Myofascial Release
While the chiropractic adjustment has a strong healing impact on soft tissues, there are times when a more direct approach is necessary for injured muscles, tendons, and ligaments, especially when it comes to issues in our arms and legs.
After a comprehensive exam where movement, strength, and function are all assessed, the areas of weakness and damage will be identified. Once the appropriate group of muscles is targeted, the doctor will palpate for the area of injury and apply a light pressure to the muscle, tendon, or ligament. The involved tissue will then be stretched through its normal range of motion allowing for any adhesions or scar tissue within the tissue to be broken down. This also provides a neurological feedback to help decrease the muscle spasm and irritation.
This type of technique can be very effective for a number of musculoskeletal complaints including injured menisci, sprained ankles, tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, and more. In addition, it is a very powerful method to helping out with things like peripheral neuropathy.
Peripheral neuropathy is any damage to a nerve that occurs in our arms or our legs (rather than injuring the nerve near the spine such as a disc herniation). This can cause numbness, tingling, burning, pain, or weakness in our hands and/or feet. For example, a common peripheral neuropathy that people are familiar with is carpal tunnel. In regards to carpal tunnel, we address the soft tissues and muscles around the wrist and forearm to decrease spasm and inflammation to reduce irritation to the nerve traveling through that space.
Myofascial release is a great technique that can be used by itself or in concert with chiropractic adjustments to help address any and all of the changes that come with damage or injury to our nerves or muscles. It is another tool that allows us to provide you with superior care and excellent results in healing.