This covers everything from Arthritis to pinched nerves and tendinitis. In the traditional medical model, if you have a knee injury, you are only assessed for a knee problem, same with the neck or back. At our office, Spencer Orthopedics in La Quinta, CA we take a whole-body approach, which means that we take a careful history to find out what lead you up to this point and will work very hard so we can determine the actual cause of your problem rather than just trying to fix the immediate problem for now.
Joint muscle and nerve pain in the spine or extremity
I always find that most of these issues stem from one of three issues:
- Direct trauma to the area of complaint
- Stress on the joint due to alignment or postural problems
- Overuse, stress and time
Posture and movement patterns are important because if your joints don't move properly, they will wear out faster and create abnormal friction, inflammation, and pain. Fixing this alone won't fix chronic problems, but it is one of the first things we assess.
We assess the area of complaint with a physical examination, orthopedic tests but will look at adjacent joints as well to determine if they are contributing to the problem. Chronic muscular problems develop into trigger points that may cause muscle pain, but they will also limit the flexibility of the muscle as well, which is another part of the physical evaluation.
Neurological tests are provided if you have any type of nerve pain, tingling, or numbness and appropriate tests may be ordered if your condition is severe.
Diagnostic x-ray and ultrasound are on-site and provide the doctor with additional data to help form an appropriate diagnosis.
Physical Treatment could include one or more of the following items:
- Postural and core strengthening rehabilitation
- Shoulder, elbow, hip or knee rehabilitation
- Deep tissue manual muscle work
- Joint mobilization to loosen and re-align joints
- Joint stabilization or alignment with bracing
- Spinal decompression to alleviate pinched nerves in the spine
Pain Relief Treatment:
- Deep tissue laser
- Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Frequency for pain
- Migraine Relief
