Treatment Techniques & Therapies
At Bella Vida Wellness, treatment is never based on a one-size-fits-all approach. A variety of hands-on, movement-based, and rehabilitative techniques may be incorporated into your care based on your individual needs, evaluation findings, comfort level, and goals.
Explore the techniques and therapies below to learn more about what they are, how they are used, and how they may support your treatment, recovery, movement, and overall function.
Chiropractic care encompasses more than one type of adjustment. Different techniques can be used to address joint mobility, restricted movement, discomfort, and functional limitations throughout the spine and extremities. The technique selected is based on your individual presentation, treatment goals, comfort level, and response to care.
Diversified is a hands-on chiropractic technique that uses a controlled, targeted movement applied to a specific joint. It is commonly used when an examination identifies restricted or altered joint movement.
An adjustment may produce the familiar “popping” or “cracking” sound, which occurs when gas within the joint is released. The sound itself is not the goal of treatment and does not determine whether an adjustment was effective.
Diversified adjustments may be incorporated into care to improve joint mobility and comfortable movement as part of a broader treatment and rehabilitation plan.
Drop Table is a chiropractic technique performed on a specialized treatment table containing sections that can be raised slightly and then gently drop during treatment.
The movement of the table assists the practitioner while reducing the amount of force required to mobilize or adjust an area. This can provide an alternative for patients who prefer a different approach from traditional manual adjustments.
Cox Flexion-Distraction is a gentle, controlled technique performed on a specialized table that allows portions of the spine to move through specific patterns of flexion and distraction.
Rather than using a traditional thrust adjustment, the technique combines controlled table movement with hands-on contact to gently mobilize the spine. It may be incorporated into care for certain presentations involving spinal stiffness, restricted movement, or back and leg symptoms when clinically appropriate.
Joint mobilization uses controlled, repetitive movements to move a joint through a specific portion of its available range of motion.
Unlike a traditional chiropractic adjustment, which may involve a quicker movement, mobilization is generally slower and can be performed at different intensities depending on the goal of treatment.
Joint mobilization may be used to improve comfortable joint movement, address stiffness, and prepare an area for stretching, exercise, or functional movement.
Chiropractic care is not limited to the spine. Joints of the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, hips, knees, ankles, and feet can also be evaluated and treated when appropriate.
Manipulation or mobilization of an extremity may be incorporated into care when joint mobility or function is contributing to discomfort or affecting movement.
Muscles, fascia, tendons, and other soft tissues play an important role in movement and function. Injury, repetitive activity, training demands, prolonged positioning, and changes in movement patterns can contribute to muscular tension, tenderness, or restricted movement.
Bella Vida Wellness incorporates several hands-on soft-tissue techniques that may be used individually or in combination with joint care, therapeutic stretching, mobility work, and corrective exercise.
Fascia is connective tissue that surrounds and interacts with muscles and other structures throughout the body. Myofascial techniques use targeted hands-on pressure and movement to work with muscles and surrounding connective tissues.
Treatment may be directed toward areas of tension, tenderness, or restricted soft-tissue mobility with the goal of improving comfortable movement and preparing the area for stretching, mobility work, or exercise.
Instrument-Assisted Soft-Tissue Mobilization, or IASTM, is a hands-on technique that uses specially designed instruments to assess and treat muscles, fascia, tendons, and related soft tissues.
The instruments allow controlled pressure and movement to be applied to targeted areas and provide the practitioner with another way to work with areas of soft-tissue restriction or sensitivity.
IASTM may be incorporated into treatment to help decrease feelings of muscular tightness, improve soft-tissue mobility and comfortable range of motion, and prepare an area for stretching, mobility work, or corrective exercise.
Pin & Stretch combines targeted pressure on a muscle or soft-tissue area with active or passive movement.
While pressure is maintained at a specific location, the muscle or surrounding tissues are moved through an appropriate range. This allows soft-tissue work to be combined with movement and may be used to address muscular tightness or restricted mobility.
Trigger-point work involves applying focused pressure to localized areas of muscular tenderness or tension.
Pressure may be maintained or combined with movement and stretching depending on the area being treated. Trigger-point techniques may be incorporated into care to reduce muscular tension and improve comfortable movement.
Cupping uses specialized therapeutic cups that create negative pressure against the skin and superficial tissues.
Depending on the treatment goal, cups may remain stationary for a period of time or be incorporated into movement. Cupping may temporarily decrease feelings of muscular tightness and may be used alongside other soft-tissue, mobility, and rehabilitation techniques.
Temporary circular discoloration or marks can occur following stationary cupping and typically resolve over time.
Moving cupping—sometimes called cupping massage—combines the negative pressure of a therapeutic cup with movement across the skin.
A lubricant allows the cup to glide across a targeted area while maintaining suction. This provides a different form of soft-tissue mobilization than stationary cupping and may be used to address larger areas of muscular tension or restricted soft-tissue mobility.
Some of these techniques may share elements with techniques used by massage therapists, but their purpose and application at Bella Vida Wellness are different.
Soft-tissue techniques are incorporated into a chiropractic, rehabilitative, and movement-based plan of care and are directed toward specific muscles, tissues, joints, and movement limitations identified during your evaluation.
Rather than providing traditional full-body or relaxation massage, treatment focuses on targeted areas related to your individual presentation and functional goals. Soft-tissue work may then be combined with joint mobilization, therapeutic stretching, mobility exercises, corrective exercise, or strengthening to help translate improvements in comfort and mobility into better movement and function.
