Which therapy?
-
Chiropractic
Chiropractic can be useful for patients who prefer hands-on care or ‘manual therapy’.
Chiropractic treatment involves safe, often gentle, specific spinal manipulation to free joints in the spine or other areas of the body that are not moving properly. Apart from manipulation, chiropractors may use a variety of other techniques. Both of our chiropractors can use lower force techniques if you would rather we adopt that approach; these can include activator, drop technique and joint mobilisations. They are both trained to use instrument assisted soft tissue manipulation (IASTM) using Kinnective - this is a well researched and widely used tool within the high-level sport and performance industry. Additionally chiropractors can offer advice about posture and lifestyle.
-
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy helps to restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability. It can also help to reduce your risk of injury or illness in the future.
It takes a holistic approach that involves the patient directly in their own care. As we have use of the gym this can be from basic at-home exercises right up to TRX, dumbbell or olympic barbell lifts.
Physiotherapy will often involve exercise and rehabilitation to strengthen muscles.and mobilise joints.
Our thorough physiotherapist will help you on your road to recovery.
-
Sports massage
Sports massage is an excellent way to release muscles and fascia using various different deep tissue techniques.
It is a targeted therapy designed to support active individuals, athletes, anyone experiencing stiffness, muscle tension or soreness.
It can be great for preparing for an event or for recovery post-event and can be a vital tool in helping smooth the niggles along the way and recover from more serious injuries. Let our skilled therapists help you move and feel your best.
What to expect?
Mark your calendar- when you have made your appointment you will be sent an email confirmation (please ensure the correct email address is used).
Fill forms - you can fill in the form prior to your appointment via email or if you arrive 5 minutes early you can walk up the stairs at Upgrade Fitness and input your date of birth into the iPad - this will then load the correct form. Once completed this will check you in - this will alert your practitioner that you have arrived as they may be busy with patients. Please note for every subsequent visit you will check in this way.
Wait in reception- please take a seat and your practitioner will be with you shortly
First visit
For your initial chiropractic or physiotherapy consultation you will usually have a 45minute -1 hour appointment. This allows enough time to get to know you, the cause of you injury or complaint and to do some tests. These tests can involve observation, neurological examination, gait analysis, orthopaedic testing or general medical testing like blood pressure.
Following that you will get given a working diagnosis of what we think is wrong as well as advice on what to do about it; often this results in treatment but rarely we may find it appropriate to refer you back to your GP, to A+E or for further imaging and investigation.
Should we feel treatment is the best outcome for you; we will discuss a treatment plan and should you agree we will have you give consent - often by signing an iPad.
Once you’ve understood what we think is going on; we can get stuck into treatment - this is included within your first payment and will happen on the initial visit.
Treatment
Treatment can consist of many types of different modalities:
The most common for a chiropractor is spinal manipulation; this can involve putting a gentle force into the spine to create movement between two joints that arn’t moving very well- this can often result in a ‘click’. This generally isn’t painful - and is often a feeling of release; although it can be somewhat daunting for the first time. It is not the only type of treatment that we do and if you have any concerns or do not like this please let your practitioner know before your treatment - a perfect time to do this is during the report of findings before giving consent to treatment.
The low-force techniques that can still deliver manipulation include activator; a small device that can deliver a gentle specific force to restricted vertebral segments and ‘drop’ technique where parts of the chiropractic table can drop away to allow for increased speed- often patients are surprised that anything has even happened.
All of our therapists will use soft tissue therapy; this involves massaging the tissue to increase blood flow to the area. It can be effective to relieve muscle tension and ‘knots’.
Many of our therapists use a technique called IASTM; “Kinnective is a form of instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization that enables clinicians to effectively break down scar tissue, fascial restrictions and adhesions and change muscle tonus. The technique utilizes a specifically designed stainless steel instrument which is used to both assess and treat areas exhibiting soft tissue dysfunction.”
Mobilisation can be used to apply motion to joints in a slower more controlled fashion this can be useful for patients who do not like manipulation.
Your therapist may decide that rehabilitation is the best option or as a supplementary to treatment may give you some homework. This may involve training in the gym or using rehabilitation equipment such as balls or bands; this will be provided for you and no gym membership is required.
