The At Home Therapy Program Separates Me From Many Other Doctors and Therapists
I have over thirty years of experience in helping you know how to best answer the question of what you can effectively and easily do to help yourself to heal. I will explain to you why I am recommending you to do certain things. I want you to know how to do effective and easy at home therapy to heal faster. Some patients actually do more therapy to help themselves than the amount of therapy that I provide. To do effective at home (self) therapy, you need to understand what needs to be corrected and how to easily and effectively correct what is wrong with your body. I will educate you in what is happening very specifically with your muscles, bones, nerves, fascia, tendons, and ligaments. I will explain why I recommend a certain therapy; both for you to do at home and for me to do in my office. Your condition heals much faster when both of us provide effective therapy for you. Your At Home Therapy Program Will Change As Your Condition Changes I want to help you get across the finish line; for your current symptoms, pain, and limitations to go back to normal function. This is best done by you receiving very specific treatment from me and you learning how to do an at home program to work in combination with my treatment. If you and I both do our work each week, then you'll have the best opportunity to heal. If you choose to come in for treatment only (and do no at home therapy), then progress will be much slower. Very, very few people choose this option. People first come into my office because they have some pain, limitation, weakness or symptom. Later on, some people decide that they want to have regular appointments with me (usually once or twice a month) to continue improving their health. Many people choose to come in only when they are in noticeable trouble. Either way is good for me. It's your choice on how to use my service. I'm happy to help you regularly or sporadically. What Does The At Home Therapy Program Usually Consist Of? The at home program, at first, also involves a person decreasing as many activities as they can that irritate (cause pain to) their condition. All irritating activities cannot always be stopped. I understand this. Healing involves both decreasing what is bad and increasing what is good. I help each patient identify what is bad for them; what happens in their life (waking and sleeping) that makes their condition worse, or keeps their condition from healing. We identify what is bad and the patient works to limit how much they cause further pain and further problems throughout the week. One way to decrease irritation is to go over how to do things better; in a way that is less irritating to your body. This learning to re-pattern your body during activity is done as a part of your treatment when it's needed. Decreasing the bad is one half of the at home program. The other half of the at home program is increasing what is good. Increasing what is good is my specialty; and this separates me from most chiropractors and massage therapists. Almost everyone enters my office because of some pain or limitation or stiffness. This problem can be in a joint like the ankle, knee, hip, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand or neck. The problem can be in a small area like the wrist or in a larger area like having your low back and hip be in spasm and pain. When your body has pain and problems almost always your muscles will get overly tight. The overly tight muscles start as a protective mechanism to give that part of your body more stability and support. When the overly tight muscles stay tight for too long they can be now a major reason of why the problem continues. Overly Tight Muscles End Up Becoming Weak If you keep your fist tight for twenty minutes straight and if I try to pry your fingers apart, I can pry your fingers apart much easier than if your fist was tight for twenty seconds. The longer muscles stay tight, the weaker the muscles become. This combination of tight and weak muscles is what brings most people into my office. Since muscles move bones, these tight muscles can be pulling on the smaller bones of the spine so much that the bones become misaligned to each other. This misalignment can cause nerves (usually in the neck-arm or low back-hip-leg) to be pinched and send radiating pain often into the shoulder-arm or into the hip-leg. This constant pulling of the muscles can cause the discs to be compressed and inflamed, and the inflamed disc can pinch a nerve. Exercise Will Be Discussed Most people who come into my office have, as one of the problems, muscles that are too tight. Exercise, at this point, can cause more problems. We will discuss whether the exercise that you want to do will be helpful or stressful for your condition. You are to decide what to do concerning your physical activity and exercise. If a person is in a lot of pain even stretching may be too much for them. Using heat, ice, and anti-inflammatories (both drugstore and natural food store) will be discussed. Using any supports for the back, neck, ankle, knee, wrist or elbow will be discussed. As mentioned earlier, the at home program changes as your condition changes. When My Service Is Not Appropriate For The Person There are a few people who come into my office and what I do is not appropriate for them. I identify this as quickly as possible, and suggest alternatives for them. I've been in Encinitas for over thirty years and I'll help you find the best method that I know for your healing. If my service is not for you, then I can help you find someone who can help you. There are some people who come in and my therapy (which is primarily trigger point therapy) is not appropriate for their current condition. This happens infrequently. When the person is too weak or in too much pain, then I will suggest what I think is the best form of treatment for them to do. I may recommend a person go to an M.D. for pain pills or muscle relaxers or steroidal anti-inflammatories. I may recommend going to a physical therapist. Physical therapists are more skilled at setting you up with a therapeutic exercise program. I may recommend that a person go to an acupuncturist. Acupuncture is physically very easy. If a person is too weak or in too much pain for trigger point therapy, then acupuncture can be a good treatment at that stage of their condition. I always recommend that a person go to who is best for them. If that is not me, then I'll recommend that you seek other help. I will also suggest, at times, that people both come to me and go to another therapist at the same time; if the other therapist's work will complement and enhance my treatment and their at home program. My Goals Are To: My Office Is Designed For: Click here to go to the central page for Massage, Self Massage and Muscles. Click here to go back to the main page of the website. |
