Laser Therapy

Laser therapy is a medical treatment that uses focused light to stimulate a process called photobiomodulation (PBM). During PBM, photons enter the tissue and interact with the cytochrome c complex within mitochondria. This interaction triggers a biological cascade of events that leads to an increase in cellular metabolism, which can decrease pain as well as accelerate the healing process.

Photobiomodulation therapy is defined as a form of light therapy that utilizes non-ionizing light sources, including lasers, light emitting diodes, and/or broadband light, in the visible (400 – 700 nm) and near-infrared (700 – 1100 nm) electromagnetic spectrum. It is a nonthermal process involving endogenous chromophores eliciting photophysical (i.e., linear and nonlinear) and photochemical events at various biological scales. This process results in beneficial therapeutic outcomes including but not limited to the alleviation of pain, immunomodulation, and promotion of wound healing and tissue regeneration. The term photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy is now being used by researchers and practitioners instead of terms such as low level laser therapy (LLLT), cold laser, or laser therapy.

The fundamental principles that underpin photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, as currently understood in the scientific literature, are relatively straightforward. There is consensus that the application of a therapeutic dose of light to impaired or dysfunctional tissue leads to a cellular response mediated by mitochondrial mechanisms. Studies have shown that these changes can impact pain and inflammation, as well as, tissue repair.

We typically treat patients with Laser Therapy when they have conditions relating to sprain/strains, inflammation, wound and tissue repair, tendonitis, acute and chronic disc injuries, bursitis and much more. This is a fantastic modality that often makes the difference between athletes performing or not performing the next day.

Whether you are a weekend warrior, recreational athlete or a professional, there are a few things that all types of athletes have in common. they all want to have the best performance in their chosen sport, and they both can get injured.

Let's take the weekend warrior type of athlete, or for that matter, anyone who enjoys exercising. Injuries happen, pure and simple. While they can be minimized, they cannot be totally avoided. If a person participates enough any physical activity, eventually that person will suffer an injury to some degree. The way in which that person treats their injuries determines how fast they recover and how quickly they can get back to the activity they enjoy.

You might ask yourself why do you get injured? You stretch out, and feel like you are in pretty good shape. So, why? Usually there is a simple formula. In most cases, we play too hard, too long, or too fast. in the case of household duties such as spring cleaning, do any of us warm up before carrying those boxes into the crawl spaces or the attic? this may not seem like a sports injury, but in fact, overuse syndromes or playing full speed before we have prepared our bodies for such events are the major causes of most sports injuries. Simple household chores, while done without warming up, can mimic a sports injury to some extent.

If an athlete gets hurt, what can be done to get them back on the field? Rest is usually a good thing, but by itself, can take a very long time.

Frontier Integrated Health Center offers a balanced approach with chiropractic care to the treatment and healing of sports injuries. By using the chiropractic adjustment to return mobility and neural function and some physical therapy to help the supportive tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments, our chiropractic physicians help the injured area return to normal function. Combined with some rest to help the healing process, our patients will find themselves back to enjoying what they love to do faster. 

Many professional athletes are utilizing chiropractic care more and more because they realize that it maximizes athletic performance. Articles continue to appear in major newspapers, magazines, and online by major athletes proclaiming the benefits that chiropractic has meant for their careers. More and more professional and college teams are utilizing chiropractic for that same reason.

Sports Injuries & Athletic enhancement

Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Therapy is a group of treatments and exercises that produces the forces and positions required to cause  unloading of detrimental pressures on portions of the intervertebral disc. Through the distraction and positioning of the spine, this therapy produces negative pressure within the disc which allows the particular injury to shrink and to heal naturally.

Patients are treated fully clothed and are fitted with a harness that fits around their pelvis and thoracic spine as they lie face down, or face up on a computer controlled table. The doctor operates the table from a computerized console, where a customized treatment protocol is entered into the computer. Each treatment takes about 30 to 45 minutes. The average treatment protocol is approximately 20 to 28 treatments within a five to seven week period of time, depending on the individual's case.

