I treat orthopedic musculo-skeletal injuries, pain, and dysfunctions. After 30 years of practice, there are two areas that cause the most complaints and most disruption to people’s lives. The head and the feet.
Let’s start at the head. Migraines often are cervicogenic. Big word for a small area. Cervicogenic means generated from the cervical spine, the neck. You can’t ‘get away’ from your head. When you have a headache, it’s all you can deal with. When I treat a patient with migraine, the first order of business is to help the patient know how to physically improve that migraine within 5 minutes. Yes, it can be done. The evaluation reveals the specific cause of the migraine. Once the cause is established, initial treatment is effective. The follow up treatments are aimed at changing the mechanics (specific and general) to prevent the migraine from returning. Specific mechanics are those of the individual vertebrae in the neck. The head on the first two vertebrae is the area which requires advanced orthopedic manual physical therapy knowledge and skills to address. That area is also the main area of concern causing cervicogenic migraines.
The other area of the body which causes major disruption of a person’s life. The feet. If you can’t walk, you can’t do anything! Usually the foot problem is a single foot problem. After thorough evaluation which helps determine the foot problem is truly a one foot problem, interventions within the first day will help the patient manage and walk. Those interventions include giving the patient the know-how to reduce the pain significantly. If the foot problem is actually a feet problem, most likely the cause is higher up, possibly in the spine. These are all assessed at the first visit in order to give the patient the ability to have an initial reduction in symptoms and/or interventions in order for the patient to be able to walk with reduced pain. After the initial evaluation visit, patients are treated with OMPT, exercise, modalities such as low level laser therapy, iontophoresis, dry needling, and given progression of exercises addressing the entire body to change the mechanics that either caused the problem or contributed to the problem.
OMPT is an all encompassing approach to patient care. I care about my patient’s ability to return to their life. Experience and expertise enables me to deliver.