Category: Therapy

Aspen Class IV Laser Therapy
By: Dr. Sebastian Poma

Are you looking for a safe and effective way to treat pain points around your body? Laser therapy might just provide you with the solution you need. This medical treatment is FDA-cleared and provides everyone with a non-pharmacological and non-invasive method for pain relief.
Laser therapy is a common, non-surgical, and non-invasive way of treating various conditions. It can be used safely on almost every area of the body and can help with both acute and chronic injuries, pain, stiff joints, sore muscles and more.
Through this procedure there are various benefits to be gained:
– A boost in cellular metabolism
– Reduction in muscle spasms
– A decrease in pain
– Improved healing to damaged tissues

By applying stimulation to the specific wavelengths that affect the cell receptors inside our body, laser therapy can modify the effects of injured tissues. As such, it can reduce the overall duration of inflammation, while enhancing the body’s healing and repair capabilities. Here are just a few results that have been observed in various clinical studies as a result of laser therapy:
– Better vasodilation
– Better collagen production
– Better cell membrane
– Better cell metabolism
– Better lymphatic response
– Better microcirculation
– Better nerve regeneration
– Better pain threshold
– Better bone and tissue repair
– Better enzyme response
– Reduced edema magnitude
– Reduced duration in inflammation

Laser therapy can be used to treat chronic and acute conditions, along with post-activity recovery. It can also be used as an alternative to prescription drugs, a pre- and post-surgery treatment for swelling and pain.
Laser therapy has proved to be effective in improving recovery times after workouts or activities such as sports. It is also capable of reducing delayed onset muscle soreness.

Laser therapy provides the body with a series of healing responses, where patients will feel a wave of soothing warmth which signals the beginning of the process. The modulated cellular activity leads to an improvement in local circulation and decreased pain in the areas being treated. As a result, laser therapy can significantly enhance and accelerate our body’s natural repair and defense mechanisms.

Because of this, laser therapy is particularly useful for inflammation, workout and sports injuries, and some disease processes. For a successful treatment program, it’s best to undergo multiple treatments, where the number of weeks will depend on the severity of symptoms and your condition. Laser therapy is clinically used for the following conditions:

– Neck Pain
– Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) (Jaw Pain)
– Elbow & Joint Pain
– Shoulder Pain
– Low Back Pain
– Fibromyalgia
– Arthritis
– Sciatica
– Soft Tissue Damage
– Sports Injuries
– Plantar Fasciitis

If you’ve never had laser treatments done before, it’s only natural to be nervous about your first time. However, many patients report it to be a pleasurable experience, where you will feel warm, soothing and relaxing sensations during your sessions. These feelings are a reflection that your cells are getting the stimulation they need to promote healing.

Because laser treatment is non-surgical and non-invasive, you’ll be able to go home on the same day as the treatment and quickly go back to your routine. Although, it’s best to avoid strenuous and direct exercise to help speed up your recovery process.

There are key factors that will play a role in determining how many treatments are needed, which are:
1. The patient’s response to the treatments
2. The nature of their condition

Gift the gift of Laser Therapy this Holiday season. Purchase one laser session or a package of laser session at Core Therapies. To schedule an appointment, or for questions, reach out to us at 973-240-7251.

How to Body Balance during Pregnancy
by Dr. Katie Gleisner

The motherhood transition, first through the fourth trimester, shifts a woman’s physical, emotional, and energetic being.  As your body undergoes the herculean task of growing a human and a new organ, the placenta, from scratch, your bones, muscles, ligaments, and fascia shift to compensate and adapt.  These adaptations impact mom’s physical comfort during pregnancy and birth, as well as her baby’s ability to move freely in utero and descend optimally into the pelvis.  Body balancing techniques focus on gentle unwinding and myofascial release to achieve a state of balance and harmony.  These poses are simple and safe to practice on a regular basis during your pregnancy, and incorporated as birthing positions.  

