Manual therapy is wonderful, but on its own it doesn't create lasting change. It is important to train the body to retain the gains in mobility and restore healthy, functional movement patterns. The active portion of your physical therapy may include:
Neuromuscular reeducation
Strength training
Functional exercise
Posture
Balance and gait
Breathing
Pilates
Yoga
Stretching
Improve your movement patterns with proper muscle recruitment
When the body is injured or compromised, it is brilliant at protecting itself and finding other ways to get by. However, once tissues have healed, those compensations are no longer helpful. Neuromuscular reeducation involves restoring the connection between the brain and the muscles. This could mean helping the brain learn to find a muscle again (sometimes with the help of electrical muscle stimulation, or EMS). More often, it means helping the brain turn on the right muscles in the right sequence to create a movement pattern that is supportive and functional. If you feel like you never quite recovered from an injury (even if it was years or decades ago), or if strengthening exercises have made your pain worse rather than better, this is almost certainly part of the problem.
Once muscle recruitment and movement patterns have been optimized, it's time to strengthen within the new pattern. Whether with weights, resistance bands, or other methods, I'll help you build the strength you need to support your joints and feel confident in your abilities.
Targeted toward activities of daily living
Common functional exercises help prepare your body for performing everyday tasks, such as lifting, carrying, reaching, going up and down stairs, or getting on and off the floor. If there is a particular task you're having trouble with, we'll get creative and devise exercises that are catered to your particular goals to train your body for what's important to you!
Train the muscles that keep your spine balanced
Our bodies were designed to abide in a relaxed, upright posture. The joints in our legs and the curves of our spines are engineered for this. Yet over time, and with the influence of sitting at a desk all day, being on our devices, or lounging on cushy furniture, our bodies find it harder and harder to be in a natural posture with ease. Stretching and manual therapy may help relieve the "tightness" that contributes to postural dysfunction, but for lasting change it is essential to train the muscles that support your posture.
Balance is a key component to health and reduction of injury risk. Especially as we age, working on balance and gait boosts confidence on your feet and reduces the risk of falling. There are many methods to improve balance and gait, including the use of unstable surfaces, dynamic movement, head movements, coordination challenges, eye or inner ear exercises, and more.
Breathing is something many of us take for granted, but working with breath can be incredibly powerful. Breathing exercises can help calm the nervous system, let the body's tissues relax and open, improve mobility of the ribs and chest, and optimize aerobic performance.
Pilates is a movement system that emphasizes core stability, breathing, and muscle control through full range of motion. Though I have some formal training in use of the Pilates reformer, I am not a Pilates instructor. Rather, I incorporate Pilates principles and utilize the reformer machine in a way that directly supports your physical therapy goals. Some reformer exercises will be taken directly from Pilates, while others will be adapted for your specific needs.
If your body is stiff or your muscles are short, stretching may improve mobility and provide relief. Stretches may be performed on the Pilates reformer, lying on a mat or bed, sitting in a chair, or with manual assistance, depending on your needs.
Yoga has been part of my life and practice since 2003, and I completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training course in 2012. If yoga is something that is important to you, we can incorporate it into your physical therapy sessions. I can guide you through modifications to your practice to allow you to continue participating in yoga in a way that is safe and comfortable, while we work to address your body's current limitations.