Tag Archive for: Back Pain

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Spinal Decompression Therapy Explained

Spinal Decompression Therapy Explained

If you have been struggling with chronic back, neck or sciatic pain, you do not have to live with the pain! spinal decompression therapy is a painless, non-surgical, drug-free way to help relieve chronic back, neck and sciatic pain. Continue reading to learn how spinal decompression works and why it’s an option worth exploring. 

What is Spinal Decompression Therapy?

Non-surgical spinal decompression therapy utilizes a type of motorized traction that involves stretching the spine with the goal of relieving back pain and/or leg pain. The bones of the spine are slowly separated, and pressure is slowly reduced within the disc until a vacuum is formed. This vacuum creates negative pressure and space within the disc to allow disc fluid to move back into place. This reduces the bulge or herniation of the disc and creates an environment where the disc can receive more nutrients and therefore be able to heal more effectively.

Spinal Compression Is Used to Treat:

  • Back, neck or sciatica pain
  • Bulging or herniated disks
  • Degenerative disk disease
  • Worn Spinal Joints (posterior facet syndrome)
  • Injured or diseased spinal nerve roots

When Do You Use Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Therapy?

Spinal decompression therapy is for patients looking for a non-surgical and non-drug approach to relieving chronic back pain, sciatica, and spinal stenosis. Spinal decompression is also used for patients that present with an MRI that confirms herniated discs causing nerve pressure. However, spinal decompression treatments cannot be used for patients who are pregnant or suffering from spinal fractures, tumours of the spine, abdominal aortic aneurysm, severe osteoporotic disease, or metal implantations in their spine. 

What Are Spinal Decompression Treatments Like?Spinal Decompression Therapy Table

During spinal decompression treatments, fully clothed patients are secured into a harness that is attached to the motorized table. The practitioner will program the table for your treatment and the amount of traction your spine will go through. Depending on the treatment, you will be lying either face-up or face down. Each session lasts no longer than 15-20 minutes. You will feel pressure applied to your lower back and will feel as though you are being “stretched out.” You should not feel any pain during spinal decompression therapy.

How Long Until You See Results?

Before and After Spinal Decompression Therapy

Individual results vary; however, most patients notice a difference within their first 5-6 spinal decompression therapy treatments and experience pain relief within as few as 6-10 treatments.

Not only is spinal decompression painless – patients often enjoy the relief they feel from their symptoms when they are on the table being decompressed. Most patients will need to come in for treatment three times a week for one month, transitioning from passive to active treatments as their bodies respond and will also be prescribed a customized exercise program to target the areas that require more stabilization.

Clinical results show that spinal decompression has been effective in over 75% of patients treated. In addition, most patients found long-term relief or effective management of pain when they completed their spinal decompression treatments. Your practitioner may also recommend additional treatment modalities such as heat/cold therapy, electric stimulation, K-Laser and home exercises.

Benefits of Spinal Decompression Therapy

  1. Provides pain relief by relieving tension in tight, spasming or injured muscles. Spinal decompression helps to stimulate the nervous system to release neuro-chemical signals that have an analgesic effect on the body. 
  2. Promotes the healing of spinal disc tissues by imposing a vacuum-like force on the spinal discs, which helps to draw healing fluids, cells, and other substances toward the damaged tissue. 
  3. Helps restore normal spinal joint and disc alignment with the same vacuum-like force. That vacuum-like force helps to align the joints and discs which prevents further pain, inflammation, impaired mobility, and dysfunction.
  4. Relieves pressure on spinal nerves by increasing the space around the nerves which allows them to begin healing.

For More Information on Spinal Decompression Therapy (and Whether It’s Right for You):

Contact Diversified Health Clinic at 250-382-0018 to find out more about spinal decompression treatments, or book with our practitioners online at www.diversifiedhealth.janeapp.com

#physiotherapy #chiropractic #backpain #chronicbackpain #victoriabc #sciatica #degenerativedisc

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Back Pain From Gardening? We Can Help!