Our body is dynamic and resilient, but trauma is absorbed and held in the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. We accumulate trauma as we experience life.  Torsion injuries from birth, car accidents, and falls, as well as ingrained daily movement patterns impact our structural balance.  As traumas are locked in, the body develops imbalances or biomechanical distortion patterns to compensate.  These structural imbalances create tension throughout the spine, muscles, connective tissue, and fascia.  Chiropractic, craniosacral, and myofascial techniques detect imbalances and release tension, which allows the body to unwind physical and emotional energy, and reset body balance.  Clearing biomechanical distortion patterns through bodywork and body balancing poses helps to establish healthier posture, movement patterns, nerve and musculoskeletal function, and overall well-being.

Pregnancy and birth are normal, physiological experiences for the body.  You may anticipate incremental changes throughout your pregnancy as your body grows and nurtures your baby.  Some moms experience energy shifts, headaches, sickness, breast tenderness, cramping, low back and pelvic pain during pregnancy.  Others don’t.  An individual’s “symptoms” are evidence of unique hormonal and physical changes, as well as possible body imbalances.  Uterine, fetal, and breast growth during pregnancy shift the body’s center of gravity forward, into flexion.  Simultaneously, the pelvis is tilted anteriorly, as relaxin loosens the ligaments and joints throughout the body.  These changes distort posture, biomechanics, and movement patterns, resulting in further body imbalance.  Any biomechanical distortion pattern in the mom’s structure impacts the baby’s structure.  Therefore, clearing imbalances and unwinding tension through the neuromusculoskeletal system helps to establish dynamic body balance, which during pregnancy increases comfort and ease with birth, as well as creating space for the baby to maneuver into the pelvis.

The pregnancy body balancing poses seek to balance the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and fascia of the musculoskeletal system to support a healthy pregnancy and optimal birth positioning.  They are gentle movements that should feel comfortable to breathe and settle into.  All you need to get started is your body, breath, a partner, sofa/bed, and pillow.

Diaphragm Release

Intention: Gentle release of the diaphragm and pelvic floor through broad ligament relaxation.  Diaphragm release can be safely performed throughout pregnancy.

How To:

1. Start laying on your back or side. Place a pillow behind your head.
2. Have your partner place one hand with their thumb pointing towards your belly button on your lower abdomen.  Their second hand contacts your sacrum.  Initially, your partner is not applying pressure, but holding space for relaxation.
3. Begin diaphragmatic/belly breathing.  Focus on inhaling through your nose, feel your breath fill up your abdomen, and exhale through your mouth. Your partner may apply light pressure with their top hand.
4. Be attentive for subtle movements, flutters or waves, as your body relaxes and unwinds.  Allow yourself 10-30 minutes to release and reset your body balance.

Standing Release

Intention: Gentle release of the fascia of the diaphragm and pelvic floor.  It helps to release pressure of your low back and hips, as well as balance spinal muscles.  Standing release can be used throughout pregnancy and during early labor.  It is great to do after a long car ride to relax and loosen up the muscles, fascia, and joints of the low back and pelvis. 

How To:

1. Stand facing a wall, and place your hands or forearms against it.  Soften your knees and close your eyes, if comfortable. 
2. Have your partner stand to your side and place their dominant hand on your sacrum.  Their fingers should be facing down on your sacrum.  Their second hand cradles your lower abdomen.
3. Using light pressure your partner will feel for any “buckle” or “ledge” of tension in the sacrum.  They will hold gentle sustained pressure on the area, until your body releases.
4. Breathe and allow your body to unwind tension throughout your pelvis and body.   Allow 2-5 minutes for this release. 

Side Lying Release

Intention:  A static stretch to open and soften the muscles of the pelvis and spine, as well as release sacroiliac (SI) joints.  Side Lying Release can be performed on a regular basis during pregnancy to support better fetal positioning, and during labor to reduce pain and duration.

How To:

1. Lay on one side on a supportive surface (bed, couch).  Place a pillow beneath your head to keep your spine straight.
2. Have your partner stand in front of you, with their leg/hip firmly against the edge of the bed to keep you stable.  Your partner will place their hands around your hip.
3. Lift and drop your leg off the bed.  Let your leg relax and hang for 2-3 minutes.  Breathe.
4. Repeat on the opposite side to create balance and stability in the pelvis.
5. Stand up and walk around your space to allow for further unwinding of your pelvis.

