What Therapy Will I Get During My Treatment?

At Active Family Chiropractic we offer many different types of physiotherapies. Physiotherapy, which is interchangeable with physical therapy, is defined as the treatment or management of physical disability, malfunction, or pain by physical techniques, such as exercise, massage, hydrotherapy, etc. We have several different “tools in our belt” and we often get asked what they do so here we go!

Electrical muscle stimulation

Electrical current causes your muscles to contract which is used for relaxation of muscle spasms, increasing local blood circulation and decreasing pain. A TENS unit is a good way to decrease pain at home. People with pacemakers should not use these machines and you should not place pads over your heart, brain, carotid artery in the neck or over the belly or low back of a pregnant woman.

Therapeutic Ultrasound

Sound waves coming from the ultrasound head pass through the skin causing vibration in the tissues. This causes deep heating although you, the patient, won’t feel any heat. It is used to increase relaxation in the soft tissue, increase blood flow and for scar tissue breakdown. Increased heat and blood flow is not always desirable, however, and so we don’t typically use ultrasound on an acute, or new, injury.

Heat/Ice

Heat helps decrease tight muscles and muscle spasms and increase blood flow, but sometimes you need ice to decrease inflammation and pain.

Massage

There are several different types of massage from a more relaxation Swedish type massage to therapeutic deep tissue and trigger point therapy. But no matter the type the goal is generally the same – to increase range of motion, decrease muscle spasm and/or muscle tightness and increase function.

Therapeutic Exercise

These exercises have more purpose than general physical fitness and increasing muscle mass. Therapeutic exercise is used to correct a postural or biomechanical (movement) problem, improve function or maintain a state of well-being. The goals most often sought after in our clinic is to increase range of motion, improve coordination, improve balance, promote relaxation and flexibility and improve muscle strength and endurance.

Cold Laser Light Therapy

This is a relatively newer therapy however we feel like it works very well especially with pain management. The idea is that light is absorbed into the cells and the energy is converted into repairing damaged tissue. It is sometimes compared to photosynthesis where the plant absorbs light and converts it to usable energy so the plant can grow. It can be used on all types of tissue including muscle, ligaments, tendon, and cartilage and so it treats a variety of ailments such as back and joint pain, carpal tunnel, sprained ankles, tendonitis and more.
If you are curious about any of these modalities please don’t hesitate to ask one of the doctors if one of these would be good for your condition.