Our Services
Physical therapy offers various ways to reduce pain, improve mobility, and restore physical function after surgery, and overall fitness. Depending on your injury, disease, or condition, you may need to improve your flexibility, strength, endurance, coordination, and/or balance.
To do this your individualized treatment will focus on:
- Spinal cord and nerves
- Heart and circulation
- Your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones
- Inner ear and balance
Hot packs are used to help increase circulation and to relax stiff and/or sore muscles.
Conditions We Treat
We understand every injury is unique and every person’s situation is different. We have the experience to design the most effective rehab program for you. Below is a list of some of the conditions that we treat.
Physical therapy can help improve function and reduce neck and back painYour physician may refer you to a physical therapy to help improve your ability to function despite painful cervical (neck) or lumbar (low back) spinal stenosis. It is common for patients to undergo an organized program of physical therapy during nonoperative treatment. Physical therapy may also be prescribed by your spine surgeon as an important part of your surgical aftercare.
CORE’s program includes two types of therapy programs:
- Passive therapies are treatments the physical therapist administers.
- Active therapy includes stretches and exercises.
Passive treatments may include:
Deep tissue massage: This hands-on technique targets acute and chronic muscle tension. The therapist uses direct pressure and friction to release tightness and tension in the soft tissues (ligaments, tendons, muscles) of the neck or back. This type of massage can help reduce inflammation and pain.
Hot and cold therapies:
- Application of heat draws more blood to the targeted area of the spine. Increased blood flow delivers more oxygen and nutrients, and carries away cellular debris. This is essential to healing and can help reduce inflammation, muscle spasms, and pain.
- Cold therapies are applied to areas that are visibly swollen or internally inflamed, and work quickly to reduce symptoms.
- Hot and cold therapies may be applied alternatively to maximize benefits.
Ultrasound: Ultrasound works by delivering sound waves deep beneath the skin. The therapist applies a gel to enable the ultrasound wand to move friction-free over the painful area of the neck or back. Ultrasound creates a gentle heat that increases blood circulation and can help reduce muscle cramping or spasms, swelling, stiffness, and pain.
Active Therapy
Your physical therapist understands that no two patients with cervical (neck) or lumbar (low back) spinal stenosis are the same. Each patient comes to PT with different abilities and needs. Some patients are new to active therapy or haven’t been able to exercise in a long time and need time to adjust to exercise. Therefore, the physical therapist customizes the patient’s active therapy program.
Benefits of active physical therapy may include:
- Learn how to safely stretch and exercise
- Become more flexible; make it easier to move
- Regain strength; become physically stronger
- Build strong abdominal muscles
- Produce endorphins: your body’s natural pain relievers
- Improve posture
- Be more sure-footed, which can help prevent falls
Throughout your physical therapy program, your therapist keeps a record of your progress and challenges, which is shared with your doctor.
Arthritis is a condition that affects 350 million people worldwide and 50 million people in the United States, including 300,000 children. That’s 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 250 children.
One of the best ways to combat the symptoms of arthritis is to keep the joints moving!
Studies show that participating in a physical therapy program will help patients maintain movement and decrease pain.
Arthritis is not “an old person problem.”
Systemic juvenile arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects infants as young as 1 year old. Two-thirds of people with arthritis are under age 65, however, the risk increases with age with half of
Almost half of people with arthritis have another disease or condition.
- 57% of adults with heart disease have arthritis.
- 52% of adults with diabetes have arthritis.
- 44% of adults with high blood pressure have arthritis.
- 36% of adults with obesity have arthritis.
Arthritis is life impacting.
23 million people in the United States with arthritis have limitations in their functional mobility, including walking, squatting, and climbing stairs. This limits their ability to work, their hobbies, and participation in daily life.
Physical therapy can reduce arthritis symptoms.
CORE physical therapists can provide exercises designed to preserve the mobility, strength, and use of your joints. Your therapist will teach you the proper body mechanics to move from one position to another and also proper posture to protect the integrity of the joints.
Therapy should be started early to reduce painful symptoms of inflammation, prevent deformity and permanent joint stiffness, and maintain strength in the surrounding muscles. When pain and swelling are better controlled, treatment plans may include exercises to increase range of motion, and to improve muscle strength and endurance.
Balance and walking problems can result from orthopedic conditions, neurological disorders, or a number of injuries that involve joints, muscles and nerves.
Our goal is to eliminate or reduce your symptoms and help you function normally in your daily activities. Balance training is provided in convenient sessions, one to three times a week depending upon your specific condition. Your treatments will be individualized to your needs and adjusted to your progress. A follow-up home exercise program can help reduce your risk of having a fall. Imbalance and instability may be successfully treated so you do not have to live with the fear of falling. Restoring balance in your life is simple, painless, and is covered by Medicare and most insurance.
Our Balance Builders program treats and rehabilitates individuals with dizziness and balance disorders. Using a multidisciplinary team approach with the latest skills, patients with vertigo, imbalance, or movement coordination problems can be effectively treated.
More than 90 Million Americans have experienced a balance disorder and 35% of people over the age of 65 will fall each year. That number increases to 50% for people over the age of 85. Falls account for more than half of all accidental deaths among the elderly, however there is a treatment option available for dizziness or imbalance which can prevent 30-40% of all falls.
The trauma of a fall not only has serious implications for physical health, but also can be detrimental to a person’s confidence and independence.
CORE’s Balance Builder program uses a systemic approach and effectively decreases the rate of falls by 35% and injury related to falls by 62%. Our licensed clinicians utilize this approach as part of your personalized balance program.
Top Contributing Factors
- Bathroom related falls
- Medication issues
- Patient education
- Overestimated patient ability
- Inconsistent communication between caregivers
Balance training can successfully treat most types of balance disorders. Our program consists of special exercises that are provided by a licensed clinician and will consist of 6 components:
- Eye exam
- Clinical Test of Sensory Organization and Balance (CTSIB)
- Timed Up and Go (TUG)
- Posture Exam
- Gait Exam
- Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI)
Balance Self-Test
Take this simple test to determine if you are at risk for a fall. A yes to one or more questions could make you at risk:
- Have you fallen more than once in the past year?
- Do you take medicine for any of the following: Heart Disease, Hypertension, Arthritis, Anxiety?
- Do you feel dizzy or unsteady if you make sudden movements?
- Do you experience blackouts?
- Have you had a stroke or other event that affects your balance?
- Do you experience numbness or loss of sensation in your limbs?
- Do you use a walker, cane, or wheelchair for assistance?
- Are you inactive?
- Do you feel unsteady when you are walking or climbing stairs?
- Do you have difficulty sitting down or rising from a seated or lying position?