Back Pain From Gardening? We Can Help!

Avid gardeners are eager to make the most of good weather and prime gardening season. In doing so, they tend to ignore back pain and soreness until it gets bad enough to interfere with their range of motion and ability to garden. While gardeners can expect a bit of post-activity soreness, pushing through pain can sometimes spell trouble. Here’s why:

Red Flags That Your Back Pain Requires More Than Rest to Resolve

While the occasional aches and pains are common after long days of kneeling, planting, weeding, moving pots and plant boxes, and turning over soil, here a few red flags that indicate it’s time to have your back pain checked out and treated:

  • If the pain and tension seems to be worsening
  • If the pain doesn’t resolve after a day or two of rest
  • If the pain returns as soon as you resume activity
  • If the pain is sudden and acute, in which case, immediately stop what you’re doing and apply a towel-wrapped ice pack to the area
  • If you experience numbness, tingling, or shooting pain in your lower back above the buttocks and down your buttocks and upper legs, indicating possible lumbar compression or nerve pain with sciatica

Common Causes of Back Pain From Gardening

While gardening, it’s easy to be hyper-focused on the task at hand that you forget to be mindful of your posture, contributing to suboptimal movement patterns and bad habits that cause undue strain to the muscles you’re using. 

The most common causes of back pain from gardening are chronic muscle and fascia tension resulting from repetitive strain and overuse of your back muscles. Improper lifting, gait and hips issues, or other musculoskeletal imbalances can also contribute to chronic and sometimes debilitating pain. 

Examples of Movement Patterns That Contribute to Gardening-Related Pain

Bending, Twisting, and Lateral Flexion

Bending at the waist causes a lot of stress on the back muscles and spine, which is why you should never bend at your waist when lifting heaving objects or when reaching for something. Twisting and lateral flexion also place a lot of tension on the spine. Lateral flexion occurs when bending sideways at the waist, as you would when picking up a bucket from the ground by its handle. If your core muscles are weak, twisting and lateral flexion of the lower back muscles can lead to pulled muscles and, in worst-case scenarios, herniated discs. Twisting can also occur while raking and when lifting heavy and hard-to-grip objects, such as heavy bags of soil and bundles of plant refuge.

Compensatory Movements 

Have you ever caught yourself bending at the waist to avoid kneeling due to knee pain? Compensatory movements aren’t always detrimental. Sometimes they’re your body’s way of protecting itself, but if done improperly, you’re trading one pain and potential injury for another. Common compensatory movements during gardening include:

  • Twisting at the waist when kneeling and sitting
  • Overextending the arms and straining the shoulders and neck muscles when reaching to prune branches, rake leaves, and use small handled gardening tools

Overuse

Repetition and duration of movements fatigue muscles and can lead to strain and overuse injuries. Common signs and symptoms of pain caused by overuse include:

  • Knee pain from kneeling on hard surfaces (a typical gardener’s woe)
  • Joint pain and stiffness from maintaining a seated position for long periods without rest breaks and stretching
  • Wrist strain from using small hand-held gardening tools and hand-pulling weeds

Ambitious gardeners are also apt to exhaust their back muscles when attempting feats that are either forceful, such as pulling a tree root, or repetitive, such as overturning hard soil with a shovel. 

It’s Not Always Easy to Tell When You’re Overdoing It Until You’ve Overdone It

We’ve all been there! That pain and soreness you feel after a day of increased activity. It’s easy to get carried away when you love what you’re doing, not realizing how much you’re taxing your back muscles until exhaustion forces you to rest. Taking rest breaks at 15 to 30-minute intervals is a great way to refresh and take stock of how you’re feeling and whether your body needs more rest.

Prevent Dehydration

When the weather warms up, dehydration can make muscle exhaustion significantly worse (not to mention the dangers of heatstroke). Long-duration gardeners must ensure they take adequate breaks to rest their body, rehydrate and refuel. 

