Chiropractic
Chiropractic is a 5 year university degree specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of the musculoskeletal disorders and injuries with particular emphasis on the spine. The adjustment is the hallmark of chiropractic and is what is commonly known as “cracking” which is a very specific technique to the facet joints of the spine to restore proper movement, function and reduce pain. Chiropractors are taught muscle and orthopedic testing procedures to help diagnose musculoskeletal conditions as well as extensive human anatomy and physiology.
Massage & Muscle Therapies
Kieran began studying remedial and sports massage in 2005 and has continually added and refined his skills, discontinued treatments he felt weren’t effective and has now developed his own unique style of massage & muscle therapy that combines several disciplines such as sports massage myotherapy (SLM), Stecco Method, trigger point therapy and myofascial release to name a few. These combinations of skills and techniques combined with chiropractic is not offered anywhere else in Australia, and makes it one of the most wholistic and complete muscle and spine treatments.
Myofascial Cupping
Cupping was first used in Chinese medicine and is now also used by western trained therapists as a complementary treatment to massage for the muscles and fascia. A cup is placed on certain area’s or points on the body, usually at the site of pain and corresponding area’s of tension and tightness, using a hand held pump a vacuum is created and the muscles and fascia are drawn into the cup creating a localised area of stretch and blood flow to help relieve muscle tension. Kieran will often put the cups on one area while simultaneously treating another area of the body so your in effect getting multiple area’s treated at the same time.
Dry Needling
Similar to cupping, Chinese medicine was using acupuncture long before dry needling started to be used by western therapies although the training, theory and philosophy is very different, however, the technique of inserting very fine needles is very similar. Dry needling is often used at trigger points or “knots” to help ease pain. Kieran uses dry needling sparingly as he has found the hands on muscle work and cupping is more effective for most people, and only uses it in very specific cases to improve outcomes.
Education
The importance of health care provider educating you on what’s causing your pain and what’s not causing your pain cannot be underestimated. If you have been told your in pain because of a bone that is out of place, your spine is out of alignment, your spine and core are weak and need to be braced etc.. These rarely cause back pain and will often lead to worse outcomes and restricted movements and daily activities (making pain worse) out of fear and cause a greater dependence on treatment.
Lifestyle Advise
Kieran also teaches his patients how to best negate the effects of sitting for long periods of time. Such as alternating between sitting/standing, taking micro breaks & using different techniques that go much further than just ‘sitting up straight’, sitting up straight all day is not too different than sitting slouched all day. Things like emotional stress, fear avoidance behaviors, lack of quality sleep, poor diets especially high in sugar/processed foods can also impact pain levels which rarely get addressed by most health professionals.