PAIN RELIEF

Give yourself the life you deserve with pain relief services from our expert licensed therapists. To deliver this fast pain relief, we offer typical physical therapy modalities for pain attenuation such as ultrasound and electrical muscle stimulation and use numerous different techniques (see details below) including some alternative forms of treatment specific to your problem as an adjunct to conventional therapies:

• ML830 Cold Laser
• Dry Needling
• Pressure Wave Therapy (a.k.a. Acoustic Wave Therapy, Shockwave Therapy, or EPAT – Extracorporeal Pulse Activation Technology)
• Manual Therapy
• BioQpulse
• Postural Enhancement
• Ergonomic Assessment and Education
• Body Mechanics and Movement Pattern Assessments

ML830 Cold Laser

“Cold” laser treatment might sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s actually a cutting edge treatment for fast pain relief using non-invasive cold laser technology. We use our cold laser to treat your injured tissues and relieve your pain faster without any discomfort.

Cold Laser sends light (photons) into your injured tissues without being absorbed by skin, fat, or blood.  It promotes collagen synthesis which makes the healing tissue grow stronger than with regular healing alone.  The laser therapy treatment does not wear off like most medicines, heat, or ice. When it reduces inflammation and pain, it stays away unless you reinjure the area. It enhances your body’s own healing power and magnifies those processes.

Our cold laser treatments are performed using the ML830 laser (manufactured by Microlight Corporation of America) which is completely safe and was the first cold laser approved by the FDA to market low level laser therapy (“LLLT”) for the non-surgical treatment of carpel tunnel surgery. The patented 830 nm wavelength is proven to penetrate through human tissue for optimal stimulation of the mitochondria to increase ATP production (ATP is the molecule that tissues need for the transfer of chemical energy). There are NO reported side effects.

Listen to this radio interview with Eric Reichardt, MPT/Owner on Cold Laser Treatment for pain relief…

I was impressed from the time I was given my first evaluation until today. After 37 years of doctors ignoring my complaints, Eric Reichardt, MPT and his phenomenal team put me back on a path of super-health. After designing my exercises, hardy physical therapy and caring therapists, I feel like a new person!
Here are all the changes that happened in the past 5 weeks.
1. I have been headache free for more than a month.
2. I have no more dizzy spells—NADA!
3. My family was truly elated—I had not realized how exhausted they were to help me relieve my chronic shoulder/neck problems/pain.
4. Driving long hours, traveling, and sitting at the computer have become a pleasure and free of anxiety the pain will start up.
5. Best part- since I started—3 days into PT my fasting blood sugar count has fallen 20pts! I now read between 97 and 108.
6. I love the mobility and movements I had actually forgotten I should be able to do.

Thank you all and one!!
Tina Bhandari

Dry Needling

Dry needling sounds painful, but it actually provides most patients with fast pain relief. Here’s how it works… the trained therapist gently inserts a small, sterile needle directly into muscular trigger points allowing the injured muscle tissue to relax. Trigger points are sustained contraction knots within the muscle that contribute to maintaining the pain/spasm cycle.  We know that positive biomechanical changes occur naturally at these sites following needle insertion based upon studies performed at the National Institutes of Health. These changes can assist pain relief without harmful side effects; however, it could take several sessions of dry needling before you notice relief, especially in chronic pain scenarios.  The efficacy of dry needling varies, but the same soft tissue pain symptoms can be completely alleviated in 28%, partially relieved in 64%, and of little to no change in 8% of the population.  A 92% chance of pain relief vs. an 8% chance of little to no relief!  What have you got to lose?  Call today…

Some patients report experiencing soreness after treatment lasting as little as a couple of hours up to 48 hours, but they too notice ease of motion and relief of pain in the affected areas. Another positive side effect commonly experienced and reported by many of our patients is improved sleep.

This amazing modality of pain relief and functional restoration is available at both locations and performed by physical therapists (PTs) with multiple certifications of coursework completion and years of clinical experience in dry needling. In fact, our practice was one of the first physical therapy businesses in the state of Virginia to employ dry needling as an adjunct to traditional physical therapy. Physical therapist assistants (PTAs) are not allowed to perform dry needling.  Dry needling is not acupuncture and our PTs are not licensed in acupuncture, but dry needling does fall within the scope of physical therapy practices. The Virginia Board of Physical Therapy has approved dry needling performed by physical therapists with written consent from the referring provider. 

Dry needling is a technique used in physical therapy practice to treat trigger points in muscles.  You should understand that this dry needling technique should not be confused with a complete acupuncture treatment performed by a licensed acupuncturist. A complete acupuncture treatment might yield a holistic benefit not available through a limited dry needling treatment.

