Our Mission
- Providing the best treatment possible embracing current comprehensive concepts and techniques of integrated human biomechanics.
- Providing effective tools that empower individuals to achieve and maintain optimal function and wellness.
- Providing the local community with resources to support healthy, active and self-sustainable lifestyles.
- Advancing the understanding and application of integrated biomechanics via study, research and co-operative investigation.
Postural Restoration
Advance Physical Therapy became one of about 25 certified Postural Restoration Centers in the US in December 2008.
Postural Restoration recognizes the interdependent, intentionally asymmetrical organization of the body. Although balanced asymmetry facilitates efficient movement, we can easily fall into limited, habitual movement patterns, especially through overuse of our dominant side, repetitive motion activity, sedentary lifestyle or injury. The resulting muscle and joint imbalances manifest as pain, fatigue, propensity for injury, and slow recovery from trauma. Restoring balanced asymmetry is a priority for Postural restoration trained therapists.
Hands-on techniques and exercises which precisely target specific muscle groups on the right or left side of the body, combined with breathing, often bring rapid pain relief. As you heal, individualized exercise progressions will enable you to self maintain and strengthen balanced asymmetry.
First Certified Postural Restoration Center and Schroth-based Certified Scoliosis Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Center in North Carolina
Many practices advertise Postural Restoration or Schroth-based approaches, however, Advance Physical Therapy currently employs SIX Fully Credentialed Postural Restoration Clinicians. Advance Physical Therapy also employs the first practitioners certified in the Schroth-based Barcelona Scoliosis Physical Therapy School Method (BSPTS) in the entire state of North Carolina. Please inquire carefully about the qualifications of practitioners advertising Postural Restoration or the “Schroth Method”. Certified Postural Restoration Therapists are designated with a PRC or PRT. Schroth-based practitioners will have a certification which demonstrates intensive education in the approach.
Orthopaedic Manual Therapies
Orthopaedic manual therapies include many hands-on techniques to alleviate acute and chronic pain, and to reset the nervous system. Muscles relax, inflammation is reduced, joint flexibility is enhanced. Some of the specialized techniques used by our therapists include Counterstrain or Positional Release, Active Release, Joint and Soft Tissue Mobilization, Myofacial and Connective Tissue Massage. Learn more about some of these therapies at our Articles page.
Orthopedic Rehabilitation
Athletes come in all shapes and sizes. A 9 year-old boy with a painful pitching elbow and a 75 year-old gardener with back pain both still just want to get back in the game. Viewing virtually all patients as athletes in some form, allows us to apply a functional approach to return to “play”. While demands of the game may vary, Sports Medicine is about taking the whole game and breaking it down in to simpler parts. Rehab professionals reinforce healthy movement patterns progressing difficulty and complexity as the body tissues adapt and strengthen from controlled stress.
Pediatrics
Children love to move! It is one way they are able to play, to learn about things in their environment, about cause and effect, and how gravity works, not to mention, to get where they want to go! But not all children move the same way. If you have concerns about the way your child moves, we can help! Some things to look for include:
- frequent walking on toes
- moving much more slowly than their peers
- weakness and early fatigue
- having stiff muscles
- not crawling before they walk
- not able to stand or sit still
- difficulty with steps or curbs
- frequent falling
- uncoordinated movements vs. their peers
- reports of joint or muscle pain
- difficulty jumping, hopping or skipping
- fear of movement or low heights
If you have any questions or concerns about the movement patterns of your infant, baby, or child, I would be happy to talk with you, offer some things to look for and to try, or to perform an evaluation in our Chapel Hill clinic.
Chronic Pain
In the last decade there have been huge advances in the understanding of mechanisms involved in pain production and pain perception. Scientists have demonstrated clear changes in the body, the brain, and the personalities of people suffering with long-term, chronic pain. Faulty and/or inadequate compensatory movement patterns resulting from injury and pain, can be responsible for maintaining and reinforcing poor body mechanics which lead to continued pain. The brain and nervous system adapt to this condition by becoming even more sensitive, lowering tolerance for stimulation and activity. Weakness, fatigue, fear of movement, isolation and depression often follow. Clinicians trained to understand these progressions can offer more effective treatment for long standing pain conditions by targeting multiple body systems which are perpetuating the cycle of chronic pain.
Integrative Personal Training and Fitness Classes
Postural Restoration principles are incorporated for strength and conditioning for individuals or groups through our PRI certified personal trainer.
Dry Needling
Dry needling is a form of therapy in which fine needles are inserted into myofascial trigger points (painful knots in muscles): tendons, ligaments or nerves in order to stimulate a healing response in painful musculoskeletal conditions. Dry needling is not acupuncture or Oriental medicine; that is, it does not have the purpose of alternating the (“Qi”) along traditional Chinese meridians for the treatment of diseases. In fact, dry needling is a modern, science-based intervention for the treatment of pain and dysfunction in musculoskeletal problems such as neck pain, shoulder impingement, tennis elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, knee pain, shin splints, plantar fasciitis or low-back pain.
Bodywork and Manual Therapies
We are able to offer hands on/manual bodywork to support your PRI program as well as traditional massage, through our PRI certified and licensed massage therapist.