Therapies
Active Release Techniques Soft Tissue Management System
WHAT IS ART? Active Release Techniques Soft Tissue treatment is a manual therapy administered by trained professionals to certain soft tissue structures of the body. The ART soft tissue management system is based on scientific evidence that muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue develop adhesions within and between them as a result of various injuries that include: acute (sudden injury), cumulative (chronic injury) and pressure (due to poor posture). These adhesions cause the motion of muscles or joints to be altered, resulting in a wide variety of symptoms, including pain, weakness, reduced range of motion, numbness and tingling.
Kinesio Tape
The Kinesio Taping Method has taken the Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine world by storm. Developed by Dr. Kenzo Kase nearly 25 years ago in Japan, Kinesio Taping has become the gold standard for therapeutic rehabilitative taping. The proprietary method of taping uses a uniquely designed and patented tape for treatment of muscular disorders and lymphedema reduction.
The Kinesio Taping Method involves taping over and around muscles in order to assist and give support or to prevent over-contraction. The first technique gives the practitioner the opportunity to actually give support while maintaining full range of motion, enabling the individual to participate in physical activity with functional assistance. The second technique helps prevent overuse or over-contraction and helps provide facilitation of lymph flow 24 hours per day.
McKenzie Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy
The total system of patient care known as the McKenzie Method® is an approach that is trusted and used by practitioners and patients all over the world for common back and neck problems.
Most low back pain is "mechanical" in origin, meaning that an applied force caused the pain. A basic philosophy of McKenzie's theory is that the reverse force can probably abolish the pain and restore function.
McKenzie credits the patient's ability to learn the principles and empowers them to be in control of their own symptom management, which can reduce dependency on medical intervention. The McKenzie Method® promotes the body's potential to heal itself without medication, heat, cold, ultrasound, needles, surgery or a force dependent on the practitioner. It also addresses a growing demand from patients and third party payers for professional rehabilitation services that develop the patient's self-treatment skills in a cost-effective and time-effective manner.
McKenzie Explained
Rehabilitative Services
Our certified, caring and experienced staff provides specific one-on-one rehabilitative training to help you recover from your condition as soon as possible. We offer individualized hands on care within a clean, comfortable facility.
You play an integral role in making your therapy successful. The best thing we can do is provide you with the knowledge to help treat yourself. Educating patients is one of the key roles of rehabilitative training.
Throughout your training you will gain information on:
- Managing/Reducing Pain
- Restoring Motion and Mobility
- Gaining Strength and Stability
- Resuming Normal Activities
- Posture and Body Mechanics
- Preventing Re-Injury
Rehabilitative Training can be beneficial with any of the following:
- Orthopedic/Sports Injuries
- Pre/Post Surgical Rehab
- Rehabilitative Strength Training
- Core Strengthening
- Spinal Stabilization
- Balance/Proprioceptive Training
- Extremity Conditioning
Active Therapeutic Movement (ATM2)
Active Therapeutic Movement (ATM) is based on re-activating and re-educating musculature.
Pain alters the normal movement and firing patterns of muscle. Unfortunately even after a short amount of time, your body can consider these altered firing patterns as the new norm which can lead to lasting discomfort and restricted range of motion.
The ATM2 is utilized to stabilize the core/pelvis/trunk to allow the patient to activate musculature without feeling any pain.
Now pain free, the musculature can be activated properly to rapidly and lastingly reset the faulty movement and firing patterns back to normal while simultaneously abolishing symptoms and restoring range of motion.
The ATM2 principles can be utilized to treat:
- Neck Pain
- Lower Back Pain
- Thoracic Pain
- Shoulder Pain
- Hip Pain
- To learn more, visit www.backproject.com
Acupuncture
Dr. Dukes is certified in acupuncture making this additional service available to Active Spine and Sport Therapy patients.
Acupuncture is an ancient technique used to stimulate and promote the body's natural healing functions.
The modern scientific explanation is that these acupuncture points stimulate the nervous system releasing chemicals in the muscles, fascia, spinal cord and brain. These chemicals can change the experience of pain and reduce inflammation and/or they will trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones which influence the body's own internal regulating system.
The World Health Organization recognizes acupuncture in the treatment of: Headaches, Neck and Lower Back Pain, Rib Pain, Frozen Shoulder, Tennis Elbow, Tendonitis, Sciatica and Osteoarthritis.
Interferential / Electrical Stimulation Therapy
There are many different variations of electrotherapy and we have found this to be the most effective for pain, muscle spasm and joint irritation. Electrode pads are placed on the skin to allow the electrical impulses to criss-cross at the problem area. These impulses reduce inflammation by causing certain chemical reactions underneath the skin and reduce muscle spasm by “pushing the reset button” on tight muscles.
Ultrasound
Inside the sound head of the ultrasound applicator is a crystal that vibrates very quickly to produce very high frequency sound waves that are then directed into the tissue. These sound waves then act similarly to snow plows and mechanically push away inflammation and promote healing.
Stabilization Training
Poor posture, stress, lack of exercise, too much exercise, repetitive motions and trauma can all lead to changes in the biomechanics of the body. These changes in mechanics can make some areas of the body work more than they should and make some areas do almost no work at all. Stabilization training is necessary to better distribute the forces equally between musculature and joints and fix aberrant movement patterns.
Physioball Exercises
Many of the exercises patients receive from this office will include the use of a physioball. These big colorful physioballs are often seen in your local gym or health club. The physioball adds components of balance and joint position sense or “proprioception” to different exercises. Most exercises concentrate on the big muscle groups and the smaller postural muscles of the body don’t get conditioned properly when they are actually far more important. Doing exercises with the physioball allows patients to get to work on both the larger muscle groups and the smaller postural muscles at the same time which leads to better results.
Wobble Board Exercises
These exercises work primarily on balance and joint position sense or ‘proprioception”. Large strong muscles aren’t of much use if they don’t turn on and off at the right time and are not coordinated well. Put a bodybuilder on a unicycle and those big muscles aren’t much good if they can’t be controlled. Wobble board exercises build coordination and balance to help train your muscles how and when turn on and off. Properly coordinated muscles take stress off of joints and reduce the likelihood of re-injury.