After injury, most people visit an orthopedic specialist or general practitioner. If the injury is not in need of surgery, the common plan of care involves medications as needed for pain, inflammation, and/or spasm; and referral to Physical Therapy.
Though there is certainly a place for these medications, it is important to know that they are treating the symptoms and secondary results of the injury, NOT the cause of the symptoms and inflammation.
In traditional Physical Therapy, there is a large emphasis on modalities (ultrasound, electrical stimulation, heat/cold packs, etc) and exercises to help ‘set the stage’ for the body to heal the injured tissues, resolve excessive inflammation, and regain strength and range of motion. The focus is now more on the causes of pain and dysfunction, but still relies heavily on the body’s lengthy process of the healing itself.
Something many do not know is that a very common cause of a person’s pain/dysfunction is actually the changes/distortions of the body’s connective tissues (called “fascia”). With very specific hands-on manual therapy techniques, these soft tissue changes/injuries can be immediately moved back to a more normal position/arrangement. When this happens, the pain, weakness, and limited movement associated with an injury can also be immediately improved.
The speed of recovery and response to any treatment is influenced by a large number of factors including age, length of time since the original injury, and any underlying causes of the pain. However, incorporating a hands-on manual therapy component of treatment can usually resolve pain and injury much faster than most/all other treatment options available.
So with our unique hands-on treatment approach and the fact that every session is a full hour of one-on-one care, our patients tend to need far fewer total visits than they would at most other clinics.