Bella Vida Wellness does not provide massage therapy services.
Flexibility and mobility are related, but they are not exactly the same. Flexibility generally describes the ability of muscles and other soft tissues to lengthen, while mobility involves the ability to move comfortably and effectively through an available range of motion.
At Bella Vida Wellness, stretching and mobility techniques are selected based on your individual movement needs rather than simply applying the same stretches to everyone.
Assisted stretching allows the practitioner to guide a joint or muscle through an appropriate range while controlling position, direction, and intensity.
This approach can target specific muscles and movement restrictions and may be used to improve flexibility, comfortable range of motion, and body awareness.
Post-Isometric Relaxation is a stretching technique that combines a gentle muscular contraction with a subsequent stretch.
The patient performs a controlled contraction against resistance for a short period, relaxes, and is then guided into an appropriate stretch. The technique may be used when the goal is to improve flexibility and comfortable range of motion.
Post-Facilitation Stretching also uses muscular contraction followed by a controlled stretch, but the contraction and stretching sequence differs from traditional passive stretching.
The technique provides another option for addressing muscular tightness and improving flexibility when appropriate for the individual.
Mobility work combines joint movement, muscular control, and range of motion. Depending on the individual's needs, mobility exercises may be performed actively by the patient, assisted by the practitioner, or incorporated into a home exercise program.
The goal is not simply to become “more flexible,” but to develop usable movement that can be controlled through an appropriate range of motion.
Hands-on treatment can be an important part of reducing pain and restoring mobility, but improving how the body functions often requires more than passive care. Corrective exercise and rehabilitation incorporate purposeful movement and progressive exercise to help address the mobility, stability, strength, coordination, and movement limitations identified during your evaluation.
Rather than using the same exercises for every patient, your rehabilitation program is individualized according to your current abilities, specific limitations, activities, and goals. Exercises can be modified and progressed as your movement, strength, and function improve.
Mobility exercises are used to improve comfortable movement through an appropriate range of motion. These may address specific joints, muscles, or movement patterns that are limited or difficult.
Mobility work may also reinforce improvements achieved through chiropractic care, joint mobilization, soft-tissue techniques, and therapeutic stretching by encouraging you to actively move through your available range.
Good movement requires more than flexibility and strength. The body must also be able to control movement and maintain appropriate stability.
Stability and motor-control exercises may be used to improve muscular coordination, body awareness, joint control, and the ability to maintain appropriate positioning during movement.
Strengthening exercises are selected according to your current abilities and gradually progressed as appropriate.
Depending on your needs, strengthening may target specific muscles or involve larger functional movement patterns. Resistance can be provided through body weight, resistance bands, free weights, machines, or other exercise equipment.
The goal is to gradually improve your ability to produce and tolerate force so that your body is better prepared for the demands of everyday life, work, exercise, and recreational activities.
Proprioception is your body's ability to recognize its position and movement in space. It plays an important role in balance, coordination, joint control, and movement.
Balance and proprioceptive exercises may be incorporated into rehabilitation following certain injuries or when improving stability, coordination, or movement control is part of your treatment goals.
Exercises can progress from simple controlled movements to more challenging tasks that better reflect the demands of your daily activities or sport.
Rehabilitation should ultimately help you perform the activities that matter to you.
Functional exercises can be selected to reflect movements encountered during daily activities, work, recreation, fitness, or sport. Depending on your goals, this might include squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, carrying, reaching, stepping, lifting, or other movement patterns.
As your abilities improve, exercises can become progressively more challenging and more specific to the activities you want to return to or improve.
An important part of rehabilitation is giving you tools you can use outside of the office.
When appropriate, you may receive exercises to perform independently between visits. Your home program can be adjusted and progressed as your condition and abilities change.
The goal is not simply to give you a list of exercises, but to help you understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how it relates to your movement and functional goals.
As pain decreases and function improves, rehabilitation can gradually transition toward more independent exercise and fitness.
For patients who want to continue building strength, mobility, cardiovascular fitness, or overall physical capacity, Bella Vida Wellness can also provide personalized exercise programming and progression based on your abilities and goals.
This creates a natural progression from:
Pain Relief → Restoring Movement → Corrective Exercise & Rehabilitation → Strength & Fitness → Long-Term Wellness
Supportive physiotherapy modalities may be incorporated into care when appropriate. These treatments are generally used to complement hands-on care, movement, and rehabilitation rather than serving as the sole focus of treatment.
Kinesiology tape is an elastic therapeutic tape applied to the skin in specific patterns depending on the treatment goal.
It may be used as a temporary adjunct to treatment to provide sensory feedback, support movement, or complement rehabilitation while still allowing the body to move.
Electrical stimulation uses controlled electrical impulses delivered through electrodes placed on the skin.
Depending on the type of stimulation and treatment goal, it may be incorporated into care to assist with temporary pain management or muscle stimulation.
Heat may be used before or during treatment to promote comfort and temporarily reduce feelings of muscular stiffness or tension.
It may also be used to prepare an area for hands-on treatment, stretching, or movement when appropriate.
Cold therapy may be used following certain injuries or activities to temporarily reduce pain and provide symptom relief.
Whether heat or cold is appropriate depends on the condition, stage of recovery, individual response, and treatment goals.