Massage Therapy at Hurley Chiropractic

Massages at Hurley Chiropractic provide are not your everyday massages! When patients enter the doors of our clinic they can count on massages that will address specific body wellness concerns as well as provide them with relief. Massages at Hurley Chiropractic are designed to be custom to the individual to give them a well-rounded treatment session to optimize the benefits to the body!

Massage therapy is defined as the use of manual techniques such as applying fixed or movable pressure, or holding and moving body tissues and muscles in order to manipulate the soft tissues of the body.

The massage therapists at Hurley Chiropractic use an integrated approach during the massage session to fully maximize the most positive outcome for the patient. The integrated approach affords the massage therapists to assess the pain, flexibility, posture, and other factors presented by the patient so the most efficient bodywork protocol under the therapists’ licenses can be employed during the massage session of the patient’s treatment. The massage will incorporate multiple therapeutic modalities or techniques that will best serve the needs of the patient. Those modalities will include but are not limited to Swedish, deep tissue, myofascial release, craniosacral therapy, lymphatic drainage, neuromuscular therapy, and structural integration. The massage therapists will apply the manual techniques to most effectively promote the correction of any tissue dysfunction presented during the assessment and/or treatment.

The benefits of an integrated massage are greater ease of movement and less discomfort by reducing stress, increasing relaxation, reducing pain and muscle soreness, improving circulation, lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving immune function, providing greater joint flexibility and range of motion, and many other wonderful actions. 

The licensed massage therapists at Hurley Chiropractic work alongside the chiropractors and rehabilitation specialists to ensure the patient’s best experience and greatest benefits from all the forms of bodywork offered at Hurley Chiropractic. This well rounded approach provides relief and healing for our patients each day.

Chiropractic Benefits for Babies!

Hey everyone! This is Dr. Emily Hurley Baumann, and today I wanted to share about my first adjustment!

As many of you know, my mom Dr. Christine Hurley was a chiropractor. I am proud to know that she adjusted me on the very day that I was born. 

It is surprising to most people to learn that Chiropractic is for babies too! The birth process can put a lot of pressure on the baby’s head, neck, and spine. Checking baby’s spine, especially the first vertebrae at the top of the neck named the Atlas, is an amazing gift to give a brand new human so that they can begin life with a balanced spine and nervous system! I dream of a world where everyone begins life with regular chiropractic check ups, as common as check ups with the pediatrician.

There are many benefits of Chiropractic for babies. Chiropractic doesn’t treat or seek to cure any specific condition. My goal as a Chiropractor is to find a bone that may be “stuck”, restricted or misaligned and restore motion and balance. When we balance the spine, the nervous system can function better, and the body can do amazing things to heal itself! These are a few common issues that typically improve after Chiropractic adjustments:

 

  1. Constipation. The digestive system is powered by the nervous system! The nerves that run the stomach and intestines come from the lower spine. An adjustment to the low back can reset those nerves and get baby pooping again! I am also trained in a technique called Logan Basic. This gentle technique works on a ligament of the sacrum where there are many parasympathetic ganglia, also known as the “rest and digest” part of the nervous system. When we activate that rest and digest part of the nervous system, baby’s often poop within a few hours!

 

  1. Breastfeeding. Many moms have the goal to breastfeed and are ultimately unable to achieve that goal. There are many different aspects to troubleshoot when there are breastfeeding issues. A few of these concerns can be addressed with an adjustment, especially to the upper cervical spine (remember the all important Atlas I mentioned earlier?), TMJ, palate and cranials. When we are able to balance out the baby’s head, neck, and jaw the baby can usually achieve a better latch. I also work with a lactation specialist, Nicolle Fletcher. For my patients that are also clients of hers, we have been able to work together to help moms and babies nurse like champs! She is able to assist with the mom’s hold and correcting the baby’s latch, while I can adjust any restrictions that are making it difficult for the baby to latch or suck.

 

  1. Plagiocephaly. This means flattening of the head, which is very common in babies. Just because it is common does not mean it is normal! Making sure the spine is balanced and bones of the skull are not restricted is key in normal development of head shape. Before getting a helmet for your little one, consider Chiropractic care with a doctor that is trained in cranial work!
  2. Parents typically notice their kids get sick less often when they are regularly adjusted. This is likely due to the relationship between the nervous system and immune system! Parents also have reported their babies even sleep better after adjustments!

 

Adjustments for babies are very gentle. There is no twisting or popping. We use a light touch with our fingertips and use about as much pressure as you use to check the ripeness of a tomato! I have even had newborns sleep through their adjustments before. 

