How We Treat

Therapeutic exercise is a key component of your rehabilitation program that consists of various exercises designed to improve balance, strength, range of motion, endurance, and plyometric activities. Following a thorough evaluation, an AzOPT physical therapist will prescribe and instruct you on a personalized program designed to restore movement, improve function and strength, improve gait and balance, and promote overall health, wellness and fitness. Generally speaking, a therapeutic exercise is limited to a single parameter, such as flexibility or strength. The goal of therapeutic exercises is to return an injured patient to a fully functioning, pain-free state.

Therapeutic activities also involve one-on-one sessions with your physical therapist. In contrast to therapeutic exercises, however, they always involve dynamic movements. Additionally, while active therapeutic exercises involve one parameter being measured at most (such as strength, flexibility, or endurance), therapeutic activities involve multiple. Instead of performing a single, specific, physical movement, you will be engaging in a functional task such as throwing a ball, pushing a cart, or reaching up to place a weighted object on a shelf. Therapeutic activities are designed to model real-life movements.

AZOPT Doctors of Physical Therapy favorite tool – their hands – is used to provide manual therapy in three different ways – manipulation, mobilization, and massage.

Manipulation

Manipulation is a high velocity, low amplitude force often associated with an audible popping sound to release gas bubbles that form during joint…

Mobilization

Mobilization is a slower, more controlled process of soft-tissue (myofascial) stretching intended to improve bio-mechanical elasticity.

Massage

Massage is typically the repetitive rubbing, stripping or kneading of myofascial tissues to principally improve interstitial fluid dynamics.

Dry needling (DN) is an effective intervention used by AZOPT’s specialized and certified physical therapists that uses a thin, dry needle (one without medication or injection) to penetrate the skin and stimulate trigger points. A trigger point is a taut band of skeletal muscle located within a larger muscle group. Trigger points can be tender to the touch, and touching a trigger point may cause pain to other parts of the body.

AZOPT uses dry needling with the goal of releasing or deactivating trigger points to relieve pain or improve range of motion. Dry needling can improve pain control, reduces muscle tension, and normalizes dysfunctions of the motor end plates, the sites at which nerve impulses are transmitted to muscles. This can help speed up the patient’s return to active rehabilitation.

A home exercise program is a series of exercises prescribed by your physical therapist to be completed at home that increase strength, improve mobility, and contribute to therapeutic gains. These exercises are practical, accessible, and easy to follow.

Even for patients with the same condition, the home exercise program will be specific to you. This is because the condition of your body is different and influenced by your individual history. Individual history will dictate the type of exercises – stretches, strength or endurance — and the order. As you gradually recover, your exercises will be increased with tolerance, so that pain does not increase. With this personalized approach, you can enjoy a quicker and easier recovery.

Kinesio Tape is an elastic tape (non-latex) that can enhance the function of many different tissues and have a physiologic effect. It can be worn up to 3-5 days at a given time for maximal, long-lasting benefits. Kinesio Taping is one of many tools that can assist in recovery and rehabilitation for acute to chronic orthopedic conditions and everything in between. The goal of the tape is to help the body return to a state of normalcy.

The area of the body that the tape is applied, the amount of stretch on the tape, and the direction of the stretch will all dictate what the tape will accomplish. The elastic properties of the tape stimulate receptors in the skin, fascia, and muscle. Depending on how the tape is applied, these receptors send signals to the brain. The tape can inhibit muscle action, facilitate muscle action, mechanically correct ligament and tendon issues, decrease edema and swelling, and improve the mobility of the underlying fascia.

Using a specialized cuff, patients see similar results of high-level intensity exercises utilizing low-intensity weights and exercises. The limited supply of oxygen stimulates the brain to release chemicals that lead to muscle growth. It’s the same process that occurs naturally when you lift heavy weight to exhaustion or exercise to the point where muscles reach failure. We only partially obstruct the blood flow using guidelines unique to each patient. Blood flow restriction is much easier on joints and does not increase arthritic pain.

Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM) involves using a range of tools to enable our therapists to efficiently locate and treat individuals diagnosed with soft-tissue dysfunction.

Best explained – by the time most patients seek physical therapy for a soft tissue dysfunction, their body has self-healed, creating scar tissue and adhesions that act like super glue in your body. The scar tissue/adhesions prevent the muscle or other tissues from lengthening properly. By using IASTM, AZOPT physical therapists are introducing controlled micro-traumas, which trigger the body’s reabsorption of excessive scar tissue and assists in remodeling the affected soft-tissue structures. After IASTM, the soft tissue loosens to better promote movement.

Cupping therapy is an ancient medical treatment that relies upon creating a local suction to mobilize soft tissues, blood and lymph flow in order to promote healing. Dry cupping is used specifically in physical therapy as a form of soft tissue mobilization.  Cupping increases blood circulation to the area where the cups are placed. This may relieve muscle tension, which can improve overall blood flow and promote cell repair. It may also help form new connective tissues and create new blood vessels in the tissue.

Electrical muscle stimulation — often called “e-stim” or “TENS” — is used for pain relief and muscle re-education. A machine that provides an electrical current through wires is connected to adhesive patches and placed on the skin over a predetermined area. Electrical current is then sent from the machine to the patches and delivered into the muscle tissue below, causing a sensory or motor response.