Chiropractic Techniques

Dr. Priestman has developed an efficient system of testing that gives a clear picture of what is not working. This system examines the joint/muscle/nerve relationships and gives unambiguous results that are clear to both the doctor and the patient. The quick and efficient nature of the testing allows the patient to be reassessed at each visit and the treatment to be modified accordingly, ensuring optimum therapeutic effect. As the patient progresses, the patterns of joint dysfunction will shift to less problematic joints. Keeping up with the dynamic nature of the patterns is one of the secrets of Dr. Priestman’s success at quickly resolving pain.

Different problems call for different solutions. Once we have assessed your situation, we base your treatment plan on what will work most effectively for you.

For folks that have a pinched nerve, or sciatica, we have a state-of-the-art traction table. This unit uses spinal decompression therapy to work on the neck and lower back. It is very relaxing and effective.

We’ve had great results helping people with carpal tunnel and tennis elbow using a cold laser and micro current stimulation units.

We also use a holistic approach that includes shoe inserts and orthotics to correct the feet, the foundation of the skeleton.

Decompression
Spinal Decompression Therapy is an updated, more effective, and much more comfortable version of conventional traction. People sometimes even fall asleep!

A better fastening system, a table that moves with you and a computerized traction device are the secrets of this new system.

Discs are like sponges and depend on a sponging motion - caused by the movement of your back—to provide nutrition and remove waste products. When the back suffers trauma and discs become compressed by tight muscles, sponging motion is prevented. For a damaged disc, this can cause a worsening of the condition. A 10- to 15-minute session on the traction table will reintroduce this vital sponging motion and begin to loosen up your back. The session can then be enhanced by home exercises.

Currently, this service is covered by your office visit - something you won’t find with many chiropractors.

Cold Laser Unit
Cold laser therapy stimulates healing. It is a special kind of light that can penetrate up to two inches into the body and stimulate the metabolism of the cells, encouraging and speeding healing and reducing pain. By providing energy to cells, it enables them to make the proteins they need to in order to make repairs and heal the body.

Cold laser therapy is approved by the FDA to treat carpal tunnel syndrome, and is also used to treat a number of other conditions such as plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, rotator cuff injuries, back pain and arthritis. Cold laser is easy and painless to administer and takes very little time.

Cold laser is very useful in energy medicine as it deactivates scars and tattoos, which may interrupt or misdirect the energy meridians. While this not the case in all tattoos or scars, when it is, it can be very disruptive. This leads to poor assessment results and, consequently, poor outcomes for the program that is being undertaken. Cold laser is quick, effective and painless in the treatment of these issues.

It can also be used, instead of needles, to perform acupuncture.

Micro Current Stimulation
Micro-Current Stimulation works like laser by helping the cells produce more energy, which is then used to make repairs that the cells could not otherwise afford.  It is sub- sensory: you can't feel it. It is similar to the current found in acupuncture meridians, and somewhat like TENS treatment, only with about 1,000 times less current.

It was first shown to be useful in the treatment of bone fractures that wouldn’t heal. In one experiment, fractures that hadn’t healed even after three to five years were healing normally within a week.

Micro-Current Stimulation is an extremely safe treatment—it can even be left on for extended periods, and placed over metal implants, without danger. It often restores motion to damaged joints where all other therapy has failed.

Orthotics (inserts for your shoes)
If you think of yourself as a house, your feet are the foundation. If your feet are poor, the second story (your back) will never be great.

There are 208 bones in the body – and 56 of them are in your feet! That means that there are many opportunities for things to go wrong. Inserts and orthotics are like eyeglasses for the feet. If you need them (and 40 percent of people do), they’ll correct issues that cause you to walk incorrectly, creating problems in the knees, low back, shoulders and neck - even the jaw.

Often, inexpensive generic inserts are sufficient, but if not, we work with the Foot Performance Center Lab to make custom orthotics. For people who need them, they generally decrease back problems by 50 percent.