Effective Relief From Gardening Aches & Pains

When back pain starts interfering with your daily life and favourite activities, it’s time to get help. At Diversified Health Clinic, effective treatment of activity-induced aches and pains has a three-pronged approach, including:

Assessment

Performed during your initial appointment to identify the movements and postures responsible for your back pain. Your practitioner will use the information collected in your initial assessment to determine which treatments will be best suited to your specific condition and will devise a treatment plan with you that quickly relieves pain and encourages healing.

Treatment

For some back pain sufferers, a series of registered massage therapy treatments are all that’s needed to work out the tightness and tenderness of strained muscles and fascia. For more complex pain or pain compounded by aggravating factors such as sciatica, lumbar compression, and arthritis, an effective treatment plan may include a combination of registered massage therapy, chiropractic therapy, and physiotherapy. 

Prevention

Your practitioner will suggest various postures, movements, exercises, and stretches you can perform at home and while gardening to maintain the results of your treatment and reduce future pain flare-ups and injuries.

Take the Next Step

Don’t let back pain keep you from the activities you enjoy. Take the first step on your road to recovery by booking an appointment with one of our practitioners today. Call (250) 382-0018 or book an appointment online. We offer direct billing and weekday and weekend appointments. Please view our hours of operation and location details here.

Related

Knee Physiotherapy: Why Ignoring Knee Pain is Foolish

Nerve Pain With Sciatica: What It Is and How We Approach Sciatic Treatment in Victoria BC

Registered Massage Therapist Approved, Low Impact Things to Do This Summer in Victoria, BC

Long Term Benefits of Chiropractic Maintenance Care

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Do’s & Don’ts of Pain Free Gardening

Here are some simple tips on the do’s and don’ts for pain free gardening, and how massage therapy can help  with pain relief if you overdo it.

1. Warm up with light movement or a brisk walk to loosen your muscles and increase your flexibility. The smooth coordination of your muscles and ligaments is an important part of safe exertion in gardening and avoiding aches and pains. Also set modest goals for each portion of the day and assess your progress and how you feel every couple of hours.

2. Know your strengths and limitations. Do not overexert, vary your activities, and take regular rest breaks. Every hour, give yourself 5 minutes to stretch, sit down, and drink to replenish the fluids lost from your exertion.

3. Avoid bending over repeatedly while standing upright when performing ground-level work like weeding. Get closer to the task by kneeling or sitting on the ground or a gardening bench, rather than bending and twisting from the waist.

4. Keep your back protected when you stand up from a sitting or crouching position. Rise up by straightening your legs at the knees, not by lifting your torso at the waist.

5. Lift dirt and plants by letting your arms, legs and thighs carry the load: bend and straighten at the knees instead of the hack and hips. You are most vulnerable to injury when you are bending at the waist and reaching, so lift the load close to the body’s torso and handle smaller, more manageable loads at a time.

6. Use long-handled tools to give you leverage and help avoid having to stoop down while raking or digging.

7. Switch hands frequently when doing prolonged raking, hoeing or digging actions. Repetitive motion on one side can bring on progressively serious joints imbalances and may produce postural mis-alignments and pain. Avoid repetitive-motion injuries by dividing up each task into sections that allow you to switch activities and posture often.

8. Don’t work too long in one position, especially one that is awkward or unusual. This can reduce circulation, restrict mobility, and promote strain injuries.

If you should find yourself with painful joints and muscle because of gardening, remember that massage therapy provides significant reduction in back pain, (including lower back pain), migraine headaches, neck aches, shoulder pain, joint pain, overused or sore muscles, arthritis, and muscle injuries.

At Diversified Health our Registered Massage Therapists tailor each session to your needs from a whole body massage to a quick half hour hand massage.

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What Can You Do At Home For Back Pain?

