As we have tried to explain in several areas of this site, Integrated Wellness is not your conventional healthcare provider or chiropractic service. We have distinct goals for healing and have developed and structured our treatment processes with these goals in mind. Our familiar advertising motto is, “Experience the Inegrated Wellness difference.” This is not simply a motto, but our credo for serving our patients and all those who come through our doors. Integrated Wellness offers a very unique and highly effective treatment program that, when followed as outlined, has over an 90% success rate. Very few healthcare facilities can make that claim. We often say our greatest compliment is a referral. The majority of our patients come to us through referral. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Integrated Wellness’ treatment program consists of carefully developed phases of care that include specific exercises and modalities of treatment customized for each patient’s needs. When followed, these processes result in aiding a patient in returning to an optimal level of health and fitness, or in some cases, achieving a level of health and functionality they’ve never before experienced. Whether you need to heal from an injury, or simply desire to enhance your athletic performance or overall health, Integrated Wellness’ treatment program has exactly what you need to make it happen.
Each patient is unique and different. While a tailored treatment plan will be prescribed specifically for you, there are four phases of care that most of our patients go through. These phases include:
Phase 1 - Pain Relief or Intensive Care
Our first goal is to get you out of pain. Pain not only puts a damper on an active lifestyle, but can also be completely debilitating. We want you enjoy life and be pain free. The goal of PHASE 1 of treatment is to reduce and/or eliminate your pain so you can begin functioning and healing. We offer many quick pain-relief treatment processes and will find the one that works best for you. This phase of treatment typically lasts anywhere from two (2) to four (4) weeks. Our average patient is able to decrease their pain by as much as 50% in just a few visits. However, the treatment processes offered in all phases of care can and are sometimes repeated as necessary for the patient to be ready to move into the next phase of care. During each phase, special testing is done to make sure the patient is on track for the next level of treatment and care. Helping our patients heal is our goal, but protecting them in the process is a top priority.
Phase 2 - Corrective Care
Most of our patients, upon completing the Pain Relief – Intensive Care phase of treatment, realize that if they simply stop at that point, the pain and symptoms they initially experienced will most-likely return. It may take weeks or months, but they will return. Many chiropractors specialize only in relief of pain and/or symptoms. But at Integrated Wellness, it is our goal to get you back to a level of optimal health that is not a life-long dependency upon intensive care. Our goal is to help you regain your fully active life with only the occasional need for wellness care.
During PHASE 2, the Corrective Care phase, we will teach and educate you on the lifestyle exercises that will not only strengthen the muscles surrounding the spine (to restore normal function in your body), but when continued, will protect you from recurring flare ups or a return of symptoms. We have the technology to repair the ‘wear and tear’ caused by repetitive stress or major trauma. We can repair the damage and strengthen the spinal muscles to allow normal function to return. Pain always shows up towards the end of the degenerative process. That is why it goes away early in the treatment process, or PHASE 1. The stronger and more well-conditioned your muscles surrounding the spine become, the healthier your overall body function will be. Following PHASE 2, your body should be able to handle a reasonable amount of stress without the painful symptoms coming back.
Phase 3 - Stabilization Care
A simple analogy explains this phase. Once an orthodontic patient gets their braces on their teeth removed, they are typically fitted with a retainer to assist the teeth in maintaining the corrective procedures experienced. This is known as stabilization. In our treatment of the spine, once we correct the issues affecting it, we then need to stabilize it. In many cases, the ligaments (connecting bone to bone) and tendons (connecting muscle to bone) have lost their elasticity. They are like a spring that has been stretched out and is unable to naturally recoil. Due to their great blood supply, muscles heal within weeks and provide us with the optimal avenue for changing the shape of the spine typically in a rapid fashion. However tendons and ligaments (which don’t have a very good blood supply) heal much slower. They can take many months. This is why continuing your exercise program is so important. We have to keep the muscles strong enough to do the job of the tendon and ligaments until they have recoiled and become stable. The Stabilization Care phase of treatment focuses on the re-strengthening and rebuilding of muscles, ligaments, and tendons; all in an effort to support the spine and create a level of optimal health and functionality.
