Chiropractor Serving Vancouver, WA
What Does Chiropractic Care Include?
Chiropractic care focuses on addressing musculoskeletal dysfunction. I know that sounds very broad and kind of confusing so let me give you an example…
Let’s say you come to our office with low back pain after a tough workout or picking up your kids.
After a history and exam, we determine you have a low back strain.
In this example, chiropractic care would likely consist of:
- Chiropractic Adjusting to unlock stiff joints
- Myofascial Release to loosen up tight muscles
- Functional Rehab exercises to do at home to address muscle imbalances
- Spine-Sparing Strategies to show you how to avoid this happening in the future!
Most people think chiropractic care includes only the chiropractic adjustment. The adjustment is a powerful tool, but it's not the only tool in the toolbox (especially for a sports chiropractor in Vancouver).
What are some of these tools/techniques we use?
Glad you asked! Let's do a brief overview of the tools and techniques we use to keep our active Vancouver Washington patients moving!!!
Sports Chiropractic
Our chiropractor, Dr. Dustin Henry is a sports chiropractor (Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician)! This includes additional training and certification through the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians.
What does this mean to you?
If you’re an athlete, You’re in the right place! Dr. Henry can treat your sports injury and get you back to being active and pain-free! Sports specific treatments and rehab tailored to get you back to doing what you love!
Not an athlete? No problem! Take advantage of the extensive knowledge and sport specific treatment techniques offered by our chiropractor. This often includes adding in manual therapies to address tight muscles and fascial adhesions. Also, incorporating core strengthening exercises alongside regular more traditional chiropractic care.
The Chiropractic Adjustment
If our vancouver chiropractor has found joints in your body that are not moving freely, we may suggest a chiropractic adjustment. Not addressing these issues can lead to further tightness and discomfort and even accelerate unwanted degenerative changes in your joints… like arthritis.
A Chiropractic adjustment can improve flexibility, relieve pain and maintain healthy joints!
Myofascial Release
Muscles can become overworked and develop knots or “trigger points”. If this goes on for a long time, it can even lead to inflammation and swelling. It can also lead to myofascial adhesions forming between your tissues.
This can be treated with myofascial release. A sports chiropractor can apply gentle pressure with their hands or a special tool on your muscles and release trigger points and myofascial adhesions. So you can have improved circulation, reduced pain and improved flexibility!
IASTM (Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation)
Whew, long name! Most of our patients (... to our chagrin) refer to this as “scraping”. It includes going over an area of skin with a stainless steel tool in a… scraping motion.
These stainless steel tools make it easier to detect and treat fascial dysfunction. It can create a controlled inflammatory response which can promote healing and new collagen formation to repair the painful area!
It's especially effective for treating tight neck muscles from sitting and typing all day!!!
Functional Rehab
A lot of our patients present with painful issues that can be attributed to muscle tightness or weakness in certain areas. Muscle imbalances like this can alter joint function and needs to be addressed or the injury can just keep coming back!
Our sports chiropractor is especially skilled in targeting muscles with functional rehab exercises to build back strength, endurance and help you become more resilient.
Mobility
Muscle imbalances can also be caused form overly tight muscles that are altering the way your body moves. Sometimes this can be as easy as showing you a simple stretch to incorporate into your day.
Other times, it can include performing advanced mobility techniques such as PNF stretching where there is a series of contracting and relaxing. Or even adding in foam rolling to your daily routine.
Neuromuscular Re-education
After an injury happens, you start moving your body differently. You may shift your weight more to one side when you bend down or hold your head differently after a neck injury. Neuromuscular re-eduation is a soft-tissue therapy aimed at improving these patterns and restoring proper balance and coordiation.
Spine-Sparing Strategies
Sometimes the best and longest lasting treatment is the one where you teach someone how to move their body in a way that doesn't irritate their problem area!
We find that a lot of times people don't know what exactly caused their pain and how they can prevent it from coming back in the future. Sometimes, it can be as simple as teaching someone how to bend forward without hurting their low back.