Everyone suffers from the occasional bout of back pain… so what can you do at home to decrease the pain?

One way to decrease back pain is to get a good night sleep. Pain is a leading cause of insomnia: approximately two-thirds of people with chronic back pain suffer from some type of sleep disorder.  Make sure to organize your bedroom to help you get a good night sleep. Keep your room dark and cool, make sure you have ample pillows to help support your hips, neck and back as needed.

Another easy way to help reduce back pain is simply applying cold/hot packs.

Cold therapy – It reduces inflammation, acts as a local anesthetic, and keeps the nerves from “spasming” and causing pain.

Heat therapy –It stimulates blood flow, which brings healing nutrients to the affected area and can inhibits the pain messages being sent to the brain.

Not all types of heat will work for every person. Heat therapy can take the form of a hot shower, soaking in a hot tub, a heating pad, hot water bottle, or commercial heat wraps that you place on your body and they provide continuous, low-level heat.

Gentle stretching can also help to relieve back pain. When stretching, make sure that it is pain free and never force a stretch.

  • Move into the stretch slowly and avoid bouncing
  • Hold stretches long enough (20-30 seconds)
  • Repeat the stretch several times

If you suffer from chronic back pain or neck pain, check with your physician or health care practitioner before starting any type of exercise or stretching routine.

 Static back stretch:

  • Lie face-up in front of a sturdy chair, with your legs raised and buttocks close to the chair’s front legs.
  • Bend knees to 90° and place calves on chair seat, with legs relaxed in a comfortable position.
  • Breathe from your stomach and let the lower back muscles relax.

Knee to chest stretch:

  •  Lie on your back with your knees bent.
  • Grab both knees and slowly bring them towards your chest and a stretch is felt in your lower back.
  • Hold this position for 30 seconds before lowering your legs back to the floor again.
  • you can also complete this stretch with one leg at a time: Slowly bend one knee and pull your leg up to your chest. Wrap your arms around your thigh, and gently pull the knee towards your chest. Hold and slowly extend the leg to starting position, and repeat with other side.

Supine Groin Stretch:

  • Begin in Static Back position – lie on your back with one leg resting on a chair, knee bent at 90 degrees, while the other leg is extended straight out and resting on the floor alongside the chair.
  • Make sure both legs are aligned with the hips and shoulders
  • The foot of the extended leg should be propped upright to preventing it from rolling to one side
  • Stretch arms along the floor, straight out from shoulders, palms up. Relax entire body and hold

If you are still suffering from back pain after a day or two, contact your health care practitioner: chiropractor, physiotherapist, massage therapist or acupuncturist and make sure you rule out anything serious.

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New Treatment Uses Electricity To Ease Pain

20140921_inq_hs1art21z-cWritten By Art Carey, For The Inquirer

Crawford Hill is a mountaineer and rock climber who enjoys outdoor exercise. For the last three years, pain in his lower back has curtailed such pleasures. In fact, when he walks on level ground, he must stop and stretch every quarter-mile, and when he walks uphill, the pain brings him to a halt.

Seeking relief, Hill had back surgery last year and has tried stretching, physical therapy, epidurals, chiropractic, acupuncture, Feldenkrais, and cranial-sacral bodywork.

All to no avail.

Then his wife brought home a flier about a new treatment that uses electricity to reduce pain and awaken dormant muscles and nerves.

The technique is called eToims, which stands for electrical twitch-obtaining intramuscular stimulation (the T is capitalized because the “twitch” is the heart of the method). It is the brainchild of Jennifer Chu, a retired University of Pennsylvania physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and former director of the electro-diagnostic lab. She is now an emeritus associate professor in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Penn.

During her 31 years at Penn, Chu, 66, a physician as well as a professor, was always seeking ways to improve the diagnosis and care of patients suffering from neuromuscular pain. When she gave electromyography or EMG diagnostic tests, some patients experienced pain relief when she inadvertently hit acupuncture meridian points. So Chu studied and became licensed in acupuncture, but eventually became frustrated by hit-or-miss results that couldn’t be explained scientifically.

