemporalMandibular Joint, or TMJ, pain can be caused by a number of factors. By looking at posture, mechanics of the entire spine and shoulder, muscle imbalances, neural tension and vascular flow, we can address many of the potential causes of these complex issues. For jaw pain, addressing stress, poor posture and mechanics, cranial mobility, and muscle tension can help restore jaw function and decrease pain. Following up with corrective exercises allows the patient to progress between sessions.
Neck and Back Pain
The spine is the center of everything! We address the history of your pain, and look at strength, flexibility, alignment, and how you move. Motion at each segment, as well as motion throughout the kinetic chain, impacts the spine, as does static posture. Taking all of these pieces, and addressing them with various manual therapy techniques and exercise, can allow the patient to function with as much motion, and as little pain, as possible.
Functional Nutrition
Sometimes all the exercise and manual therapy just doesn't fix a problem, whether it's systemic inflammation, or leaky gut, or food sensitivities. My years of working with the body have led me to become a Certified Nutrition Specialist in order to further help my patients. Whether you want to eat best to support your sport, heal your gut, or support an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, working with nutrition can help you feel your best. Inflammation, energy, and pain can all be addressed through looking at nutrition, food sensitivities, and nutrient depletions.
In addition, I offer food sensitivity testing to help identify and eliminate other sources of pain, bloating, inflammation, and immune compromise.