Physical Therapy

Dr. Mowry utilizes a variety of specialized techniques that she has learned from various courses all over the United States. Your treatment may include some or all of the techniques described below.

Muscle Energy Technique

Muscle Energy Technique is a method of manual manipulation of the skeleton. MET is similar to a chiropractic adjustment in terms of it's focus on alignment and nervous system function, while it is dissimilar to chiropractic as little or no force is applied to the patient by the practitioner. In MET the 'adjustment' is called a "Fix".

The practitioner evaluates the patients body in forward bending and back bending to identify specific restrictions of motion. Slowly and methodically, the therapist positions the patient's body in the opposite position to the restriction and supports the patient to create their own 'Fix'.

This gentle, patient-directed technique can be used in a wide variety of situations to treat a broad spectrum of conditions.

Muscle energy technique may feel like a bending and stretching. It may feel like a pinch at an anatomical barrier. It can feel like an accurate accessing of an already painful area followed by a relief, release and an increased range of motion.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial Release is a very effective hands-on technique that provides sustained pressure into myofascial restrictions to eliminate pain and restore motion. The theory of Myofascial Release requires an understanding of the fascial system (or connective tissue). The fascia is a specialized system of the body that has an appearance similar to a spider's web or a sweater.

Fascia is very densely woven, covering and interpenetrating every muscle, bone, nerve, artery and vein as well as all of our internal organs including the heart, lungs, brain and spinal cord. The most interesting aspect of the fascial system is that it is not just a system of separate coverings. It is actually one structure that exists from head to foot without interruption. In this way you can begin to see that each part of the entire body is connected to every other part by the fascia, like the yarn in a sweater.

Fascia also plays an important role in the support of our bodies, since it surrounds and attaches to all structures. These structures would not be able to provide the stability without the constant pull of the fascial system. In fact, our bones can be thought of as tent poles, which cannot support the structure without the constant support of the guide wires (or fascia) to keep an adequate amount of tension to allow the tent (or body) to remain upright with proper equilibrium.

In the normal healthy state, the fascia is relaxed and wavy in configuration. It has the ability to stretch and move without restriction. When we experience physical trauma, scarring, or inflammation, however, the fascia loses its pliability. It becomes tight, restricted and a source of tension to the rest of the body. Trauma, such as a fall, whiplash, surgery or just habitual poor posture over time and repetitive stress injuries has a cumulative effect. The changes they cause in the fascial system influence comfort and the functioning of our body. The fascia can exert excessive pressure producing pain or restriction of motion. They affect our flexibility and stability, and are a determining factor in our ability to withstand stress and strain.

The use of Myofascial Release allows us to look at each patient as a unique individual. Our one-on-one therapy sessions are hands-on treatments during which our therapists use a multitude of Myofascial Release techniques and movement therapy. We promote independence through education in proper body mechanics and movement, through the enhancement of strength, flexibility, and postural and movement awareness.

CranioSacral Therapy

CranioSacral Therapy is a method of examining and treating your head and body for restrictions that cause you pain and dysfunction. CranioSacral Therapy addresses the membrane system and connective tissue that connect the cranium and sacrum to each other. CST permits improvements in brain and spinal cord function which, increases the health of your entire body, enhances your resistance to disease and assists in a return to optimal function.

CranioSacral Therapy works by releasing restrictions in the fascial and/or membrane system. The cranial bones and the sacrum are used as handles to these membranes. The Cerebrospinal fluid circulates within these membranes and has a normal pumping rhythm of 6 – 12 cycles/minute. By utilizing the cranial bones and the sacrum as handles to these membranes, restrictions can be released and the normal rhythm re-established. This has direct influence on the hormonal and nervous systems – two of the systems that govern the body.

If you experience chronic pain, recent injuries, headaches, head injuries, facial pain, whiplash, jaw pain and dysfunction, chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, nervousness, post traumatic stress disorder or immunosuppressive symptoms, as well as many other physical and emotional symptoms. CranioSacral can help to release pain and restore normal function.

Balancing your CranioSacral system speeds your recovery and helps to relieve your pain while improving neural, hormonal, muscular, visceral and brain function.

Somato Emotional Release

SER is an offshoot of CranioSacral therapy which clears your mind and body of the residual effects of past injuries and negative experiences.

Often, during a CranioSacral therapy session, the patient will revisit past injury, insult or trauma. Your therapist, acting as a facilitator, supports you to re experience and express the body's memory thus ending the suppression, consequent pain and dysfunction.

