At South Portland Chiropractic, we have been providing drug-free solutions and treatment for acute and chronic pain since 1982. Our care philosophy has become increasingly relevant in today’s world, as the use of opioids to manage acute and chronic pain has reached a crisis level.
We primarily treat low back and neck pain—both acute and chronic conditions. We provide the finest chiropractic care through manual manipulation; therapies including massage, ultrasound and electrical stimulation; and lifestyle changes, including posture remodeling, nutrition and exercise.
We also enjoy working with local school athletes. While sports injuries to shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles are challenging, we are rewarded by seeing them return to competition.
That’s our goal—to return our patients to normal daily living.
Consultation and Examination
We start by getting to know you. We’ll have a discussion about your current health as well as your health goals before we start any treatment. We will do a thorough examination to determine what your treatment needs are. Then we’ll recommend a specific treatment program whose primary goal is to get you feeling and functioning better in as short a period of time as possible.
Chiropractic Care
Once we’ve determined a course of care, we’ll use different treatments to achieve our goal. Chiropractic manipulative therapy involves gentle mobilization of joints for the purpose of correcting misalignments and calming down irritated tissue—mainly nerves and muscles. This results in restoring movement and in diminished pain and discomfort or simply restoring your body the way it was designed to be. We may also use therapies to help the process such as electric stimulation, ultrasound, heat, ice and cold laser. We will also recommend specific changes to your posture and specific exercises. These therapies all help to reduce and/or eliminate pain, swelling and inflammation and get you on the road to recovery.
Electrical Stimulation
Electro-Muscular Stimulation (E-stim) uses small amounts of electric current to stimulate the site of soft tissue involvement. This helps to reduce pain, spasm and swelling, and improves circulation, which collectively can speed up healing. Treatments typically last between 10-15 minutes.
Ultrasound
Sound vibrations penetrate soft tissue creating an effect that can promote healing, breakdown calcium deposits, improve blood flow and reduce nerve irritation. Treatments typically last between 10-15 minutes.
Laser
Low Level Lasers (LLL) are used to stimulate tissue at a cellular level to promote healing, and to decrease pain and inflammation.
Postural Remodeling & Exercise
Poor posture results in diminished movement efficiency and can lead to soft tissue breakdown, causing injury to joints and soft tissue, or repetitive strain disorders. Posture remodeling teaches your body to move more efficiently by placing your musculoskeletal system at ideal placement.
Exercise is essential to maintain this postural change and to improve movement in general. Exercise is also vital in rehabilitating a strain or sprain and can speed up a recovery. This creates, or re-creates, neuromuscular memory, thus resulting in less stress to the body and improved function. This can ultimately reduce your risk of re-injury or exacerbation, and can result in increased ranges of motion, reeducation of damaged muscles, strengthening of muscles, and providing stabilization to a region.
Orthotics
Improper balance and function of the feet can cause plantar fasciitis and excessive pronation which causes stress on the knee, hip, pelvis and spine. These compensatory changes in time put stress on the muscles and joints which can lead to chronic pain.
Orthotics correct improper balance and function of the feet which reduces stress on the knees, hips, pelvis and spine, and this helps hold a chiropractic adjustment better. Orthotics also improve shock absorption which reduces repetitive stress to the body and help chronic pain.
We utilize Foot Levelers, spinal pelvic stabilizing custom made orthotics, to match the specific needs of each patient. Using a state-of-the-art, three-dimensional scanner to image your feet, skilled lab technicians create unique orthotics to correct and support your arches and feet. The combination of flexible, yet supportive, custom orthotics ensure proper guiding of the feet when walking and provide support during long periods of standing.