Stretching Stretching is an essential component to restore and maintain health. The main purpose of stretching is to improve joint range-of-motion and muscle flexibility. There are a variety of stretching techniques and styles that are utilized at different stages of recovery, as well as for activity preparation. Through the consistent employment of stretching you will be improving flexibility, circulation, reducing the risk of injury, reducing muscular imbalances, decreasing anxiety and stress, all of which are improving your health.
	Floor Exercises Floor exercises utilize a combination of stretches and exercises to educate muscles for spinal stabilization and balance. Bad postural habits can lead to poor health, which affects daily living. Floor exercises help you to pay attention to body position, and this helps to educate proper muscle function.
	Weight Training Weight training is perhaps the most well known form of exercise. Utilizing weight training during the rehabilitation process can help strengthen muscles and bones, which can help to prevent future incident and injury. Weight training can improve muscular strength ratios, which in turn improves posture, coordination and balance. Another plus is that weight training boosts your metabolism. Muscles burn more calories than fat does, so the more muscle we build, the more calories we burn and the more fat we lose.
	Resistance Bands Resistance bands exercises are very versatile since they can be preformed almost anywhere. This is efficient way for patients’ to maintain their treatment program at home, work, or even on trips. Working with resistance bands provides a constant resistance working the muscles through their entire range-of-motion, so there is no wasted movement. Resistance bands come in a variety or widths and thickness to help people of all skill and strength levels.
	Gym ball Just like floor exercises, working on the gym ball forces you to pay attention to body position and proper postural alignment. Utilizing the gym ball in rehab helps core stability. When there is a proper proportion of strength in the core, the body’s posture is greatly enhanced. People of all ages and skill levels use the gym ball to improve their health.
	Proprioception Training Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of the neighboring parts of the body, in other words, the sense of equilibrium and balance. If you were to close your eyes and place your hand behind your head, you would know where your hand was due to the proprioceptors in the body (this shows the body can operate without sight to guide it). Propriocetive training allows the body to increase its sense of balance while improving muscle memory and hand-eye coordination. An example could be swinging a golf club. When you swing a golf club you have to follow a specific path or you can hook/slice the ball. You cannot stare at your arms the entire time you swing otherwise you might miss the ball. This proprioceptive sense allows you to consistently swing the club every time while keeping your eye on the ball.
	Core Strengthening Helps you to strengthen your specific muscles and ligaments you don’t regularly use, also works well to improve coordination.

Range-of-Motion Testing

Range of motion is defined as the natural direction and distance of movement of a joint. When you have limited range of motion, the involved body part or joint is incapable of moving through its full capacity, which in turn can create other problems in other areas. These deficiencies in range of motion can be caused by mechanical problems in the joint, muscle spasms, swelling of tissues in or around the joint, and by pain.

Range of motion testing is a critical diagnostic and treatment tool for neck and back pain, headaches, myofascial pain, sore shoulders, night-time cramps and other various conditions.
Discovering these deficiencies allows us to individuate any overlapping pain patterns, locate specific areas where symptoms have yet to surface and associate specific symptoms to individual muscles, all to help you not only help you feel better, but to experience improved functionality as well.

Consider this example: Your job requires you to sit in front of the computer for extended periods of time. Maybe you sit there for six hours a day, five days a week, for numerous months or even years. If you are sitting with improper posture, you are putting undue stress and strain on specific muscle groups. Your shoulders become rounded forward from typing with outstretched arms, which then creates tight chest and shoulder muscles. These tight muscles then pull the muscles of the upper back and neck forward, overstretching them, and creating a tight or “knotted” sensation in the back and neck.
This can cause chronic upper back and shoulder pain and headaches. Range of motion testing will determine such imbalances and help us to evaluate and prescribe appropriate flexibility and strength training to correct them.

 

Computerized Muscle Testing

The purpose of Computerized Muscle Testing is to determine strength and weakness in muscle groups that may indicate disease or injury involving the nerves of the body.  Nerves are the pathways that enable the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) communicate with the rest of the body.  If there is interference with these nerves it can slow or stop communication with muscles, which in turn can affect the strength and coordination of those muscles.  When there is a considerable difference in strength from side to side that it is indicative of nerve interference.  Manual Muscle Testing will help to diagnose the problems that are causing these imbalances so an appropriate treatment program can be prescribed to correct and restore nerve and strength balance.

For instance, the nerves in the body are similar to an intricate city freeway system.  Nerve pathways allow communication to every tissue, organ, and muscle of the body.  If there is an accident on a city street or freeway it inhibits travel on this pathway, this can slow traffic considerably or even stop it. If this occurs in the body all function(s) connected with that nerve could be negatively affected. In order to restore traffic flow, the interference must be removed. Chiropractic adjustments can help to alleviate pressure on the nerve(s) allowing signals to be transmitted clearly and quickly.