It’s Not Just About Your Spine Part 2

Rushmore Family Chiropractic offers a comprehensive range of services to treat the patients in and around Rapid City. Our primary area of treatment is the spine but you might be very surprised to know what areas of your body can be treated by your chiropractor!

In this blog series, we’re showing some examples of the more surprising treatments and techniques performed by chiropractors.

While the center of your body is of our topmost concern, many of our patients also experience pain or discomfort in the appendages of the body, and chiropractors are trained in a variety of techniques to treat those areas. Your chiropractor actually can adjust your hands, wrists, forearms and feet, or they can employ semi-custom orthotics including on the knee, hip and pelvis.

Many adults of working age, for instance, can experience pain in their arms, elbows or hands as a result of exercise, work or everyday habits. From carpal tunnel syndrome, to tennis elbow, gamer’s thumb and other injuries and conditions – we might have a solution. For pain in the hands or wrists, we often start by checking your neck, shoulders and elbow – your pain may be extending from another injury.

One technique that we employ on a daily basis is instrument assisted soft tissue therapy (IASTT). Chiropractors, physical therapists and sports medicine specialists all use IASTT when dealing with tricky tendon and muscle troubles that plague our patients.

The IASTT technique is a manual therapy, using stainless steel implements (known as IASTT tools) to target the soft tissues of the body.

When using the IASTT tools at Rushmore Family Chiropractic, we’ll first locate any restrictions in your soft tissue, or muscle knots. We can determine them by running the IASTT tool over your skin, to locate knots, scars or fibrous tissues that might be causing your pain. We then run the IASTT tool over those areas more deeply and concentrated, to break up those knots. This should help to restore your mobility and reduce your pain.

The procedure itself is only mildly uncomfortable. When working over muscle, it will feel comparable to someone grabbing your arm or leg muscle firmly and applying pressure. When working over areas that include bone or tendon, the sensation will be slightly more intense, particularly over the small bones in your hand or foot. But we assure you that the discomfort is temporary and will immediately begin to recede after the procedure.

Recent IASTT patients in our office for gamer’s thumb have reported a 24-hour alleviation in their pain and discomfort! And those with carpal tunnel syndrome notice up to a 50% abatement in their symptoms, in the days following the IASTT technique. For those with chronic pain, we may recommend an ongoing treatment plan that includes IASTT , chiropractic adjustments and other treatments.

When you are experiencing pain in any area of the body, we encourage you to visit Rushmore Family Chiropractic. We will assess the pain and find the right treatment plan for you!

It’s Not Just About Your Spine Part 1

Rushmore Family Chiropractic offers a comprehensive range of services. Our primary area of treatment is the spine but you might be very surprised to know what other areas of your body can be treated by your chiropractor!

Spines, necks and hips are where we see the greatest need from our patients. Wintertime slip-and-falls, workplace incidents and daily sports activities all contribute to pain in backs, low backs, necks and hips. But other areas of your body also need some TLC and we employ a variety of techniques to treat them, and alleviate your pain and discomfort.

Did you know that the jaw is one of the main places of tension with your body? So many people grip, grind and feel pain around their jaw. Thankfully, we have procedures to alleviate that pain and release tension.

For the jaw, we perform what is called ‘Trigger Point Therapy’ and ‘Activator Adjusting’. These are techniques that many of our patients can benefit from. You’ll notice that when you visit Rushmore Family Chiropractic with low back or neck pain, we ask how you’re feeling, where the pain is located, how you’re sleeping and other questions to help us determine where the pain began, and what other areas of the body may be affected.

Trigger Point Therapy

This type of massage treatment targets the muscles around the jaw. The superficial muscle is the Mandible (which lifts the jaw upward, to open and close the mouth). The next muscles, which lie deeper than the Mandible, are the Pterygoids which also help open and close the mouth, as well as to move the jaw from side to side, and forward. The Trapezius and Temporalis are the next muscles, located above the ear. These two can result in pain and soreness around the jaw area.

During Trigger Point Therapy, the patient receives cycles of isolated pressure and release. Through this procedure, we locate small trigger points within muscular bands. Precise pressure is applied, which helps to release constricted areas with the muscles, and reduces pain, sometimes after just one treatment. It helps if the patient practices deep-breathing techniques during their Trigger Point Therapy. Ongoing treatment including Trigger Point Therapy can help manage chronic pain from injury.

Activator Adjusting

The activator is a small hand-held instrument which delivers gentle impulses. The activator can be used on the spine, vertebrae or other joints, as well as soft tissues of the body This spring-loaded instrument rapidly clicks against the particular part of the body’. Because the activator is so fast, the muscles and joints of the body are less likely to tense in anticipation.

When a patient is suffering from TMJ, Activator Adjusting is often the best treatment a chiropractor can give. The activator can pinpoint an area of misalignment or subluxation, around the temporomandibular joint, and help to release it.

As chiropractors, our goal is to treat the entire individual and the entire body, not just one area experiencing pain or discomfort.