Integrative Physical Therapy uses an body+mind approach to treating physical injury, persistent pain conditions, physical impairment, and other body problems:
Identifying the "Pain Mechanism"
Before effective treatment can occur, the area needs to be evaluated. In addition to giving a physical therapy diagnosis, at IPT the evaluation includes identifying the part of the nervous system that is the "driver"of symptoms. Through this process clients have an improved understanding of their condition, and treatment options increase.
Pain Neuroscience Education (aka learning about pain)
If you are in pain, has anybody ever explained to why you hurt? Having pain is part of having a body, and yet pain is widely misunderstood in our culture. Understanding pain is very important in when pain persists past how long it would take for tissues to heal (typically 6 weeks-1 year.) Michelle will take the time to explain why you hurt, and work with you to determine a client specific plan for how to reduce and manage pain while improving your ability to return to activities you enjoy.
Manual Therapy
Michelle has extensively studied Functional Manual Therapy (FMT) with the Institute of Physical Art and was certified in this approach from 2014-2024. FMT is a style of manual therapy that treats muscle, joint, fascial and nerve restrictions in order to restore movement, reduce pain and improve function.She also has studied visceral and neural manipulation with the Barral Institute. The combination of this experiences ensures all body systems can be treated with manual therapy, if needed
Mindfulness and Yoga
Michelle is a buddhist practitioner and yoga instructor. While she doe not currently teach group yoga classes, yoga and mindfuness can be integrated into your treatment. These modalities help improve mind/body connection and calm the nervous system, making them an integral component of treatment when there is nervous system sensitivity present.
Therapeutic Exercise
Movement is an essential part of recovery from injury and managing pain. Simple therapeutic exercises that you can do at home will be provided to address mobility and strength issues that are seen during the evaluation process. In addition, general movement and exercise recommendations for managing conditions will be made.
Body Mechanics Training
How we hold our bodies can impact the function of our stabilizing muscles (aka our "core"), contribute to pressure on the pelvic organs, and lead to overuse syndromes. Learning how to stand, sit, sleep, and otherwise move with good body mechanics can be helpful with recovering from injury and managing pain conditions.