Now more than ever consumers have to make educated decisions and be their own advocate when it comes to choosing their healthcare provider. If you need services such as physical therapy or chiropractic care and you haven’t done your homework, you could end up spending both time and money you don’t need to. In these tough times when many are struggling financially, patients should seek out care that is both effective and efficient. What many don’t realize is that there are vast differences in treatment approaches amongst different providers which can make all the difference in treatment length and cost of care when it comes to successful resolution of your injury or ailment. You can’t assume that just because providers have the same degree or initials after their name that they are using the same techniques or following the same protocols. This is a very important distinction.

Here are some tips for choosing your healthcare provider:

1. Ask friends and family. There is nothing better than good testimonials from others when making your decision.

2. Check the clinic websites. The website should provide you with the backgrounds of each provider as well as the clinic’s treatment approach.

3. Interview the provider. I am speaking to folks by phone and responding to e-mails prior to seeing them in my office. This is a great way for patients to get preliminary questions answered and get a feel for the provider. If the provider is not willing to do this, I would be concerned.

We at the Advanced Injury Treatment Center located in Bedford, NH (www.aitcnh.com) strive to separate ourselves by providing by the highest level of care in manual medicine and rehabilitation. Our mission is to restore the highest level of function in the shortest period of time saving you both time and money. The treatment is always one-on-one and with the same provider to optimize continuity in care. We are a small, privately-owned clinic whose success is largely based on satisfied patient to patient referrals.

At the Advanced Injury Treatment Center in Bedford, NH, we evaluate all contributing factors to a patient’s back pain.  That may entail excessive hamstring tightness, poor foot mechanics, or weak gluteal muscles to name a few.  Long-term relief of back pain requires a treatment plan that addresses all of an individual patient’s biomechanical faults.  Treatment may consist of Graston Technique or Active Release Technique to lengthen chronically tight soft-tissue, joint manipulation to restore joint mobility, and exercise prescriptions to strengthen weak/inhibited muscles.  Low back pain can be resolved but it takes a thorough treatment plan and a motivated patient.  Like I tell every patient, “if I see you back here in 3 months with the same symptoms, what have we really accomplished?”

This line of thinking has become the standard for how most people deal with chronic injury or chronic pain.  Avoidance therapy is certainly an easy answer when a person is in pain, but experience has shown that it’s never too late to do something about chronic injury or pain.

Most times, the avoidance of an activity will cause the area in question to weaken over the course of time mainly because of disuse.  This can complicate the issue because now the person loses some of the range of motion, stability and ultimately the strength of that area.  Rather than avoiding the activity, a person should try to work around the injury by working with the right professional and either modifying the movement or performing a series of pre and post activity exercises to “warm-up” the area before activity.

In addition, there are many soft-tissue techniques that can help kick start the healing process in an area by increasing local blood flow, breaking down old scar-tissue and stimulate the growth of new, more pliable and stretchy connective tissue.  One technique that has been proven effective in treating chronic injury is Graston Technique (GT).  GT is an advanced soft-tissue mobilization therapy which relies on the use of 6 stainless steel instruments to effectively break down scar tissue and stimulate the healing process in an area.

This technique has revolutionized the way chronic injuries are now treated.  Recently I had a patient come into the office with an 8 year history of frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis.  After 11 sessions of GT, the patient had gained 80% of her range of motion and had full strength which allowed her to play tennis again for the first time in 8 years!!

So it’s never too late to deal with chronic injury.  For more information about GT, please visit their website and see a short slideshow that illustrates how this technique can help get you moving the way you were designed to move.

GT: www.grastontechnique.com

Often times, we become fixated on where the pain is – not just as patients but even as practitioners.  Before you know it, it becomes easy to fall into the trap where we do not allow ourselves to think that the pain may be caused by an area other then where it hurts.  So the question then presents itself once again, “Is the SITE of pain the same as the SOURCE of pain?”

Recently, I had a client come to the office who had been experiencing chronic back pain for almost 2 years.  During that time, he had undergone various treatments including chiropractic, physical therapy, and two series of cortisone injections which provided temporary relief for weeks at a time, but never anything longer than that.  In that time, he had grown frustrated with the lack of results he was looking for and had become used to the fact that his back pain would be something he would just have to live with – how many times have we heard that scenario?

Ultimately, he found his way to our office after being told about some of the work we provide that blends the disciplines of chiropractic and physical therapy.  During the consultation, it was clear that anything and everything that should have been done to treat his back was done properly.  However, during his examination it was clear that he had some significant muscle imbalances in his hips and legs.  When asked if anyone of his previous practitioners had evaluated his hips he stated, “no.”  While testing his hips, we were able to reproduce his back pain which surprised him at first, but then he realized that it made perfect sense given the nature of his work which requires him to sit for several hours at a time.  Needless to say, when we reviewed his history in further detail he stated that his back pain started within a month of starting a new job that had him sitting all day instead of moving frequently like his former job.

When all was said and done, we established a treatment plan that focused on his hips and not his back.  Instead of back exercises and back stretches we utilized hip exercises and hip stretches.  I will never forget the look on his face during the first appointment when he looked at me and said, “Something tells me that you are onto something.”  After two days of doing his home rehab exercises he e-mailed me to thank me for thinking outside of the box.  I told him that all I did was listen to what he said and that it wasn’t likely that his back pain was only caused from his back but rather another region.

So in the end, this patient learned a great lesson about how the body can sometimes deal with underlying problems.  Even though you feel pain in one particular area of the body, whether it’s acute or chronic, you must always consider the possibility that the site of pain may not always be the source of pain.  Especially when you have exhausted multiple treatment options that did not give you the results you were looking for.

At AITC, we will take the time to listen to your story and help you find the source of your pain and not just treat the symptoms.  It’s a simple approach, but it works.  If you feel that you are like the patient in this story then give us a call and let us help you feel better and get you back to the lifestyle you deserve!