IMS is a needling technique that helps to reduce adverse tone in tight muscle bands or trigger points that contribute to pain and dysfunction. By targeting localized areas of tightness with the needle insertion a reflex relaxation is produced in the muscle. This helps to relieve pressure on tender joint structures and in the muscles themselves which in turn influences pain and inflammation produced by the adverse tightness. The points are chosen by the certified therapist by conducting a neuropathic assessment. It is a dry needling treatment, meaning that nothing is injected. The needles used are similar to those of acupuncture. The average number of sessions required to create a sustained benefit is 7 to 8 sessions at a frequency of once a week.
Therapeutic Massage therapy.
Active Release Therapy {ART}
Occupational therapy
Manual Therapy & Myofascial Release. {MFR}
Spinal Manipulations.
Intra Muscular Stimulation [ IMS]
Manual Therapy involves the physiotherapist’s use of his or her hands to mobilize the joints of the spine and extremities, create movement in nerve tissue or facilitate the activation, flexibility and normal tone of muscle. Several different techniques can be used to restore normal motion (not too much, not too little) and regain control of that motion. This allows each region of the body to move fully, efficiently and safely.
Exercise therapy involves eliciting motion of the body or its parts in order to relieve symptoms and improve function. Specific stretching, strengthening, and stabilization exercises are a critical part of the rehabilitation process for most musculoskeletal injuries. Continued exercise is an important component of injury prevention.
Taping and bracing injured joints and body parts protects those areas from further re-injury and allows for an earlier return to activity. It also can supply support to an area, which will allow muscles, which have tightened or sprained to relax thus facilitating an earlier return of motion.
Electrotherapy treatments including;
Acupuncture needles are most often inserted at specific locations on the skin called acupuncture points. These points are located on specific lines outlined by tradition, referred to as meridians or channels. According to Chinese medical theory, there are 14 major meridians that form an invisible network connecting the body surface with the internal organs. These pathways are believed to be energy channels through which energy flows through the body.
Acupuncture works by restoring the normal energy balance within the body therefore allowing natural healing to occur. The insertion of the fine needle into the tissues also releases endorphins. Endorphins are made by the body and are one of the body’s own natural pain relieving chemicals. These endorphins block the passage of pain signals to the brain and therefore help to relieve or reduce pain within the body. When pain is reduced, the body can then restore normal biochemical balance and promote healing.
The physiotherapists who perform Acupuncture at our Clinic are certified through the Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute. They are also registered with Physiotherapy Alberta College+ Association to perform acupuncture and are actively on the Acupuncture Needling Roster.
Spinal manipulation is a therapeutic intervention performed on spinal articulations which are synovial joints. It’s designed to relieve pressure on joints, reduce inflammation, and improve nerve function. It’s often used to treat back, neck, peripheral joints and headache pain.
In spinal manipulation, the practitioner uses their hands to apply a controlled, sudden force to a specific joint. Patients often hear popping noises, like when you crack your knuckles
The effects of spinal manipulation have been shown to include:
Common side effects of spinal manipulation are characterized as mild to moderate and may include: local discomfort, headache, tiredness, or radiating discomfort
Frequency specific micro-current (FSM) is a system of treatment using micro-amperage current and resonance effects of frequencies on tissues and conditions to reduce symptoms and improve health. Micro-current amperages are the same kind of current your body produces on its own so you can’t feel the current.
Micro-current has been shown to increase energy production in cells by 500% and numerous papers document its ability to improve healing in wounds and fractures, reduce pro-inflammatory agents, increase anti-inflammatory markers and increase analgesic substances to reduce pain.
FSM frequencies are electrical pulses measured in hertz (Hz) or pulses per second. Micro-current is current in millionths of an ampere. All FSM frequencies are below 1000 Hz.
The frequencies appear to change pain, function and even structure in a large number of clinical conditions. FSM is especially good at reducing inflammation, treating nerve, joint and muscle pain and dissolving or softening scar tissue. Patients treated within 4 hours of new injuries such as auto accidents have reduced pain and a greatly accelerated healing process due to the effects of both the current and the frequency.
While there is no guarantee that every protocol is going to be effective in every patient in general the frequencies either work or don’t work and if they don’t work they simply have no effect.
FSM is often used as an adjunct therapy to therapeutic approaches appropriate to the therapist’s discipline after a proper assessment.
All FSM clinical therapy and research is done with a two-channel battery operated micro-current machine. Both the frequency and current can be set independently on each of the two channels.
The frequencies are delivered with three-digit accuracy from 0.1 Hz to 999 Hz using an adjustable ramped square wave. The direct current is modified by circuitry to an alternating or pulsed positive square wave. Any device that has the same parameters should be able to reproduce the published outcomes if the diagnosis and treatment are correct.
Micro-current devices have 1000 times less current than TENS machines which create current in the milliamp range although FSM devices are still regulated as TENS devices for regulatory convenience. TENS create muscle contraction and block pain messages traveling up the spine to the brain. TENS devices simply block pain they do not increase cellular energy production or decrease inflammation like FSM does.
Micro-current provides electrons and in published studies increases ATP production in cells. Lasers provide photons or light particles that oscillate at set frequencies and provide benefit by other methods than frequency specific resonance.
There are no risks to the patient that we know about as long as the practitioner follows the proper contraindications and precautions associated with both FSM and the use of the FSM device.
There are frequencies used to remove scar tissue that should not b used with 6 weeks of a new injury.
The device should not be used across the chest of patients with pacemakers and caution should be used with patients with uncontrolled Atrial Fibrillation. FSM should also not be used on a patient known to be pregnant even though there have been no adverse reactions in pregnancy.
Patients who are dehydrated cannot benefit from FSM. Every patient is advised to drink at least one litre of water in the two hours preceding treatment. Patients who are chronically dehydrated may need more water for treatment to be effective.
The effectiveness of the FSM depends almost entirely on an accurate assessment or diagnosis. As an example shoulder pain can come from muscles, tendons, bursas, nerves, connective tissue or the joint. While FSM can address each of these possible pain generators effectively the practitioner must treat the right tissue for the correct condition to eliminate the pain. This is true for every condition.
In the early 1900’s medical physicians and osteopaths in the USA and Canada used electromagnetic therapy devices to treat thousands of patients until 1934 when the American Medical Association declared the electromagnetic therapies, homeopathy, nutrition, and herbs were ‘unscientific’ and outside of physicians scope of practice. These devices fell out of use and in the 1950’s the US FDA made the machines illegal.
In 1995, Dr. Carol McMakin, a Chiropractor in Oregon received a list of micro-current frequencies from an osteopath who had bought a practice in 1946 in Vancouver BC which came with a 1922 electromagnetic device and a list of frequencies. She began to use the list as if the frequencies were correct and noted that the results were immediate and fascinating. The frequencies appeared to do exactly what they were described as doing. Frequencies to remove scarring increased range of motion frequencies to stop bleeding prevented bruising but did nothing for inflammation or range of motion.
After treating patients for over a year, in her own practice, Dr. McMakin began teaching the technique in 1997 to see if the results were reproducible. It soon became apparent that students were achieving the same results. Since that time students from all over the world have been taught and now over 1600 practitioners practice worldwide.