In 1990, Chu learned from a Canadian pain specialist that she could obtain superior results by aiming needles at tender muscles rather than acupuncture meridian points. She began using thicker EMG needles to probe those tender spots, and when manipulation of the needles caused her to develop repetitive stress injury, she invented, in 1995, a gun with an oscillating needle that made the method more efficient.

With the gun, which penetrates muscle with a needle three times in two seconds, she noticed that when she hit the right spot, the muscle twitched, and twitching led to pain relief. The problem with this mechanical technique was that it was uncomfortable, and achieving pain relief required plenty of luck as well as extensive knowledge of anatomy.

Chu kept experimenting. “To treat neuromuscular pain with mechanical stimulation is not sufficient,” she realized. “You need electrical stimulation because that’s how the nervous system works.”

Twitch or trigger points are at nerve and muscle meeting points. The “points” are “a zone of neuromuscular junctions called motor endplates,” Chu says, “and one has to find the spot within the zone that will twitch the best.”

Chu realized that surface electrical current could also be used to stimulate nerve-muscle junctions. But the conventional nerve-stimulation probe, whose electrodes are only 1 1/4 inches apart, deliver an electrical current that is too focused and often painful.

More experimentation led to the invention of the eToims stimulator and probe. Its electrodes are six inches apart, and the broad tips, two inches in diameter, are covered with a special fabric that absorbs water for conductivity. The treatment is noninvasive and painless, Chu says, and can provide pain relief for a broad range of ailments, from aching necks and tension headaches to tennis elbows and herniated discs.

The stimulation technology is patented, and Chu has published two papers about it in peer-reviewed journals. It differs from other electrical-stimulation methods such as TENS, which reaches only shallow muscles and blocks signals to the brain, Chu says; eToims can target individual muscles or groups of muscles, deep or shallow, with adjustable electrical current, from one to five seconds, facilitating regeneration of injured nerves and muscles, Chu says, by contracting, elongating, and opening the muscles.

Stanley Schwartz, 67, an emeritus Penn associate professor of medicine, sought eToims treatment after a red-eye flight last year that caused much neck, shoulder, and high back pain. After about 20 treatments, he experienced improvement, both immediately and over time. He suggests the electrical stimulation may “release endorphins in the nerve roots or spinal fluid.” Schwartz, who has a private practice in Ardmore, recommends eToims to his diabetes patients as well as to patients who complain of musculoskeletal pain.

The other day, I watched as Chu treated Hill, 62, a former Episcopal Academy biology teacher and wrestling coach who now runs an adventure travel business. As he lay on a therapy table, she applied the probe to his quadriceps muscles, and later to his gluteal muscles and hamstrings. When she moved the probe over certain spots, his muscles began twitching and contracting like a freshly caught mackerel jumping and flipping on the bottom of a rowboat.

“Nirvana” is how Hill described the feeling, “phenomenally pleasurable.”

Hill’s back problem, Chu said, stems from major muscles in the region that are tight, knotted, spasmodic, and hence ischemic – lacking blood flow. As a result, they are “asleep” and “frozen,” forcing Hill’s lower back to compensate when he walks and moves.

After more than a dozen sessions with Chu at her Ardmore treatment center, he has more flexibility and can walk more comfortably, he says.

“Back pain doesn’t have to be a part of aging,” Hill says. “It’s a work in progress, but in measurable ways that it hasn’t been before.”

For more information on eToims, please call Dr. Krisjan Gustavson at 250-382-0018.

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Stretching: the best thing for a sore back (Chiropractic Care)

One of the best things you can do for a sore back is to stretch. Stretching a sore back can help bring back some suppleness and increase in mobility, decrease back pain and discomfort, and improve your range of motion.