The therapy may also include electric stimulation, ultrasound, thermotherapy (heat), and cryotherapy (cold) before, during, and/or after the treatment. Your doctor will use these therapies along with specific exercises when appropriate.  All of the above aid to accelerate the healing process.

Although there is no procedure that is 100% successful, non-surgical spinal decompression therapy has a success rate in our clinic of over 90% with full compliance on the part of the patient. Your doctor will recommend that you refrain from certain activities and that you engage in a certain rehabilitation program as part of your therapy. If you adhere to your prescribed therapy, you will enhance your chances of success.

Conditions that may be treated include:

• back pain
  
• neck pain
  
• herniated discs
  
• protruding discs
  
• degenerative disc disease
  
• posterior facet syndrome
  
• sciatica.
  

Spinal Decompression Therapy

There's no denying the power of massage. Regardless of the adjectives we assign to it (pampering, rejuvenating, therapeutic) or the reasons we seek it out (a luxurious treat, stress relief, pain management), massage therapy can be a powerful ally in your healthcare regimen.

Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress related. And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress. While eliminating anxiety and pressure altogether in this fast-paced world may be idealistic, massage can, without a doubt, help manage stress.

In response to massage, specific physiological and chemical changes cascade throughout the body, with profound effects.  Research continues to show the enormous benefits of massage—which range from treating chronic diseases, neurological disorders, and injuries, to alleviating the tensions of modern lifestyles and much more:

• Arthritis sufferers note fewer aches and less stiffness and pain.
  
• Asthmatic children show better pulmonary function and increased peak air flow.
  
• Burn injury patients report reduced pain, itching, and anxiety.
  
• High blood pressure patients demonstrate lower diastolic blood pressure, anxiety, and stress hormones.
  
• Premenstrual syndrome sufferers have decreased water retention and cramping.
  
• Preterm infants have improved weight gain.
  

Massage Therapy

Functional Medicine

Naturopathic Medical doctors(NMD) and medical doctors both contribute to health care and patients' well being, but there are instrumental differences between the two professions. For example, a licensed NMD attends a four-year graduate level naturopathic medical school and is educated in all of the same basic sciences as an MD, but also studies holistic and nontoxic approaches to therapy with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness. Many of our patients use us as their "Natural" primary care physician. We do physical examinations, wellness exams, run blood work, test for food and other allergies, heavy metal toxicity, hormone imbalance, nutritional deficiencies and much more. We work hand in hand with many of the local medical physicians and often refer to them when a natural alternative is not appropriate or responsive. If it is appropriate, we  will always try a healthy, natural approach to all health care issues as our first line of treatment.

Acupuncture (from Latin, 'acus' (needle) + 'punctura' (to puncture)) is the stimulation of specific acupuncture points along the skin of the body using thin needles. Traditional acupuncture involves needle insertion,  stimulating specific acupuncture points that corrects imbalances in the flow of qi through channels known as meridians. Acupuncture can treat many conditions. Some of the conditions that our physicians treat are acute and chronic pain, sciatica, migraine headaches, multiple sclerosis, Irritable bowel disease, reflux, infertility, weight loss, smoking cessation, fatigue, sinusitis, carpal tunnel, tendonitis, tinnitus, crones disease, vertigo, general health and well being, and many more health concerns.

Acupuncture

Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine that emphasizes diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine, under the belief that these disorders affect general health via the nervous system.  It is the largest alternative medical profession, and although chiropractors have many similarities to primary care providers, they are more similar to a medical specialty like dentistry or podiatry. The main chiropractic treatment technique involves manual therapy, especially manipulation of the spine, other joints, and soft tissues; treatment may also include exercises and health and lifestyle counseling. Traditional chiropractic assumes that a vertebral subluxation or spinal joint dysfunction interferes with the body's function and its innate intelligence.

Chiropractic

Chiropractor Services & More in O'Fallon, MO