Phase 4 - True Wellness Care
Once you have your life back and have become active and healthy again, we want to make sure you stay that way! However, it is unrealistic to expect patients to simply go the remainder of their lives healthy and happy when they are faced with the same stressors that probably caused their initial symptoms. Physical, emotional, and chemical stressors can reek havoc on the body, and the mere force of gravity experienced daily on the spine will eventually cause a patient to require care. Just as teeth will eventually move out of alignment again, so will the spine. This is why we have developed our fourth phase of care, True Wellness Care.
Patients who attend our periodic wellness workshops, maintain their weekly exercises, and come in every so often for their wellness checkups are able to maintain their spinal correction, combat any new stressors such as the effects of gravity, and maintain a high level of functionality. These patients are better prepared physically to handle life’s stress and still feel great. Patients who follow PHASE 4 consistently can truly understand—and apply—the sage advice of Ben Franklin when he said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Integrated Wellness has developed a very detailed and specific treatment process used by patients to achieve the optimal health and healing they desire in the most time and cost-effective manner possible. If a patient is to heal from their injuries, or simply desires to enhance their athletic ability or overall well-being, it is vital they follow the outlined program as directed.
To assist our patients in better understanding the treatment process, we have included a breakdown of both time spans and related treatment and exercises. We have also produced and have made available on this Website, instructional videos to assist patients in better understanding and performing specific exercises necessary during the treatment process. To see a menu of these videos, click here.
During the four Phases of Care, there are specific exercises that must be done for the treatment process to be effective. Most patients tend to move comfortably through the following time frames of exercises and treatment processes. However, these noted spans of time are completely relative to each patient and may vary based upon individual needs and capabilities. The actual time frame for your specific care should be discussed with and established by your doctor and assigned rehab specialist.
Weeks 1-3:
During the first three weeks of care, your main priority will be to establish a home exercise schedule. To assist in this process, we have created a Home Therapy Tracker form that you can use to keep track of the assigned exercises during each phase of care. If you have not received this form, please speak with a rehab specialist as soon as possible.
Once you receive your fulcrums, you should be laying on these every night to help the spine become flexible enough to begin the fulcrum exercises. You should be wearing your body weights two (2) times a day, always remembering to traction and warm up on the wobble chair first. You should also be working on Phase 1 of the neck strengthening exercises to prepare your spine for more weight in the body-weighting system. Any specialty exercises necessary for your specific healing will be given in the clinic.
Weeks 4-6:
You should now be very comfortable on the fulcrums and should have progressed to the larger block for the lower back. When you are able to lie comfortably on the larger block, then it is time to begin Phase 1 of the fulcrum exercises. We have prepared instructional videos available on this site to teach you how to do these and other exercises you will be doing throughout your treatment program. If you have any questions or feel any pain while doing these please consult your doctor immediately.
You should also be advancing to Phase 2 of neck strengthening exercise.
Weeks 7-12:
You should be doing Phase 2 of the fulcrum exercises by now. You should also be doing Phase 3 of your neck-strengthening exercises. If you haven’t increased your head weights by now, please consult the rehab staff at the clinic.
Weeks 13 and beyond:
The last advancement in your home exercise program is Phase 3 of fulcrum exercises. This is the phase you will do the rest of your life to maintain the core strength you have developed over the past several weeks. You should also advance to Phase 3 of neck-strengthening exercises. Have your weights rechecked by your rehab staff at the clinic.
COMING SOON!
COMING SOON!
If you've been to our offices, you're already aware of our health information program provided by Optimal Health University. It is an important goal of Integrated Wellness to provide our patients and community with as much helpful information as possible; to ensure a positive and productive treatment experience. To assist us in meeting his goal, we will be providing our patients the opportunity receive helpful health information via our eNewsletter and eHealth Alerts. Check back often to see when this helpful new feature will be available.
© Integrated Wellness Group, LLC. All rights reserved.