Chiropractic Therapies

There are two types of therapies performed in our clinic. Active therapies such as rehabilitative exercises and passive therapies such as ultrasound. The main difference between the two therapies is when the patient is actively participating in the therapy itself vs the patient passively receiving the therapy.

Today’s blog is going to be about passive therapies. Here are some passive therapies we do in our clinic: ultrasound, massage, trigger point muscle therapy, electric muscle stimulation, and traction. We will discuss the benefits of these therapies in more detail and the overlying similarity between them is that they are passive therapies where the patient is not actively participating. 

Ultrasound uses sound waves to penetrate tissue and stimulate the healing process, this is a deep heat modality. In our office, the patient will expose the area of skin that is affected, lay down, and receive an ultrasound treatment for ten minutes. Now there is more to this therapy, but overall in its simplest basic terms, this is ultrasound.

Muscle therapy is used to decrease tension and spasms in the muscles. It’s a great therapy for breaking down scar tissue and helping stimulate the healing process of the soft tissue. Again with this therapy, the patient exposes the area of skin that is affected, lays face down or face up or sideways, and then receives treatment depending on the extent and size of the problem. 

Electrical muscle stimulation works by interference and overstimulation. The interference is interrupting pain messages from the brain and the overstimulation is causing the muscles to contract so when the therapy is over they are tired and relaxed. This therapy is applied like the two mentioned before, where an area of skin that is problematic is exposed and stimulation pads are placed directly upon it for 10 minutes. 

Traction works by gently stretching out the spine. The patient lays down on the traction table for ten minutes and the table itself stretches out the spine. Just like the other therapies the only patient’s responsibility is to relax. 

Patients tend to love passive therapies because there is no work on their end and they feel great most of the time unless dealing with excruciating pains. But active therapies are just as important to improving a patient’s health and our next blog will go further in-depth on the active therapies we perform in our clinic.

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