Pressure Wave Therapy

Pressure Wave therapy is a highly effective treatment method: high-energy sound waves are introduced into the painful areas of the body. It is one of the most advanced and highly effective noninvasive treatment methods cleared by the FDA. The treatment works by helping to improve the regenerative potential, enhancing blood circulation to regenerate damaged tissue. With this innovative therapy approach, pathological alterations of tendons, ligaments, capsules, muscles and bones can be eliminated systematically.

Beneficial effects are often experienced after only 1 or 2 treatments and there is no downtime (generally, 3 sessions lasting about 10 minutes each are all you need). This non-surgical therapy for pain eliminates pain and restores mobility, thus quickly improving patients’ quality of life.

Call us now at 540.986.6500 or download our branded app “Next Level Wellness” to schedule your healing today and to learn more about how PWT can address your pain, accelerate your healing, and optimize your health. There is no need for a prescription and current physical therapy clients may elect to receive PWT as an adjunct to their current plan of care.

Manual Therapy

While performing manual therapy, our rehabilitation experts use their hands to manipulate muscles and/or joints enhancing their normal movement patterns and reducing pain.  We use several techniques to accomplish this including:

• Myofascial Release – Releasing restrictions or adhesions of the enveloping tissue (myofascia) of the muscles enhances efficiency of movement by facilitating smooth gliding between the myofascia and the muscle tissue itself.
• Trigger Point Release – This technique can alleviate localized “knots”, also known as trigger points or muscle spasms, that restrict movement and altar normal muscle length resulting in dysfunctional contraction of the affected muscle and surrounding muscle groups. Left untreated, trigger points result in joint malfunction and coincidental pain along with secondary, unintended ligament stress.
• Deep Soft Tissue Mobilization – Similar to trigger point release, our experts use this technique to knead larger regions of soft tissues to increase circulation, reduce swelling, restore normal soft tissue function, and normalize muscle length.  This technique also increases localized circulation and stimulates the lymphatic system to direct toxins and waste away from injured or damaged areas to be processed and eliminated from the body.
• Joint Mobilization – Joint mobilization is designed to improve joint mechanics which ultimately maximizes joint function and reduces chronic stress to treated joints and the surrounding ligaments, tendons, and muscles.  HVLA (high-velocity low amplitude) joint mobilizations are performed by our skilled physical therapists to reduce pain and improve specifically localized joint mobility fast! In a 2013 study titled “Spinal high-velocity low amplitude manipulation in acute nonspecific low back pain: a double-blinded randomized controlled trial in comparison with diclofenac and placebo” by von Heymann et al., a subgroup of patients with acute non-specific low back pain demonstrated that spinal manipulation (HVLA) was significantly better than NSAID Diclofenac and clinically superior to placebo in reducing low back pain.

BioQpulse

This revolutionary device can relieve pressure points in as little as 5 minutes. Many pressure points in the hands and feet are directly linked to problems in the entire body and by addressing those pressure points your blood circulation improves, swelling improves, stress decreases, and more. Whether your problem is chronic, from a recent surgery or injury, or years of stress, it can help instantly. Don’t wait! Constant stress, tension, and pain cause more harm to your body. This revolutionary treatment has been safely used in Europe, Japan, Russia, Canada and more for over 50 years with tremendous success, but only recently has it been approved by the FDA for use in the United States. Be the first to use this amazing healing treatment! Even if you’ve tried pills, chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy, steroid injections, or even surgery, this can help. It is all-natural and does not involve any drugs or side-effects. The deep penetration of the pulses into your lumbar and somatic structures (internal organs), can bring fast relief of many problems, including…

• Back injuries
• Headaches
• Sciatica
• Disc Problems
• Cramping
• Soreness
• C-section pain

If you have a pace-maker than we don’t recommend using the stomach/back belt and exercise caution during treatment. If you have a history of seizures, we don’t recommend using this product.

Postural Enhancement

Maintaining incorrect posture and using poor body mechanics or repetitive dysfunctional movement patterns eventually lead to pain syndromes and is one of the leading causes of chronic pain.  Through education from our highly trained therapists, you can learn how to correct your posture and improve movement patterns allowing you to live without pain and once again enjoy life.

Ergonomic Assessment and Education

Ergonomic assessments, or workstation assessments, ensure that your workstation is ergonomically designed and suited specifically to your needs to minimize risk of injury and to maximize productivity.  Ergonomics may be defined as simply adapting the work environment to suit the worker.

Body Mechanics and Movement Pattern Assessments

Body mechanics can be defined as the use of one’s body to produce movements that are safe, energy efficient, and energy conserving which allows the individual to maintain balance and control thereby avoiding injury.  Our expert therapists will assess your movement patterns (walking, transitioning, running, lifting, bending, etc.) to determine which movements are considered destructive forces that result in injuries.  Once they are identified, the faulty mechanics can be alleviated by means of neuromuscular reeducation which is retraining of the brain to communicate with the muscles in a corrected and efficient manner to properly move joints and avoid common strains of muscles and/or sprains of ligaments.