An important note about stretching

Never continue a stretch or take part in any activity that hurts your back. Take it easy, and remember to always seek the advice of a professional.

Learn more about our team of chiropractors and how they can help.

Stretching should be pain free, so never force your body into difficult positions. Move into the stretch slowly and avoid bouncing, which may actually tear muscles. Hold stretches long enough (15-30 seconds) to allow muscles or joints to become loosened.

Here are three stretches  you can do at home to help your sore back.

Back Flexion Stretch:

Start by lying on your back and pulling both knees to your chest, while simultaneously flexing your head forward into a balled-up position until you feel a comfortable stretch in your back. Repeat for 5 to 10 repetitions.

Continue lying down on your back with your knees all the way up as far as you can toward your chest. Hug them with your arms, then roll back and forth along your back. As your body rolls with your legs and arms tucked in, your back will get a nice stretch. This stretch is to be done slowly. Repeat for 5 to 10 repetitions.

Knee to Chest Stretch:

Start by lying on your back with the knees bent and both heels on the floor.   Bring one knee to your chest and wrap both hands around your knee to increase the stretch. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and repeat the stretch on the opposite leg. Repeat for 5 to 10 repetitions.

Hip Stretch:

While standing with feet shoulder-width apart, take a half-step back with the right foot, bend the left knee and shift weight back to the right hip. While keeping the right leg straight, bend forward more and reach down the right leg until a stretch in the outer hip is felt.

If you have persistent back pain  (learn more about chronic back pain) please seek out medical help from your health care practitioner. They can rule out any serious aliments or conditions, and then you can start one of the best things you can do for a sore back – STRETCH!

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Back Pain…or Compression Fracture?

Back Pain...or Compression Facture?A spinal compression fracture is when there is a collapse in one or more bones of your vertebrae. Vertebrae are rounded bones that are stacked on top of each other down the middle of your back. Compression fractures of the spine happen when there is too much pressure on the vertebra. The vertebra collapses, and becomes wedge shaped instead of round. Spinal compression fractures can occur anywhere in the spine, but are most common in the upper back region.

Many spinal compression fractures are caused by osteoporosis, sports injuries, and work place accidents.

Symptoms that can indicate a spinal compression fracture:

  • Severe back pain that gets worse when standing or walking
  • Pain when bending or twisting
  • Muscle spasms in your back.
  • Pain when the fracture area is touched.
  • Sudden, severe, back pain.
  • Sudden weakness in your arms or legs.

Risks for a spinal compression fracture:

  • Genetics & Age: The risk is higher as you age and by having a close family member with a history of compression fractures.
  • Bone mineral density: Having low bone density increases your chances of having osteoporosis
  • Diet and exercise: Not eating foods rich in calcium and vitamin D, and not incorporate weight-bearing exercises such as walking or jogging into your daily routine.
  • Lifestyle choices: Smoking and weighing too much increases your risk of getting a back injury.
  • Medical conditions: Long term diseases, such as liver cirrhosis and diabetes
  • Medicines: Taking medicines that can cause calcium to be lost from your bones, such as hormones, steroid medicine, and antacids

Treatment for a spinal compression fracture:

A spinal compression fracture can be diagnosed with a physical examination to determine whether a vertebra has collapsed.

If you have a compression fracture, you may need to rest in bed for a few days and take anti-inflammatory or pain medicine, however, within a few days of the fracture you will need to start some form of physical therapy.  Physical therapy will help improve strength and decrease your risk for loss of function.

Depending on the severity of the fracture, you may need to wear a back brace for several weeks to help your vertebrae heal.

Physiotherapy:

Your health care practitioner will assists you to restore, maintain and maximize your strength, function, movement, and overall well-being by using natural methods such as exercise, motivation, adapted equipment and education.  Physiotherapy helps improve movement and decrease pain.

