Houston Chiropractic Care and Physical Medicine
Our physical medicine specialists are a real lifesaver. With their help, a person in pain can enhance and restore functional ability at an expeditious rate. It really is a wondrous sight to see. Watching people’s dreadful pain vanish in a span of just a few days is fantastic.
Medicine is something that we all should be grateful for. At Doctors Clinic Houston, our physical medicine experts offer their services at incredibly low rates. What we at Doctors Clinic Houston charge is infinitesimally less than pretty much all the other clinics out there in Harris County. We don’t want you to break your budget in order to relieve your pain. We want you to be physically functional as well as financially.
To the folks out there who have yet to experience a great deal of pain for an extended period of time, be sure to keep this tab bookmarked. If – and hopefully it never happens – but if you end up in a lot of pain some time in the future, consider seeing our physical medicine professionals. They will be your ticket to a quick fix. Your health will be restored in no time.
Scope of the Field
So we know that the physical medicine specialist – often referred to as a physiatrist – specializes in restoring optimal function to individuals with injuries to the muscles, bones, tissues and nervous system. Clearly, the scope of the field serves to rehabilitate a great number of problems and conditions, from amputation, to spinal cord injury, to sports injury, to stroke, to musculoskeletal pain syndromes like low back pain, fibromyalgia, and traumatic brain injury. Most physiatrists are not competent in each and every one of these areas; rather, they specialize in one or two domains. They may have a broad understanding of each field, and they are among the most well-balanced medical experts around, but they still tend to lean toward specialization. Many also take the time to do research in their field of expertise – with the goal of expanding mankind’s ken in said field. The better the understanding is, the better the mind is in line with reality, the better man can deal with his reality.
Physical Medicine is sometimes called PM&R for short, with the R standing for rehabilitation. Physical Management and Rehabilitation is one of twenty-four medical specialties certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
The focus for physiatrists is not on one part of the body. Instead is it on the development of what is often referred to as a comprehensive program for getting things to work together again as a whole – to put the pieces of one’s life back together once again. The field is filled with some of the sharpest minds in existence. They spend a great deal of time really getting to know the human body. It is a field that is in great demand, especially as sports prevention has become a burgeoning industry. Because so many athletes are concerned with maintaining a properly functioning body, because so many want to make sure that they do not get injured, they see sports prevention specialists. Many sports prevention specialists are actually physiatrists. And it makes sense, doesn’t it? Physiatrists have this profundity of knowledge that they can use to help athletes prevent injuries.
Without physiatry, a lot of things would be very nebulous in the medicine field. Physiatrists learn to reason from first principles. They learn to use the scientific method and learn to identify not only what each body part is, but what each body part is for. Understanding the function of each and every muscle, of each and every bone, and so on, will help physiatrists understand what makes each part effective in performing its function. Once this is established, analyzing each part in terms of what it is composed of and how everything fits together will help the physiatrist realize what makes each part different from another in terms of its effectiveness in functioning this way or that. So when a body part is not functioning properly, the physiatrist compares that part to the way in which it should function. He then uses deductive reasoning to point to what is making it not work properly. This process may seem time consuming, but gathering facts about how and when the injury occurred that caused the dysfunction in the body part can help speed things up. That information can give physiatrists great insight, because a lot of previous issues already dealt with may be similar to this situation.
Bone Health
Bone health is one of the most popular branches of physical medicine. Those specializing in bone health are experts in human skeletal structure & anatomy. Their goal is to grok the various ways in which an injury or a disorder of the bones can affect the process of rehab and recovery. Among the most common causes of bone health problems is a fracture that didn’t heal properly. This can be a huge problem for many people. And it can be a source of great, severe pain. There are some fractures that folks don’t even notice. These are generally of the small hairline fracture sort. When a bone is broken, it is absolutely mandatory to put it in some kind of cast; and the reason for that is that it is important to prevent any kind of movement. Moving a broken bone around will prevent it from healing. The body will do the majority of the legwork if one just lets it do its thing. If one thinks it wise to continue doing something that aggravates the broken bone, the body won’t be able to heal properly. But why would someone do this? The answer to this question remains a mystery. There are many out there who would prefer short term gains to long term benefits. The short term gain in this situation can be something like playing sports with friends. If someone has a broken forearm, yet he decides to play soccer with a bunch of friends, he runs the risk of falling on that arm and further damaging an already damaged part of his body. He is preferring to enjoy something in the short run – the chance to play soccer with friends – over the long term benefit – if I rest, I ensure that my body will heal properly. Discipline is very important and a lot of people didn’t develop the capacity to think about the future and to plan for the future. In some cases, physical therapy is a great way to correct bone damage. But again, this comes to discipline and gumption.
Joint Health
Another very popular sub-field of physical medicine is joint health. Joint issues can be a result of an sports injury, long term wear and tear, or an arthritic condition. This can decrease mobility and make it harder for an individual to get around. It can also be a source of acute, sharp pain. A lot of athletes develop joint problems. They make a lot of quick cuts and movements that can result in joint damage. This damage results in a lack of mobility. Weightlifters, particularly heavy weightlifters, also develop joint problems. Whenever the body is exerting a great amount of energy to push something or pull something, the joints have to work extra hard. Often times, one can overwork their joints and cause either a slight tear or a severe one. Joint injuries are no fun at all. Those who have them call them the most difficult injury problems to deal with. Seeing a physical therapist on the regular can actually improve the mobility and decrease the pain. It can be a fantastic way to get back to where you were prior to the injury. Physiatrists have a great understanding of what needs to be done in order to return to optimal health. Seeing a physiatrist may be even better than seeing a physical therapist, being that they have a more in depth understanding.
Nerve Injuries
The vast majority of nerve injuries are caused by physical trauma, although some may also be a result of certain neurological conditions. Recovery and rehabilitation from nerve injuries is incredibly hard – much harder than bone injuries. The nerves are a lot more complex in their structure, and for that reason, the knowledge base is not where physiatrists would want it to be. That is why the vast majority of research done by physiatrists focuses on the nerves and nerve injuries. The recovery process of nerve injuries varies greatly, depending on the degree of damage and where the damage in located. Nerve specialists who have a great understanding of the complex structure of the nervous system are fantastic people to go and see to if one has nerve damage. Neuroscientists are making new discovery after new discovery in this exciting field. It is an exciting time to be a physiatrist who specializes in nerve damage; there is so much cutting edge technology and so many new discoveries that do nothing but add to the richness of the discipline.
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