Holistic Body Work
What is Holistic Body Work?
Holistic body work is manual (hands-on) work that can be applied in a variety of different ways to treat the whole of the body. How it's delivered is based on how the therapist has been trained and what your body needs to heal. While a specific local area may be problematic for you, your therapist may find issues elsewhere that require attention to restore overall balance and health. Read below to see some examples of what may be included in a session.
What Type of Body Work Do We Do?
Soft Tissue Work
While Dr. Patty does not do formal massage therapy sessions, soft tissue work is frequently a part of treatments. With a background as a Physical Therapist specializing in manual orthopedic based treatments for over 15 years, there can be a good deal of benefit in specific work locally for different issues you may be dealing with. Dr. Patty also integrates soft tissue work into more systemic treatments, trying to influence more than just local areas. Treatment on certain parts of the spine may help relax the autonomic system or help restore function at the GI system for example.
Visceral Manipulation
The organs play a vital role in our overall health and well-being. They are commonly overlooked and can lead to a plethora of problems. Visceral manipulation is a gentle approach to awakening and restoring the mobility and motility of the organs to help rebalance the whole of the system. This has been an incredibly valuable addition to our holistic manual work, potentially assisting in chronic, stubborn issues that may be residing in our organs (whether it be physical or emotional). Find more detail: here.
Joint Mobilization
Dr. Patty has worked with joint mobility throughout her career and continues to incorporate specific mobility work whether to help a local issue, to calm down the autonomic system, or to have a secondary effect on the organs or other areas of the body that may benefit from treatment.
Trigger Point Release
Trigger Point Release is considered a type of soft tissue mobilization that applies graded pressure to an area of built up tension (the trigger point). Like all of our other techniques, this can be used to assist with a local dysfunction, referred pain patterns, or systemic issues, influencing our organs.
Diaphragm and Breath Work
An often overlooked, yet highly beneficial area to explore, working with the diaphragm can help in a number of conditions. It is common to find dysfunction here for many different reasons, but rarely do we explore this in our standard medical approach. Dr. Patty addresses the diaphragm through hands-on manual techniques, visceral manipulation approaches, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, and guided breath exercises. Exploration of our diaphragm function is not only valuable for those with chronic conditions, but highly recommended for our athletes as well.
Cranial Electrotherapy
Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) is pulsed, low-intensity current applied to the earlobes or scalp. It has been shown in an fMRI study to decreases cortical activity. Cerebral spinal fluid studies show it increases serotonin and beta-endorphins in the central nervous system. Quantitative EEG reports show it decreases (deep sleep) delta waves and increases alpha waves, associated with meditation and first-stage sleep. Application of this microcurrent can lead to a sense of alert but calm energy, clearheadedness, and wellbeing. We use this within our office in our work with the autonomic system.
Upper Cervical Proprioception Therapy
Chronic neck pain and headaches can manifest from underlying chronic injuries or hypermobility disorders. Using gentle approaches through home exercise programs, in office gentle postural techniques as needed, and our head-mounted laser for proprioceptive exercises, we can work to fine tune the upper cervical area in attempt to reduce symptoms.
Vestibular and Oculomotor Therapy
When dealing with our body's systems, issues can arise anywhere. In dealing with our clients with EDS, we may see vestibular issues from central involvement (commonly from the autonomic system or upper cervical instability) or secondary oculomotor impairments that can cause a variety of frustrating symptoms including dizziness, poor coordination and proprioception, headaches, difficulty concentrating, etc. We offer investigation and treatment for those dealing with these issues.