When pain has become chronic and other therapies have provided only temporary relief, it is likely that your body may be suppressing or dissociating from, a memory of an injury. CranioSacral will facilitate this release. SER is often approached as an avenue for personal growth.

The re experiencing of a past injury or trauma frequently results in a re experiencing of the pain, fear or anger that was present at the original injury. The complete release of this memory, physically and emotionally, brings about a profound relief that is well worth the effort required to complete the process.

Visceral Manipulation

Ninety percent of all musculoskeletal disorders have a visceral component. Any structure that crosses a joint has the ability to restrict the joint. For example, the mesenteric root of the small intestine can limit the mobility of the spine as it crosses the 3rd and 4th lumbar vertebra. Also, in order to walk, the cecum must glide in the iliac fossa and the bladder must rotate in relation to the pubic bone.

Visceral Manipulation is a therapeutic approach to relieving abnormal tissue tensions of and around your organs thereby promoting and improving organ function. The basic philosophy of Visceral Manipulation is that an organ in good health has good movement.

If a tissue becomes fixed or adhered, it will become a point of chronic irritation. Other tissues will pivot around that point in an effort to adapt to it. Their function will become altered as well. Altered motion creates organ dysfunction. Adhesions can form between organs and the surrounding tissues, which also attach to your bones. A longstanding adhesion can cause a chronic tension on the spine creating back pain, shoulder pain, and/or neck pain.

The therapist listens to your organ function, heat, movement, and lack of movement with a trained hand and thorough knowledge of anatomy and physiology. The therapist listens for abnormal tissue tone and lines of tension, following these influences throughout your body. With specifically applied manual forces these tensions are released. By encouraging normal organ function, through the restoration of proper motion, organ function is enhanced, and the body can regain optimal health.

You may experience an increased awareness of an existing area of discomfort that you already have. Sometimes symptoms are recreated before they go away. Many times Visceral Manipulation is only experienced as an improvement in body function and a feeling of well-being.

Neural Manipulation (NM) addresses restrictions of the dural and neural components not commonly focused on with musculoskeletal symptoms. NM identifies and releases local nerve restrictions while at the same time examines the effect these local fixations have on the rest of the body, and by accessing this relationship, resolves the more comprehensive (global) dysfunctional patterns.

Lymphatic Drainage

The lymphatic system is a fluid system comprised primarily of lymph vessels and nodes and works together with our blood system to maintain our health. The proper functioning of the lymphatic system is critical to our body's ability to detoxify and regenerate tissues, filter out toxins and foreign substances, recover crucial substances that have escaped from the blood, and maintain a healthy immune system.

LDT is a hands-on technique that activates and cleanses our fluid system. The therapist will assess the rhythm, direction, depth and quality of the lymph flow. This evaluation will determine the therapist's approach for draining body-fluid stagnations. The therapist works with flat hands, using all the fingers to stimulate wave-like movements. The pressure applied is very light, and most people fall asleep during treatment.

Some people may experience some muscle aches, sluggishness or fatigue for several days. This simply means toxins are being eliminated from your body. It is important for you to drink as much as possible to help flush out the toxins and aid detoxification.

Strain-Counter Strain

Strain-counter strain is a manual technique which relieves spinal or other joint pain by passively putting the joint into its position of greatest comfort: relieving pain by reduction and arrest of the continuing inappropriate proprioceptor activity.

The practitioner uses palpation and passive positional procedures to find and alleviate dysfunctions in the body. This is accomplished by markedly shortening the muscle that contains the malfunctioning muscle spindle by applying mild strain to its antagonists. This position is held for at least 90 seconds. In other words, the inappropriate strain reflex is inhibited by application of a counter strain.

The position of comfort is identical with that of the original strain. This position again shortens the muscle containing the dysfunctioning proprioceptors, nerves that inform the body of its spatial position relative to its time and depth. The comforted position allows the central nervous system to turn down the neuromuscular discharge enabling the muscle to return to easy neutral at it’s resting length. The technique is done in slow motion with no surprises for the central nervous system.

Strain-Counter strain is used when the strain which we believe to be the cause is stopped yet evidence of injury and pain persists, even becomes progressively worse. Palpable objective evidence of the continuing dysfunction is found not in the tissues that were overstretched, but in the tissues that are the antagonists of the overstretched tissues. The focus of attention is directed especially at the neuromuscular reflexes rather than tissue stresses.