Medical Services in Cumming
Optimum Health Rehab’s integrative medicine approach to healthcare combines conventional medical services with alternative therapies providing you with the most advanced holistic and allopathic treatment techniques in the healthcare industry. Our community medical services in Cumming include:
Chiropractic Treatment
Many people aren’t sure what to expect from chiropractic treatment. They may believe that it is only useful for back pain, or that a chiropractor only performs spinal adjustments. But the truth is that chiropractic care addresses a wide range of issues throughout the body. It’s helpful to understand that the nerves of the spinal cord connect to other parts of the body, and pain in the knee or shoulder, for example, may be referred pain originating in the spine.
Is Spinal Manipulation the Only Treatment a Chiropractor Performs?
Not necessarily. Spinal manipulation, or adjustment, is a mainstay of therapy, particularly for lower back pain. But your chiropractor will take the time to learn about your pain and difficulties, ask about your medical issues, and perform a thorough exam that may include X-rays and other tests. After diagnosing the problem, they will create a treatment plan, which could include spinal manipulation, other manual therapies, recommendations on posture and exercise, and education on ergonomics, such as suggestions for sitting or walking more comfortably. Often these therapies are meant to work together to help the patient reach maximum improvement.
Car Accident Treatment
A car accident can leave you in a lot of pain. Depending on the exact circumstances of your car crash, you might suffer broken bones, dislocated joints, back or neck injuries, head injuries, and more. Ideally, you should seek medical treatment for your injuries right away, even if they don’t seem serious at first.
Frequently we meet patients who went to the hospital after their accident and received treatment. However, even after their injuries healed, they still found themselves with chronic or persistent pain. This is common with soft tissue injuries like whiplash and other back or neck injuries. Some people believe there is nothing they can do if their original injury has healed and they are still in pain, but we caution you not to give up without consulting a chiropractor. In many cases, spinal manipulation or other therapies can finally bring pain relief for car accident injuries.
Car Accidents and Whiplash
People suffer a wide range of injuries in car accidents, but whiplash is a very common problem. This soft tissue injury occurs when a car stops or slows suddenly, which often happens as a driver tries to avoid a crash or mitigate the effects of one. The problem is that while the car slows down rapidly, the bodies inside the car continue to move forward at the same speed the car was going. Most people wear seatbelts, which prevents potentially fatal injuries from being thrown into the windshield. However, while seatbelts are excellent at stopping the forward motion of the body as a whole, they do nothing to stop the person’s head from snapping forward and then back, which may lead to a whiplash injury.
Some people who develop whiplash may experience symptoms immediately, but others may feel fine for several hours, or even until the next day. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to see a doctor after a car accident. If you wake up in pain the next day, don’t hesitate to get medical attention for your injuries.
Treating Whiplash
Whiplash can cause multiple symptoms in addition to neck pain, including:
- Stiffness and pain that gets worse with the movement of the neck
- Reduced range of motion of the neck
- Headaches
- Pain or discomfort in the shoulders, upper back, or arms
- Tingling or numbness in the arms
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Blurred vision
- Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears
- Difficulty sleeping
- Irritability or mood changes
- Trouble concentrating or problems with memory
- Depression
After diagnosing whiplash, doctors usually prescribe rest, pain medication, and the application of heat or cold to the neck area. Sometimes they may prescribe muscle relaxers or inject a numbing medication. Your doctor might recommend stretching exercises to ease the muscle tension, or a foam collar to reduce movement while you recover. Many patients improve on this protocol and their symptoms resolve within a few days or weeks.
However, some patients will develop chronic pain and other symptoms. Often in these situations, doctors have no new treatment options for handling this chronic pain, and may only be able to offer more pain relievers or muscle relaxers. But these don’t work well for everyone and may have unpleasant side effects. Additionally, while they may be somewhat helpful with the pain, these medications may not address other symptoms like tinnitus or dizziness.
In these cases, chiropractic care may relieve pain and other symptoms. One study found that about 93 percent of chronic whiplash syndrome patients showed symptom improvement after receiving chiropractic care, which may involve spinal manipulation on its own or combined with other therapies.
