At Mind Body integrative Physical Therapy we also specialize in one-on-one, patient centered, mind body therapy.
We have helped many patients deal with some truly life-altering and chronic medical conditions. By using mind body therapy, coupled with a wide variety of specialized skills and treatment techniques, we have helped numerous patients using our holistic mind-body integrative approach to healing. We are also certified in Process Acupressure, a highly specialized holistic treatment technique.
Listed below are just some of the chronic conditions we have helped patients with in our practice.
Musculoskeletal Pain
Muscle pain and related body aches can happen to anyone. This type of pain usually affects the Musculoskeletal support structures that allow you to move about in daily life: joints, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves .
Musculoskeletal pain can be caused by poor posture, repetitive motions, injury, overuse, and wear and tear. You might have pain in specific parts of the body (upper and lower back, neck, shoulders, arms, legs, feet, hands) or your entire body might ache. If this type of pain is bad enough, it may disturb your sleep cycle and cause fatigue as well. Fortunately, there are many ways to treat this type of pain.
See Manual Therapy for specific treatment techniques which we may use to treat Musculoskeletal pain.
Back and Neck Pain
Back pain is pain in any region of the back and is divided into neck pain (cervical), middle back pain (thoracic), lower back pain (lumbar) or coccydynia (tailbone or sacral pain) based on the area affected.
The lumbar area is the most common area for pain, as it supports most of the weight in the upper body. Episodes of back pain may be acute, sub-acute, or chronic depending on duration. Pain may be characterized as a dull ache, shooting or piercing pain, or a burning sensation. Discomfort can radiate into arms, hands, legs and feet, and may include numbness, or weakness in the legs and arms.
Back pain can originate from the muscles, nerves, bones, joints or other structures in the spine. Internal structures such as the gallbladder, pancreas, aorta, and kidneys may also cause referred pain in the back.
Back pain is common, with about nine out of ten adults experiencing it at some point in their life, and five out of ten working adults having it every year. It is the most common cause of chronic pain. See wikipedia for more information.
Arthritis
People with arthritis often have stiff joints -- largely because they avoid movements that can increase pain. By not moving arthritic joints, however, the stiffness and pain only get worse. Therefore, people with arthritis often benefit from physical therapy. A physical therapist can teach you how to work out stiffness without further damaging your joint. It is also useful after an injury, such as from a fall, and after joint surgery, especially for artificial joint replacement.
Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts for several months, or in some cases, years, and affects at least 116 million Americans each year. Physical therapists play an important role in managing chronic pain by administering treatments that include strengthening and flexibility exercises, manual therapy, posture awareness, and body mechanics instruction. Physical therapists can also help the patient to understand the underlying cause of their pain.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is one of the most common chronic pain conditions. The disorder affects an estimated 10 million people in the U.S. and an estimated 3-6% of the world population. While it is most prevalent in women —75-90 percent of the people who have FM are women —it also occurs in men and children of all ethnic groups.
We can help fibromyalgia sufferers by teaching them self-management skills. Physical therapists can show people with fibromyalgia how to relieve symptoms of pain and stiffness in everyday life. We can teach people with fibromyalgia how to build strength and improve their range of motion and show them ways to get relief from deep muscle pain. We can also help sufferers learn how to make sensible decisions about daily activities that will help prevent painful flare-ups.
Having Masters degrees in both Physical Therapy and Counseling Psychology has advantages to understand the Mind - Body – Soul connection. Understanding, acknowledging, and processing stored emotions, and old beliefs is crucial for a patient to reclaim their empowerment.
Most people don't realize or understand that chronic medical or pain related conditions affect your mind, emotions, and the body down to the cellular level. Often there is a disconnect that obstructs recovery and healing. Through the facilitation of the mind-body process that we introduce, you can acquire a healthy coping mechanism and bring about lasting change and healing.
Let us help you reclaim your empowerment. It’s time for you to experience life altering change, inner peace and harmony. You are unique and deserve a chance to heal and thrive.
Contact us for more information at (828) 513-5091.
Mind Body Therapy
What is Process Acupressure?
Process Acupressure (PA) is a simple, yet profound, holistic method that combines traditional acupressure (to a fully-clothed body) with a process approach to consciousness. It facilitates healing and the natural growth process that arises from within the individual.
Process Acupressure works with the active energy of both body and soul for healing and growth. “Process” is a working state where a patient deals with issues of body, mind and spirit that are often buried in the unconscious. During a PA session an organic change often occurs as a result of creating a clearer stronger flow of energy through the whole-being. The objective of process work is for the patient to come to a more conscious understanding of themselves.
How does a Process Acupressure Session work?
During a PA session, a patient lays down and rests on a massage table, fully clothed. A certified practitioner will then apply firm, gentle finger pressure to specific acupressure point combinations, while encouraging the patient to notice what they are experiencing. Often, positive change can begin to occur just by a patient acknowledging, and addressing symptoms or signals that arise during a session . The goal of Process Acupressure is to magnify and bring into clearer focus the unique essence of the patient. The patient is empowered to choose the pace and depth of exploration at all times. A full session lasts about one hour.
Normally, a PA session transitions through the following phases:
- Relaxation: Patient may become aware of issues within their body and/or consciousness as they begin to relax.
- Awareness: Patient may go into a deeper state of awareness, beneath surface tension, to access clarity or guidance about the issues at hand.
- Integration: Finally, integration and completion of the process occur as session is closed with balancing and grounding.
What is Process Acupressure: Inner Child Healing (PAIC):
A highly skilled and certified Process Acupressure practitioner will use the basic PA protocol, and processing methods to address many present symptoms or obstructions that are rooted in childhood wounds or teachings. Healing in body, mind and emotions are emphasized over simply remembering trauma. The patient will learn to identify, discharge and heal those traumas through tissue release with loving touch. The inner child's experience is validated and methods are taught to re-pattern old obstructive thinking and behaviors.