Forward Leaning Inversion

Intention: Create space in your pelvis to help your baby get into an optimal position for birth through uterine ligament unwinding.  It can be helpful at reducing back, sacrum, and pubic bone discomfort.

How To:

1. Kneel and hold onto the edge of your couch or top of the stairs.
2. Carefully, lower yourself to rest your hands on the floor.  Move to your forearms.
3. Gently tuck your chin to align your head and neck. Allow your head to hang freely.
4. Keep your knees to the edge of the surface, and your hips up high. Listen to your body and gently tilt, sway, or circle your hips.
5. Breathe (3 breaths or 30 seconds).
6. Return to your hands, and lift yourself to a kneeling position. Use a partner or stool if you need help.
7. Breathe in a high kneeling position. 
8. Sit on your heels. Breathe.  Keep your feet together, move like a mermaid, as you swing your legs to the side and down to the floor. 
9. Sit and breathe, as your pelvic ligaments settle into a more balanced, aligned position.

For further comfort and balancing during pregnancy, explore Spinning Babies website at https://www.spinningbabies.com, and get regular prenatal chiropractic adjustments. 

References:

Carol Phillips, DC, Better Birth with Body Balancing 

Postpartum Care for Mom and Baby

By Dr. Meagan McGowan
August 2021

Happy BIRTH-day!!  You’ve just accomplished the greatest physical and mentally challenging event of your life, you birthed your baby!  Now what?  Most women are unaware that in the United States we lack a standard of care for the postpartum woman.  Most consider postpartum to be a period of time much less than even the first year of their baby’s life.  This misunderstanding has unfortunately led to “normalizing” challenges faced physically, chemically, and emotionally as if they just come with the territory of birth.  At Core Therapies, we not only support this postpartum transition, we strive to bring understanding to the misconception that once a woman is no longer postpartum, her stress will resolve itself.  If you have birthed a baby, you are forever postpartum.

Throughout a woman’s prenatal care, our goal is to address any concerns she may have in the physical space, but beyond that, understand and support her in achieving her most optimal birth.  As she approaches the conclusion of her third trimester, the conversation shifts as we address her most present thoughts, but also introduce ideas for the postpartum transition.

Again, birth is the most physically challenging event of a woman’s life.  The transition to postpartum happens as soon as the placenta is birthed.  Her body preps for birth for months, and postpartum within minutes.  Chiropractic care can be extremely beneficial in helping this recovery as the body works to regulate itself again.

• We conduct a gentle treatment assessing the body, both joint and soft tissue, for imbalances since birth is deeply strenuous on the musculoskeletal system.
• We discuss what rest looks like and how the act of breath-work is the first step toward recovery.
• We assess a baseline of diastasis recti while also discussing pelvic floor recovery and what signs of stress look like.
• We have an important conversation around nutrition and refueling during the months following her birth.
• I personally recommend that every woman receive an assessment of blood work at 3 months and 6 months postpartum. Deficiencies that show up as physical or mental stress could be revealed preventing a woman from experiencing months or years of fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, depression, etc.

As care progresses, we support Mom’s recovery through deeply intentional active care to help her reestablish core stability and allow her to handle the demands of daily life.  This creates a foundation that will support her as she returns to the level of activity she desires.

We always encourage Mom to schedule baby for their Birth-day adjustment, as growth in utero and the birthing process can leave baby with their own versions of stress.  All too often, baby is actually scheduled before Mom due to struggles with one or more of their systems.  Babies most often present with difficulty surrounding feeds, digestion, or rest.  In that moment, the baby is our priority, but we are checking in with Mom if she’s present, getting a sense of how she’s feeling/healing, and also checking in with her partner because all too often their stress is overshadowed.

Over the years, we have developed an incredible network of support professionals surrounding the birth world and beyond.  Chiropractic care is truly beneficial in many facets and with the collaboration of others, the family can more easily navigate Mom’s recovery and baby’s development.