I am often asked, how soon do I recommend baby’s come in to be checked. The ideal situation would be to work on mom throughout the pregnancy (but that is a topic for another day!). I recommend to my moms that they come in for their own postpartum adjustment and also bring the baby for their exam at the one week mark. Some moms choose to come the same day as their one week pediatrician appointment while they are already out and about with the baby. I recommend this one week check up if all is well and there are no issues with baby’s health or with breastfeeding. If there are any concerns, they should bring the baby in right away and not wait for the one week appointment.

After their first check up, if there are no issues and the spine is balanced, I recommend check ups once a month. This is great for babies and children. I do not recommend waiting until there is an issue to bring the baby back! The beauty of chiropractic care is creating health. Imagine life for the next generation of people that grow up with balanced spines and optimal nervous system function! 

 

Share this post with your friends with babies!


Theraputic Muscle Work with Holly McClintock

This is a transcription of a video which you can find in the podcast section of our website

 

Dr. H: Hello everyone, I am Doctor Emily Hurley and this is Holly McClintock. She is one of our wonderful licensed massage therapists we have working here at Hurley Chiropractic and we wanted to talk to you a bit about what to expect if you do book muscle work here at our clinic, so Holly can you tell us a little bit about what is therapeutic muscle work?

Holly: Therapeutic muscle work is actually a little different than massage. It’s more of a manual therapy and we address the structural problems of the body along with the muscles and we also want to focus on the connective tissue in the body and open it up, so that it is making more space for the muscle to relax in its own housing because all muscles have that white connective tissue over them. Once we free that up, then the muscles can kind of just come back to rest where they belong and that also alleviates the pain in the patient.

Dr. H: Wow. Okay, great. How would you say that’s different in an experience here is different than a massage at a spa?

Holly: An experience here is going to be more focused on trying to get the person out of pain, get them more comfortable, it’s going to be very much more specific to an area that they are having concerns with, whereas overall in a spa, you’re going to go in and focusing on relaxation and a lot more longer soothing strokes to relax the person. Here we are going be doing again, more manual therapy, where we are moving the tissue around and manipulating it, in order to alleviate pain. So, not that a spa massage can’t alleviate pain, but here our focus is definitely about getting rid of the pain and the constriction a person has been feeling, either for a short time or a long time.

Dr. H: Great! Thank you and really targeted towards healing I would say.

Holly: Yes! Much more toward healing!

Dr. H: Awesome! How would you say you’ve seen the benefits of combining Chiropractic with muscle work and maybe we’ll tell everyone your background as coming from a massage clinic that you owned and operated in Colorado, correct?

Holly: Right, correct. For 20 years, my husband and I owned and operated a physical rehab, and massage (clinic), we also did exercise therapies in our practice and we worked a lot with surgeons’ and Chiropractors, other Physical therapists would refer to us. Kind of where that balance between the, what you would call the traditional massage world and physical therapy world. Our work was very result oriented, into getting the person into better shape, either pre or post-surgical and also workman’s comp. A lot of workman’s comp. injuries that we would work with.

Dr. H: So, you’ve talked to me before about when you worked at that clinic when you owned your clinic in Colorado, you referred a lot with chiropractors and now you’re here at our clinic with us, so tell us why you sought us out to work with and what benefits you’ve seen in patients that get muscle work and chiropractic together?

Holly: Well, actually, they go hand-in-hand. As you know, the muscles all connect to the spine. And we feel like once you can get the muscles to either relax or let down to get them more functional, the chiropractic adjustments hold a lot longer for the people. A lot of times, people will get adjusted and say, “Oh, well that didn’t last very long,” and if they work in pair with a massage therapist or any type of manual therapist they usually get longer results. We are addressing both of the issues, both the skeleton and the muscles.

Dr. H: We’ve definitely seen that, too. We love to offer this type of muscle work by our massage therapists at Hurley Chiropractic. Thank you for talking about this with us, Holly.

 

Meet Dr. Christopher Culpepper!

I have been treating patients for over 25 years as a chiropractic physician. I was introduced to chiropractic treatment as a teenager following a sports injury. Having experienced what it’s like to have severe back pain with the disappointment of being unable to compete in the sports and hobbies I loved, was a life-changing experience. It inspired me to pursue a career in chiropractic after receiving such amazing results. To relieve pain or other symptoms without medications or invasive surgery is a unique and rewarding occupation.

I have achieved advanced postgraduate certification in spinal trauma and traumatic brain injury from the International Chiropractic Association and the Spine Research Institute of San Diego. I take a collaborative approach to patient care, understanding the importance of Integrating medical care, physical therapy and rehabilitation, as well as nutritional support to achieve maximum results.

When I’m not treating patients I enjoy spending time with his two sons. Willem, 13 and Walden, 11. Basketball, football, swimming and biking are just some of the activities I enjoy with my family. Being physically active and leading by example is something I value for my family and patients. My interests also include enjoying music, art, as well as community projects to promote better health and environmental issues in our neighborhoods.