If you or a loved one have suffered whiplash or other injuries in a car accident, please contact Optimum Health today for a consultation.
Cumming Personal Injury Treatment
Injuries can happen in many ways, from car accidents to falls to sports or recreation injuries. Sometimes people tell us they don’t know how they managed to get hurt so badly from a minor incident, but it does happen. In other situations, a patient may develop a chronic or repetitive use injury, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Sometimes these injuries are difficult to diagnose because the injured person can’t tie their symptoms to a specific injury, such as falling off a ladder or being in a car accident. However, repetitive use injuries are still injuries and require treatment as well as avoiding the offending activity.
Optimum Health offers treatment for a variety of personal injuries, including:
- Bone and joint problems
- Soft tissue injuries
- Rehabilitation after healing from broken bones or other serious injuries
- Lower back pain
- Shoulder pain
- Neck pain and stiffness
Physical Rehabilitation
Physical rehabilitation uses multiple techniques to address the root causes of back, neck, and shoulder pain. First, we will perform diagnostic tests to determine why you’re having pain. Depending on your symptoms, we may use MRIs, X-rays, TBI/Concussion testing, or vascular ultrasound tests. Additionally, we will perform a physical exam. After reviewing the results, we will diagnose the problem and put together a treatment plan, which may include the following:
- Hot or cold therapy for the affected area
- Electrical stimulation, in which we apply low-voltage electrical currents to reduce pain
- Massage therapy for the soft tissues of the neck and back
- Exercise therapy to target the soft tissue and joints causing you pain
- Neuromuscular reeducation, in which we help the patient retrain their brain and spinal cord to relieve pain
- Myofascial release, which is designed to reduce tension and tightness in “trigger points” of the myofascial tissue that supports the body’s muscles
- Joint or soft tissue manipulation, which is similar to spinal manipulation but may involve other areas of the body
- Proprioceptive stretching, which focuses on increasing flexibility, range of motion, and strength
- Core stability exercises to improve flexibility and strength in the muscles around your spine
- Regenerative medicine, in which we use targeted new treatments to restore function and relieve pain
Regenerative Medicine
One of our most common regenerative medicine therapies is platelet-rich plasma injection or PRP. This is a therapy we use to improve the body’s own natural healing abilities, usually for patients suffering from tendon or ligament injuries. In this treatment, we use your own cells, collected from your blood and concentrated into a platelet-rich plasma. We then inject this plasma into impaired areas of the body such as the knee, hip, or shoulder, in order to speed up the natural healing process.
How is Platelet-Rich Plasma Created?
This plasma is made from your own blood, which we’ll acquire from a simple, standard blood draw on the day of your appointment. You do not need to worry about your blood type or compatibility because everything in the injection comes straight from your own body.
After drawing your blood, we will place it in a centrifuge which spins around to separate different types of cells. This isolates the plasma, a pale yellow fluid that carries other components of the blood as well as nutrients and waste products. Platelet-rich plasma is then divided from platelet-poor plasma, and platelet-rich plasma is the final product that we inject into the patient’s injured joint or tissue. This all takes place during your appointment, so you do not need to come back on another day to receive your injection.
Neurology Services
Neurology is the area of medicine that deals with the nerves and nervous system. Many injuries affect local nerves, including spinal injuries and traumatic head injuries. At Optimum Health Rehab, we work to distinguish if your injuries have affected nerves, then create a plan to treat nerve injuries or damage. These treatment options may include:
- Exercise or oxygen therapy
- Physical therapy
- Injections to reduce pain
- Regenerative therapies like PRP
Optimum Health Rehab Georgia Medical Services Locations
Call Optimum Health Rehab Today to Take Charge of Your Health
If you’ve been struggling with back, neck, shoulder, or joint pain, call Optimum Health at (770) 887-9443 to set up a consultation or visit us online. We’ll take a medical history and run tests as needed to diagnose your problem, then we’ll recommend a multi-faceted treatment plan to help you feel better.