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Physical Therapy Treatments

Physical Therapy

Discover how Gaylord's setting provides a restorative, healing environment for our patients and their families. For details and videos about specific programs see the individual program pages.

No matter what your plan of recovery may require, our skilled therapists provide the expert care you need.

Click on the technique below to learn more.

Dry Needling

Intramuscular Manual Therapy (IMT), also known as dry needling, is a manual therapy technique designed to improve muscle function, induce relaxation and decrease pain. This technique is performed in addition to the traditional therapy assessment, exercise and mobilization techniques.

Dry needling involves the insertion of a sterile needle into a muscle to decrease spasm and trigger point activity. These thin needles are inserted at the myofascial trigger points, which can be a cause of referred pain. The muscles then contract and release, improving flexibility and decreasing symptoms. This can help resolve pain and muscle tension as well as promote healing. This is not traditional Chinese acupuncture, but is based on a Western medical approach to myofascial trigger points and physical assessment.

Dry needling is effective for resolving soft tissue dysfunction, tendonosis, contractures, trigger points, tissue adhesions, and other neuromusculoskeletal conditions.

Potential advantages include immediate reduction of local, referred and widespread pain, and the restoration of range of motion and improved muscle activation patterns.

Graston Technique

Graston Technique® is a patented form of instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization that enables the breakdown of scar tissue that may be restricting mobility. Scar tissue limits range of motion and in many instances causes pain, which prevents individuals from functioning as they did prior to the injury. Graston Technique® is being used by NBA, NHL, NFL and Major League Baseball trainers. Our therapists have received advanced certification in Graston Technique®.

Benefits to patients include:

Decreased Overall Treatment Time
Faster Recovery
Reduced Need for Anti-Inflammatory Medications

Manual Physical Therapy

Manual Therapists employ a multitude of hands-on techniques to reduce mechanical restrictions to your range of motion. These restrictions are commonly secondary to joint capsule restrictions and soft tissue adhesions, possibly in the muscle, tendon, or fascia. Manual Physical Therapy techniques include high-velocity thrust maneuvers, joint mobilization, stretching, soft-tissue massage, and other skilled movements designed to restore normal mobility in affected joints. Our therapists are highly trained and certified in various manual therapy techniques to address these debilitating aspects of musculoskeletal injuries.

Medical Exercise Therapy

Medical Exercise Therapy or MET is a concept used worldwide to organize exercises in a powerful treatment protocol for patients with musculoskeletal and locomotor dysfunctions. It is not only used for the treatment of patients, but also in the prevention of overuse lesions in workers and athletes.

Medical Exercise Therapy is an active rehabilitation system based on more than 30 years of clinical experience and research. Through active exercise, patients can be put directly into an exercise program aimed at treating pain and decreased motion, increasing endurance and strength, as well as improving activities of daily living. The system accommodates for treating athletes and patients with acute or chronic pain. Emphasis is on increasing tolerance and normalizing muscle imbalance and coordination.

MET can address orthopedic dysfunctions from conditions such as supraspinatus tendinitis, sciatica, hip arthritis, and patellofemoral pain.

The Medical Exercise Therapy approach has its own defined criteria, including minimum time and repetitions, which differ depending on the patient’s diagnosis and age and physical ability. Your therapist will create plan which is intended to address your specific concerns and pain. The high number of repetitions are aimed at treating the pain experience and to increase range of motion.

MET is used to address the following areas:

Exercises aimed to improve muscular function will be prescribed for improving strength, endurance or a combination of both.
Exercises aimed to improve coordination should be performed with many repetitions. The number of "correctly executed" exercises is the most important factor in dosing for coordination.
Exercises aiming to improve range of motion (ROM) will be designed to use the patient's maximum pain-free range of motion while controlling the movement around the physiological axes.

Selective Functional Movement Assessment

The Selective Functional Movement Assessment or SFMA is a movement based diagnostic system, designed to clinically assess fundamental movement patterns in those with known musculoskeletal pain. The assessment provides an efficient method to systematically find the source of your symptoms, not just the site of pain.

Poor movement or asymmetries in the body is often masked by compensations that we develop over time. Continued daily repetition of these patterns can gradually lead to injury and pain. Research has found and supports that the site of your pain may not be the source or cause of your pain. The pain in your knee may be the result of a problem in your hip. The pain in your neck may be the result of an issue in your shoulder. Treating the cause of your pain, and not merely the site, is vital to restoring pain-free movement and function.

The SFMA helps pulls out subconscious dysfunctional and/or asymmetrical movements to get to the root of the problem. The SFMA enables the therapist to identify and treat regions in the body that lack mobility (range of motion), or stability (motor control) that could be the driver of your pain or injury.

At Gaylord Physical Therapy Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, we want to treat the underlying cause, not just the symptoms. We will get you back to feeling you best, whether it be at the office or on the field.

Benefits of Using SMFA

Systematically diagnose the cause of movement pattern dysfunction as either impaired mobility or impaired motor control. This decreases time of recovery by applying assessment findings to initiate the most appropriate strategy (manual therapy or motor control oriented exercise).
Understand and explain to the patient how the residual effect of pain alters motor control.
Discuss the principles that guide the application of therapeutic exercise to restore functional movement.
Prevent future injuries by addressing underlying impairments instead of simply treating your pain.

Taping Techniques

Therapeutic taping helps prolong the benefits of manual therapy administered during your physical therapy session. It is non-restrictive, allowing for full range of motion, and is applied to reduce pain/inflammation, relax overused and tired muscles, and support muscles in movement on a 24 hours/day basis. Medical practitioners and athletes around the world use taping to aid in their recovery and return to pain free activity.

Taping is used for shoulder to foot problems and everything in between. Examples include: carpal tunnel syndrome, lower back strain/pain (subluxations, herniated disc), knee conditions, shoulder conditions, hamstring, groin injury, rotator cuff injury, tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis, patella tracking, pre- and post-surgical edema, and ankle sprains. It is also used as an athletic preventative injury method, and as a support method.