Spine Pain Management in San Francisco CA

Chiropractic San Francisco CA Spine Pain

When you are suffering from back pain, you need spine pain management. In addition, if you're also having pelvic and/or extremity pain then Louis Valencia, DC, CSCS  has many treatments and therapies that can help you to get back to a pain-free and active lifestyle in San Francisco CA.

Spine pain management begins with a history, physical examination, and functional capacity evaluation in order is to get the correct diagnosis. While relief of pain is a major reason why healthcare consumers seek out professional advice, modern scientific evidence indicates that the cause of most pain is functional in nature. This is why a functional diagnosis is made where care is customized to an individual's goals, needs, deficits, and examination findings.

Functional sources of pain include decreased activity tolerance and fitness levels, which is why Louis Valencia, DC, CSCS emphasizes helping his patients increase their fitness status when suffering with acute and chronic spinal, pelvic extremity, and myofascial pain syndromes. In addition, teaching self-care skills with a focus on increasing fitness as a rehabilitation and preventative tool, thus increasing functional capacity for all levels of athletes from the lay person to the weekend warrior to those who compete in athletic events.

Chiropractors don't just treat the symptoms, they get to the root of the pain and try to correct what is causing it.


Methods for Spine Pain Management in San Francisco CA

Adjustments of the Spine, Pelvis, & Extremities

Spinal, pelvic, and extremity adjustments (AKA manipulative therapy) is one of the primary treatments that are offered by chiropractors. With more than one hundred technique options available, one of them is almost bound to be right for you. Some are high velocity low amplitude thrusts, which cavitate the joint making a sound, while and others are gentle where joint cavitation doesn't occur. Adjustments can be done manually or instrument-assisted. What they all strive to do is to restore alignment to the vertebrae in the spine, and reduce the joint fixation and subluxations in the spine, pelvis, and extremities.

Electrical Muscle Stimulation

Electrical Muscle Stimulation is an exceptional way to help the body in the healing process. This is accomplished by sending a very small electrical current into the affected soft tissue injury or muscle spasm. The therapy utilizes this current in an effort to help reduce swelling and release trigger points that may have the muscle locked up. It does this by helping the body to release natural relievers of pain often referred to as endorphins.

This is a great therapy if there is a spasm in a back or neck muscle. It works well in relaxing the muscle and allowing it to return to its normal state rather quickly. Short therapy sessions are excellent at facilitating healing from acute and chronic pain.

Interferential Electro-Therapy

Inferential Electro-Therapy is an excellent method of helping the body deal with spasms, sprains, and issues related to soft tissues. This therapy accomplishes this with a very low simulated frequency that is put on the soft tissue. The feeling of this therapy is very light and most patients feel very comfortable during the treatment.

In addition to this therapy simulating the body's natural healing method by helping it to produce natural pain-killing endorphins, it also helps with the release of these strains, spasms, and soft tissue issues.

Heat and Cold Pack Therapy

Cold pack therapy reduces pain by cooling off the area of injury and slowing down blood circulation to the area. This helps to reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain. When heat is applied, it is soothing and increases the healing blood circulation to the injury, and releases endorphins, which are natural pain reducers.

Contrast Therapy

Contrast therapy is rotating between hot and cold therapy.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial release is used to relieve the knots that can form in the fascia that surrounds muscles. The chiropractor uses gentle continual pressure on the area where the pain is located. They need to identify the knot or the trigger point before being able to relieve it. It feels like a deep form of massage in a specific spot.

Manual Traction

Manual traction involves the chiropractor using their hands to gently pull the head away from the back. This helps to relieve the pressure that may be compressing the nerves that emerge from the spinal cord in the neck.

Functional Rehabilitation

Functional rehabilitation is an extension of the traditional elements of physical therapy, the purpose of which is to return the athlete to highly complex movement patterns such as athletics. As well as the traditional elements of physical therapy such as strength and flexibility, the functional rehabilitation program incorporates agility and proprioceptive/kinesthetic training, which enables the athlete to participate at preinjury levels of activity while reducing the risk of recurrent injury.

The functional rehabilitation program is designed to progress the athlete from simple activities, such as walking or jogging, to highly complex sport-specific activities that require refined levels of proprioceptive acuity. The final phase of the functional rehabilitation program is determining when the athlete is ready to resume participation in their respective sport. This is a very important and sometimes overlooked component of the functional rehabilitation program. The decision for returning an athlete to participation should be made using objective assessments of function that simulate sport activity whenever possible. Last, return to sport activity should be done gradually. Progression into the sport activity is essential to a full and healthy return to participation.

Monday
10:00am - 7:00pm


Tuesday
10:00am - 7:00pm


Wednesday
10:00am - 7:00pm


Thursday
10:00am - 7:00pm


Friday
10:00am - 7:00pm


Saturday & Sunday
Closed

Chiropractic Sports Care

2863 California St Suite Y
San Francisco, CA 94115

(415) 867-2781