Our methods treat the whole body, not just the symptom
Traditional clinic settings focus on multiple weekly visits, short treatment times, robotic-like practitioners, symptom-driven treatments, and minimal non-lasting results. We had seen and heard so many stories of clients unsatisfied with their care and underwhelmed with what they received, that we knew something needed to change. Thus, we added our functional chiropractic treatment approach to the equation.
I have used other places for chiropractor treatment, and then I came to the Vagus Clinic in 2018 and haven't left since. Dr. Leah is amazing and really cares about her patients and ensuring after they leave; they are in better shape. I have had fewer injuries and my recovery time has been a lot quicker too.
JOHN S.
Functional Medicine and Chiropractic Treatment
The style of soft tissue therapy used at the Vagus Clinic is unique as it was created by Dr. Stephanie Canestraro as a way to pin the tissue down on one end of a fascial-muscle chain and work through that line of tissue on the other. As earlier stated, at the Vagus Clinic we do not treat structure - we treat function. We do not solely treat an individual muscle when we do soft tissue treatments. Our goal is to treat along different fascial lines in the body to help reduce tension from different areas and therefore lessen overall pain.
This technique helps to mobilize the soft tissue and increase blood flow to the area to promote healing. Usually, a point of pain is not actually the source of the pain, but the weakest area in a body that becomes the pain centre due to tension coming in from different directions. Therefore, when treating an issue with soft tissue therapy we treat multiple areas to take tension off the one pain point. For example, if a patient was suffering from right-sided neck pain we would not only treat the neck but also the chest, mid-back, shoulder, arm, forearm and wrist to take tension off of the neck, as well as treating similar structures on the opposite side to get the best results.
In addition to soft tissue therapy, another area we focus on is cupping. Cupping-technique looks to treat the fascial tissue in the body more so than the muscle. Fascia can be likened to saran wrap in the body. It helps keep everything in place and moving together. There are also many fascial lines in the body; including down the front, down the back, along the sides, and across the body. This is very beneficial for many movement patterns, however, this can also cause problems. The body is made up of layers - skin, fat, fascia and muscle. The fascia and muscle lay together and glide along with one another. When adhesions form between this fascial-muscle interface it creates tension along that facial line. Therefore, even if the muscle is released there may still be fascial adhesion blocking the muscle from moving through its full range of motion resulting in limitation and pain. Cupping technique has been helpful to break down these adhesions, promoting blood flow to the area and restoring a smooth glide between the fascial-muscle interface.
With traditional cupping, cups are suctioned to an area of the body and left there for a period of time. At the Vagus Clinic, however, we find more benefit in using oil and moving a cup along a fascial line to release adhesions in a whole area versus just one area. This can sometimes be more painful than traditional cupping and not everyone enjoys it. For this reason, we can get a similar effect by suctioning multiple cups along a fascial line and then have the patient move multiple times to stretch and relax this area. Both of these styles of cupping help to target the whole fascial chain and add a functional aspect that we find helps restore the patient’s mobility quicker.
Cupping technique does and can bruise, however, the amount it bruises will depend on the severity of the tightness of the tissue below the cups. The tighter the tissue and more “injured” the more likely the tissue is to bruise and the deeper the colour of the bruise. An area with minimal tension will either not bruise or bruise very lightly.
The theory of why the bruising occurs is that cupping helps to draw stagnant blood, stuck in the fascial-muscle interface, to the surface to therefore allows newly oxygenated blood to flow into the muscle to allow healing. Oxygenated blood flow is necessary for healing in every condition.
Acupuncture is a tissue technique, where needles are placed into various parts of the body to create a change. Acupuncture helps to signal blood flow to come to the area of dysfunction, it helps to target the nervous system, and it helps to stimulate and relax muscles.
The type of acupuncture that is practiced at the Vagus Clinic is Contemporary Neurofunctional Acupuncture. Where traditional acupuncture may look to try to change energy flow or the “Chi” in the body, our goal with acupuncture is to change tissue. We “acu” along an area to either have an effect on an aggravated nerve or to help the muscles calm down, and take the tension out of that area.
The best way to think about acupuncture is that we are tricking the body into healing itself. The needles are “foreign objects” placed into the problem areas and the body responds to these foreign objects by sending blood flow and healing properties to rid of the invader. This blood flow helps to heal the tissue!
We also use acupuncture to help effect the sympathetic nervous system in patients that have a lot of stress, anxiety, headaches, etc and need to stimulate relaxation.
Electroacupuncture uses a stimulation device that attaches to the tops of the needles. The point of electroacupuncture is to send a small current into the needles and therefore into the tissue. This is beneficial because it helps to enhance the effects of the needles and creates a quicker change. The electro-stim acts as a beacon - to tell the body which areas are most in need of blood flow and healing!
Although the needles are small, some people are more sensitive than others. People with heightened or overworked nervous systems, tend to be more sensitive to acupuncture needles and may find them more uncomfortable. Areas of the body that are tighter may also be more susceptible to discomfort when the needles are inserted. Sometimes the actual tissue will twitch as the needle hits a motor point in a tension burdened muscle.
Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Therapy is similar to cupping in that it is used to created a change along the fascial-muscle interface. There are many tools of various shapes and sizes, composed of different materials, like metal, porcelain and plastic. The one most commonly used at the Vagus Clinic is a metal-based tool. This is usually moved along the surface of the skin with oil to help target a fascial line promoting blood flow and release tension in that tissue chain.
Traditional chiropractors use adjustments as one of their main methods of treatment. At the Vagus Clinic we use adjustments only if requested by the patient and only if they are required. Although adjustments are completely safe, they are not always necessary to make a change and not everyone likes the “cracking” sound an adjustment creates. We find that for best results we adjust people at the end of a treatment if it is still warranted, after the muscles and fascia around the joint have been released.
An adjustment takes a joint that is restricted, or not moving, through its full range of motion, and puts a high velocity low amplitude force through that joint creating a gapping. This gapping allows air to release from the joint - which is the “cracking” or “popping” sound that people hear. From there, as the air is released, the joint is coated with fluid to allow it to glide and move more smoothly. There are also theories that adjustments can; stimulate blood flow to an area (which is helpful for healing), help release endorphins (“happy hormones” to make the patient feel better) and help stimulate the mechanoreceptors on the skin (which block pain).
Shockwave is a technique used where sound energy is converted into mechanical energy and this mechanical energy then has effects on the cellular level of the tissue to create change.
Shockwave therapy sends pulses into the muscle at various frequencies, depending on the injury. This helps to promote blood flow to that area, helps to break down scar tissue or adhesions and helps to stimulate tissue regrowth and regeneration.
Although shockwave can be used on various tissues to help release tension, it has been proven to help with certain known conditions like “plantar fasciitis” and “Achilles tendinitis”.
