Physical Therapy – a Viable Alternative to Pain, Medications and Surgery

Physical Therapy can reverse your current lifestyle of chronic pain and remove the debilitating effects of physical pain from your body while ensuring that you are getting about without restrictions on your activities of daily living. Early physical therapy intervention may prevent medical conditions that often escalate into necessary surgical procedures that prove expensive and emotionally draining. Physical therapy is cost effective and employs a natural medical process that leaves no side effects.

The human skeleton is interconnected by a network of bones, muscles, nerves, fascia and tendons, all of which propel people into movement patterns that humans take for granted until something goes awry in the musculoskeletal system that results in excruciating pain.

The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body. It is located on both sides and runs from the lower spine into the buttocks and down the legs. The Piriformis muscle lies on top of the sciatic nerve and sometimes places pressure and impinges upon the sciatic nerve, which results in radiating pain, numbness and tingling from the back down into the leg. Physical therapists target the nerves and muscles with case specific exercises to reduce such impingements.

A sciatic nerve disruption is crippling. The brain immediately lets you know the severity of the pain, and a natural tendency is to reach for medication. Some patients suffer side effects caused by the medications they take for pain management. Many patients often seek physical therapy for help. Physical therapists use a non-medicated technique that allows the body to naturally heal and correct pain ailments through manual therapy. That treatment mode helps patients to become participants in their rehabilitation process.

Over-the-counter Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) relieves simple headaches. Consult your primary care physician if the pain is musculoskeletal in nature and it relentlessly continues to plague you. Discuss the possibility of undergoing physical therapy with your doctor. The physician may recommend physical therapy to correct your ailment based on evaluation and diagnostic results.

Treatment by physical therapist professionals gives you the option for a natural mode of treatment. You can access physical therapy treatment in the State of North Carolina without a physician’s referral, but you must obtain a physician’s referral to receive physical therapy treatment if you are a Medicare patient. Check state laws where you reside for rules governing physical therapy treatment.

Staci Miller, DPT and Clinical Director, presides over a state-of-the-art physical therapy business at Full Motion Physical Therapy in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Miller is a graduate of Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where she received a BS Degree (Psychology) in 2002; a Master’s Degree (Physical Therapy) in 2004; and a Doctorate (Physical Therapy) in 2006.

Dr. Miller has worked primarily in outpatient orthopedic clinics, spending four years in Vermont before relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the past year, Dr. Miller has worked as a traveling therapist gaining additional experience in acute rehabilitation at inpatient and outpatient settings and especially focuses on musculoskeletal disorders, sports injuries, and the use of aquatic therapy. She takes pride in providing quality care focused on the development of comprehensive and individualized treatment plans provided by a licensed physical therapist to guide patients in the recovery process.

Dr. Miller is committed to maximizing her patients’ functionality so that they can live healthy and active lifestyles while utilizing her practice’s educational tools to help them manage their health independently. She notes that two patients may experience similar pain at the same body location; however, the underlying causes of the pain in both subjects might be different, and physical therapists are trained to evaluate body movements and impediments to natural movement and motion in order to arrive at answers for treatment. Dr. Miller points out that physical therapy is highly regarded as a treatment modality that keeps you pain-free to maintain a happy lifestyle.

Common complaints of pain may emanate from muscle weakness or tightness. Weak muscles create abnormal stresses on joints and infrastructure of the body. Physical therapists use their expertise to select exercises that strengthen specific muscles, and they do so with manipulation exercises that includes stretching modalities to align bones and joints for natural movement outcomes.

ML830 Cold Laser is the newest pain relief modality used at Full Motion Physical Therapy. Cold Laser stimulates elastin and collagen at the cellular level to promote natural healing. This procedure treats the problem at the cells’ most basic level rather than masking the symptoms in ailments such as arthritis, back pain, bursitis/tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, heel spur/plantar fasciitis, migraines and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) complaints.

ML830 Cold Laser has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) after 12 years of study and research. You can experience reduced pain after only one Cold Laser treatment. Most conditions require 2 to 9 treatments, while chronic conditions may require longer treatments.

Aquatic Therapy is also offered at Full Motion Physical Therapy. The buoyancy and viscosity of being in the pool environment reduces weight bearing for patients who may have joint, muscle or nerve pain. Aquatic therapy adds smooth and consistent resistance for exercises and also repulses inflammation and swelling.


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