Manual Therapy

Manual therapy is a broad term that refers to the "hands-on" treatment that is administered by a physical therapist. Each patient is carefully evaluated for conditions such as trigger points, range of motion restrictions, and compensatory movements and the most appropriate manual therapy techniques.

Patients often benefit from these manual therapies:

Passive Range of Motion
Joint Mobilization
Soft Tissue Mobilization
Myofascial Release
Passive Stretching

Manual Therapy aids in the healing and recovery process and can be used to treat all kinds of acute and chronic symptoms related to musculoskeletal conditions. They are used to decrease pain, improve mobility, and restore normal tissue function.

Dry needling

Dry needling is a treatment modality used to improve pain and movement disorders that accompany a patient's injury that could be hindering proper recovery and it functions as a part of the comprehensive treatment plan for patients. Dry needling is often used to treat trigger points (taut, hypersensitive bands of muscular tissue) associated with other injuries and conditions. Inserting a solid, flexible needle directly into the affected tissue has been shown to relieve this tension and promote healing and recovery.

What type of problems can be treated with dry needling?

neck/back/shoulder pain
tennis elbow
carpal tunnel
golfer’s elbow
tension headaches and migraines
jaw pain
sciatica
hamstrings strains
calf tightness/spasms

Cupping

Cupping therapy is a treatment option that may be used to assist in the goals of decreasing pain and inflammation and increasing function and range of motion during your physical therapy. A plastic cup is place upside-down on the skin and a vacuum is created using a small pump. The skin under the cup becomes raised and red. The goal of cupping therapy is to decrease tissue restrictions between the layers of skin, fascia and muscle. After the treatment you can expect the redness to persist temporarily.

Traction

Traction is a therapy used to decompress the spine. Force is applied along the length of the spine to increase space between spinal segments in order to relieve symptoms. Traction can be applied either to the neck (cervical) or the low back (lumbar) and the force can be applied either by the therapist (manual) or by a specific device (mechanical). Traction can be used to treat the following conditions:

herniated discs
pinched nerves
degenerative disc disease
sciatica
spinal stenosis
low back pain