Laser Therapy:

  • improve circulation
  • reduce inflammation
  • improve transport of nutrients across the cell membrane
  • influx of water, oxygen and nutrients to the damaged area
  • reduce swelling, muscle spasms, stiffness and pain

Ultrasound:

  • increase oxidation,
  • reduce swelling & muscle spasms
  • improve circulation

Massage Therapy:

  • Improved circulation
  • Elimination of toxins
  • increase circulation
  • increase your flexibility and range of motion

The first step is to contact your health care practitioner so they can diagnosis your condition, set up a treatment plan, and get you healthy and active as quickly as possible.

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Leg Pain & Treatment Options | Chiropractic Victoria BC

Leg Pain & Treatment Options | Chiropractic Victoria BCLeg pain can range from a mild irritation to an unbearable pain that makes it difficult to complete any day-to-day activities. Leg pain can take many different forms, from a dull ache to searing pain. Other symptoms that may also occur are a pins-and-needle sensation, numbness or weakness.

Leg pain can be caused by a problem in the leg, but often it starts with a problem in the lower back, where the sciatic nerve originates, and then travels down,  along the path of the nerve. For this reason, if you have leg/foot pain, or leg/foot weakness or numbness, you should have a health care practitioner include an examination of the lower back.

When a nerve root in the lower spine is irritated (sciatica) you can experience a searing pain that starts in the lower back area and radiates down to the leg. Sciatic pain can be a constant or intermittent pain, and for many people this pain can be excruciating and debilitating. Spinal decompression treatments can bring relief for this type of back pain.

Numbness can be another symptom of leg ”pain” and is frequently caused by a pinched nerve.  Numbness coming from a low back problem can interfere with movement, balance, level of fatigue and can be a symptom of something more serious such as MS or a stroke. Both chiropractic and physiotherapy can treat a pinched nerve.

If you sit or stand for long periods of time and you have leg pain, you might suffer from positional leg pain (spinal stenosis/facet joint, which is a problem of anatomy in the low back) this pain can usually be relieved by simply changing your positions.  You can also alleviate these symptoms by bending over, or with gentle stretching.

Other causes of leg pain can be due to either over-pronation/under-pronation of the foot; which can cause added stress on your leg and back muscles. A gait scan of your feet will diagnosis if you are a candidate for orthotics.

The types of leg pain experienced can vary widely from patient to patient, so it is important that you seek a diagnosis from a trusted health care practitioner.

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What Does a Physiotherapist Do? | physiotherapy victoria bc

What Does a Physiotherapist Do? | physiotherapy victoria bc – With more moving parts than any other machine, it is not surprising that our body occasionally feels pain.  There are hundreds of different muscles and joints that can go wrong.  Physiotherapy uses a variety of techniques to help your muscles and joints work to their full potential.  Physiotherapy is used to reduce pain with various methods to make it possible for the patient to lead a normal life again.

Many people first encounter a physiotherapist following orthopedic surgery. An exercise regime and other treatments can greatly assist following a fracture or joint replacement.

People suffering with other musculoskeletal disorders, sports injuries, spinal problems, joint or muscle pain, arthritis, etc. are treated with exercises, mobilizations, manipulation, acupuncture, ultrasound and numerous other modalities.

What Does a Physiotherapist Do? | physiotherapy victoria bc

Diversified Health Clinic - Rehab Gym

Can­adian researchers at the University of Western Ontario published a landmark study showing that physiotherapy combined with medication was just as effective as arthroscopic surgery in treating osteo-­arthritic knees. “Many arthritic joints are helped by work on flexibility and strength,” says study co-author Dr. Robert Litchfield, an orthopedic surgeon and the medical director of the university’s Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic.

Particularly beneficial for sufferers of lower back pain, physiotherapy is used to release tension and so reduce pain in the back. Various tactics are used such as exercise, traction, massage, acupuncture and spinal decompression – The program of physiotherapy can ease chronic pain by strengthening the muscles that surround painful joints or muscles. Treatment will depend on the source of the problem, using a three-fold approach: weight management (to reduce stress on joints), muscle strengthening (to improve mobility and reduce recurrence) and “re-patterning” of muscles.

