Alternative Therapy offers the earliest initiation on the path to recovery and provides the following benefits

 

�  Immediate Treatment Following an Injury

�  50% Pain Reduction After First Treatment -depending on the patient's ability to relax and extent of the trauma

�  Elimination of the "Domino" Effect -the compensation of healthy tissues and muscles "taking up the slack" for an injured area.  This can cause pain in uninjured parts of the body.

�  Faster Recovery

 

Surpassing the Everyday Athlete

We are always striving to accomplish better results; become faster, stronger and increase our endurance.  We do this by pushing our bodies.  Athletes are constantly pushing their bodies to the limits and often past the limits which is how injuries occur.  What if an athlete could be trained to know their body's limit?  What if they could continue to grow in their speed, strength and endurance injury free?

 At Alternative Therapy, we believe listening to their body is the most important element for any athlete. Our proven system of osteopathic release, relaxation exercise and body 

Andrzej Strzalkowski, RPT

awareness counseling balances out the extreme pressure an athlete physically puts on their body.  Increased athletic abilities are achieved by pushing their mind and body to the other extreme; complete relaxation and acute body awareness. 

 

The "Dual Path"...Physical & Mental Release

 

Physical Osteopathic release is a hands-on therapy that releases blockages in the nerve paths of the body.  This gentle release restores balance to the body's structure and increases patient's awareness of their body.  The state of relaxation reached after this therapy provides increased blood flow; allowing tissues in the body to recover.  This procedure relieves and eliminates pain from micro-injuries, relaxes tight muscles which left untreated can cause strains, sprains and stress fractures.  Regular therapy can allow an athlete to avoid soreness after training, keeping the muscles from "tightening up" allowing their body to stay in a constant state of preparedness for the next competition or training.

 

Mental release (complete relaxation) is achieved through a series of specifically created exercises that train the mind to relax the body and clear the mind.  These therapeutic exercises provide a form of meditation that can be performed at any time to provide centeredness, intensify focus and provide calming mental clarity, a necessity for every competitor.

This "dual path" of osteopathic and mental release works in tandem to improve the athlete's ability and enable them to attain their full potential.

Alternative Therapy and the Injured Athlete

The body response to injury is bleeding and swelling to close off the blood vessel, the body's natural defense mechanism to protect the injured site.  While this natural protection isolates the injury from the rest of the body.  It also inhibits the surrounding undamaged tissue through decreased blood flow similar to "suffocation".   At the same time, the healthy nerve endings surrounding the injury sight send pain messages to the brain causing the surrounding muscles to tense up and begin a spiral of imbalance in the body. 

Alternative Physical Therapy "hits the nail on the head" by treating the injury immediately.  In as little as 2 hours (depending on the trauma) following an injury, Alternative Therapy can begin to rebalance the sympathetic and parasympathetic system, which control the swelling and blood flow to the site and surrounding structures.  This decreases the swelling, opening up the structures and allowing the blood and lymphatic fluids to drain from the affected area, at the same time opening the supply of healing blood to the injury.  The refreshed "nutrition" of the tissue will allow the tissue and nerves to function properly thereby allowing the pain to subside significantly.  Decreased swelling, decreased "domino" effect of the injury on neighboring tissue and increased blood flow promotes the healing.  This, in turn allows the injury to heal 10 to 5,000 times faster.  This is what Alternative Therapy provides.

 

Speed up Rehabilitation 

A healthy athlete who practices Alternative Therapy relaxation exercises regularly, develops a highly sensitive body awareness and ability to self calm and center, so when and if an injury does occur he responds better to therapy treatments shortening recovery time and lowering or even eliminating the need for chemical pain relief medications.  The athlete regains mobility, lowering the risk of deterioration of the injury site and surrounding healthy nerves, muscles and joints eliminating the "domino effect".

 

Got Sport?  Get Better...at Alternative Therapy.  Join the long list from Olympic hopefuls to amateur athletes who thrive from experiencing the benefits of Alternative Therapy.  Call for your appointment 941-727-1500.

Arthritis is a general term for joint inflammation. The main symptoms are pain, swelling and stiffness. There are over 100 types of arthritis, with intensity ranging from stiffness to severe stabbing pain.  

 The two most common types are rheumatoid and osteo arthritis.  Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by autoimmune attacks that usually come and go, and it may be influenced by numerous factors that alter the immune functions, including infections, dietary components, and stress.  

Ellen Teeter, AP, DOM

  Osteoarthritis also  involves some autoimmune responses, but is characterized by a gradually worsening degradation of the joint spaces, leading to sharp, fixed pain that persists. 

Below are some of the strategies for dealing with arthritis that could be helpful in both these types (as well as others).  The first 3 are drawn from the 3 Free Therapies of food, exercise and relaxation. 

1.  Keep moving!  Loosen up and get the blood flowing to reduce pain and stiffness!  

According to the Arthritis Foundation "research has shown that exercise is an essential tool in managing your arthritis."  If you haven't exercised in a while start with a low impact activity such as water walking, yoga or tai chi.  

2.  Try an "elimination diet" for a month and watch inflammation and joint pain subside .  

There is strong evidence which indicates that patients who follow vegan or vegetarian diets may experience significant improvement in arthritis symptoms.  Aside from a vegan diet there is strong evidence that avoiding certain foods can help reduce the inflammation and pain of arthritis.  

Many experts in nutrition suggest avoiding pro inflammatory foods such as wheat, dairy (milk, cheese), refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, caffeine, red meat, processed foods, table salt and for many sufferers the Night Shade family of vegetables (This includes egg plant, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers (excepting black pepper) and tobacco).                 

Elimination Diet:  Stop eating all suspected foods for 4 weeks, reintroduce them into your diet one at a time.  Give it 2 days to check your reaction as food sensitivities can take up to 2 days to manifest before adding another food .

3. Develop a meditation practice.   Develop an enhanced sense of wellbeing, more positive emotions, and less depression.  Participants in one study on "mindfulness meditation" reported very high value in terms of increased learning and personal growth. 

4 . Get regular acupuncture treatments.   Soothe your mind and ease your pain with this modality of a 2,000 year old system of medicine.  Pain is the most common symptom treated by acupuncture with incredible success.  Fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, back pain, headaches and rheumatoid arthritis have been shown to get significant pain relief with regular acupuncture treatments.

5. Take Chinese Herbal Prescriptive Formulas to boost your vitality and ease your pain.  Take a prescriptive herbal formula designed for your condition and problem area.  Chinese herbs are prescribed according to the pattern of symptoms accompanying the joint pain such as; where in the body the most pain appears; whether it's hot or cold; what makes it better or worse; how much weakness accompanies the pain; whether the muscles are contracted or soft, and more.  

Chinese medicine is not a "one size fits all" medicine, it is custom tailored to the individual.

Call for your personal evaluation with  today: 

 941-727-1500 

If you've been keeping up with Intentional Health's Massage articles, you already know the history and subsequent creation of Alternative Therapy's very own Nathalie Cecilia's renowned Bamboo-Fusion massage. As the desire for certification in Bamboo-Fusion massage sweeps the nation, we are faced with Nathalie's absence as she travels the nation to certify licensed massage therapists in the unique modality of Bamboo-Fusion.  

DO NOT DESPAIR! Our already multi-talented, licensed massage therapist; Maria Calain is now certified in the Bamboo-Fusion massage.  Now you have twice

Maria Calain, LMT

the opportunity to experience this exceptional technique of warmed and oiled (or with lotion) bamboo gently massaging the surfaces of your body to relax muscle tension, drain lymph system and address body specific aches or injuries.