Photo by Bruce Alan Johnson

Common Conditions and Treatments

What to Expect in Treatment

Treatment includes a conversation about the history of the issue, a physical examination, treatment and education. The central focus is on supporting the functional, personal, professional and spiritual goals of the patient. The treatment you receive in a session will include some or all of the modalities explained below, depending on what you need or want. If you are recovering from a broken leg, you won’t get the same treatment as if you are hoisting puppets on the broadway stage 6 days a week and want to be more facile and comfortable, or if you developed an upper back spasm this morning while rolling out of bed.

Chiropractic

1. A chiropractic adjustment is a non-forceful but very quick movement of one bone relative to another at a joint. Chiropractic adjustments are tuned to create space and restore healthy movement to a joint.
   
   
2. Chiropractic can stimulate the immune system; open mechanical blockages to the nervous system; create the skeletal alignment that supports overall function of the body and organs; regulate hormonal cycles (e.g., one’s period); and relieve pain.
   
   
3. Adjustments are faster than the nervous system. That is, they are faster than your reflexes.
   
   
4. When people have pain, they tend to hold the muscles in the area. A faster-than-reflex adjustment allows a correction even where this reflexive spasm is going on, which allows pain and holding to let go where few other interventions can help.

Bodywork

1. Bodywork can educate the nervous system to help the mind retain and “hard save” the changes from the session.
   
   
2. Bodywork integrates the whole person into the healing event. Because it happens slower than chiropractic, it provides a dialogue with the conscious mind of the client and allows us to release tension, build connections and alter sensations together. The dialogue can be just touch, or can include talking as well that increases awareness in the client and more direct touch by me.
   
   
3. Movement happens in the body because a muscle is directed by the nervous system to move a joint. Since bodywork addresses the muscles and nervous system directly, it provides the crucial link between all aspects of conscious movement, allowing patterns to change and areas of blockage to open whether they are in the tissue of the muscle, joint or brain.

Postural, Movement and Habit Analysis

1. Injury is the intersection of a long-held habit with an unfortunate event.
   
   
2. If underlying habits, attitudes and life circumstances are not addressed, some injuries, especially chronic ones, will return or persist.
   
   
3. Movement, postural and lifestyle analysis will help you to identify the points of power and disempowerment in your self and life that lead to pain and difficulty.
   
   
4. Based on our analysis, we will evolve strategies for more healthy, vibrant, balanced living. This could include
   
   
   • changing the layout of your desk
   • putting more weight on the left inside foot when you walk
   • speaking to the person who angers you
   • checking your glasses prescription
   • eating more protein
   • getting a pillow for your car seat
   • and so on!

Patient Education

Education

All of my work involves educating clients, whether physically or verbally.
I’ll help you explore

• The nature of your injury or other issue
• Ways that you can help yourself
• The relation between your pain and your personal history
• Stretch, strength and release practices that can prevent re-injury and assist healing
• Language for understanding the body as the centerpiece of identity and as the opening to vibrant living and full healing

Orthotics

An orthotic is a custom-made shoe insert that promotes and supports healthy motion of the foot to prevent collapsed arches, stress on the plantar fascia, bunions and other foot dysfunctions.

An orthotic can also correct a leg length discrepancy, and/or realign the whole body by changing its foundation.

An orthotic is a prosthetic which changes the “floor” to change your foot and body. It must be as perfect as an artificial joint or leg. If you pay for orthotics,

• They should be fitted carefully
• Your leg length should be measured and the flexibility of your big toe assessed
• When they arrive, the doctor should look at you standing in them in socks and standing in them in shoes.
• If you feel uncomfortable in them after a day, they should be sent back to the factory for alteration. You shouldn’t get used to your orthotics (after a day or two); they should get used to you.

Orthotics are not for everybody. But for problems that cannot be changed by conservative treatment and changes in activities of daily living, they can be a godsend.

After you are fitted for orthotics,

• I will make sure they are properly formed to do the job they were meant to
• teach you how to trim, fit and wear them
• analyze and coach your movement in them
• send them back to the factory as many times as necessary until they are perfect