One fast-growing area of practice uses physiotherapy techniques to address pelvic floor disorders, which can occur when pelvic muscles tighten, shorten or fall into spasm after pregnancy, childbirth or abdominal surgery. The pelvic floor muscles help support the spine and abdominal organs.

Stretches and strengthening exercises done at home are crucial to treating most problems. It takes time and practice to stretch or retrain muscles that have a long-established bad habit.  For more information on What Does a Physiotherapist Do? | physiotherapy victoria bc – please contact our Physiotherapists and book a consultation.

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Find Relief from a Herniated Disc with A Natural Health Practitioner

Your spine is made up of vertebrae and discs, so finding relief from a herniated disc with a natural health practitioner like a doctor of chiropractic makes sense.

Discs are like soft cushions between the bones of the spine. The discs in the spine let you move your backbone. When a disc between two bones in the spine presses on the nerves around the backbone, it’s called a herniated disc. The word “herniate” means to bulge or to stick out. Sometimes this is called a ruptured or slipped disc.

Find Relief from a Herniated Disc with A Natural Health Practitioner

Find Relief from a Herniated Disc

Herniated discs are most common in the lower part of your spine referred to as the lumbar spine. This area is constantly absorbing the impact of bearing the weight of the upper body.  The lower back is also critically involved in our body’s movements throughout the day, as we twist the torso in rotating side to side and as we hinge the back in flexion and extension while bending or lifting.

When part of a disc presses on a nerve, it can cause pain in the back and the legs. How bad the pain is depends on how much of the disc is pressing on the nerve. In most people with herniated discs, the pain spreads over the buttocks and radiates down the back of one thigh and into the calf. This is known as sciatica because the pain travels along the path of the sciatic nerve. Some people have pain in both legs, and will feel numb or a tingly sensation in their the legs or feet.

Here are some signs  If you have a herniated disc, the painful symptoms will worsen:

  • After you have been sitting down or standing for a long period.
  • During the night.
  • When you laugh, cough or sneeze
  • When you walk, even a short distance.
  • When you bend over backward

Becoming active as soon as possible is very important. Exercises can be helpful. The goal of exercise is to make your back and stomach muscles stronger. This will ease the pressure on your disc and make you hurt less. Ask your practitioner about safe exercises for your back, and start these exercises after your back is a little stronger and doesn’t hurt as much.

Spinal Decompression is painless, drug-free, non-surgical  treatment that has numerous published scientific studies reporting its’ effectiveness at 86% to 94%, and most people who have a herniated disc are better in about 4 – 6 weeks.

Spinal Decompression provides relief to severe back and neck pain sufferers by gently reducing the pressure within spinal discs. The bones of the spine are slowly and methodically separated and as the vertebrae are separated pressure is slowly reduced within the disc until a vacuum is formed. This vacuum “sucks” the gelatinous center of the disc back inside thereby reducing the disc bulge or disc herniation. Significant disc bulge reduction removes pressure off the spinal nerves and drastically reduces pain and disability. This “sucking” vacuum also pulls much-needed oxygen, nutrients and fluid into injured and degenerated discs allowing the healing to begin.

What can you do to help prevent a herniated disc?

Good posture (standing up straight, sitting straight, lifting with your back straight) can help your back by reducing the pressure on your discs.

  1. Bend your knees and hips when you lift something, and keep your back straight.
  2. Hold an object close to your body when you carry it.
  3. If you stand for a long time, put one foot on a small stool or box for a while.
  4. If you sit for a long time, put your feet on a small stool so your knees are higher than your hips.
  5. Don’t wear high-heeled shoes.
  6. Don’t sleep on your stomach.

If you or someone you know needs to find relief from a herniated disc with a natural health practitioner, please call Diversified Health Clinic for a free consultation.

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