Manual Therapy

• Joint mobilizations – essential to restore normal accessory motions
• Performed in many varied directions
• Changes in joint accessory mobility greatly enhance body motion
• Dynamic process – techniques change with improvements in your condition
• Is a very relaxing process
• Can produce endorphins and reduce pain
• Can reduce stiffness and improve range & quality of motion
• Involves a hands on approach to therapy

Nerve Mobilization

• Moves the nerves relative to interfacing structures
• Reduces nerve impingement
• Improves nerve mobility
• Reduces scar adhesions around a nerve
• Essential following any spinal or nerve surgery
• Is a very relaxing process
• Can be performed at home with skilled training
• Is an advanced technique generally not performed adequately by other practitioners

Maitland Australian Approach

• Developed by Geoff Maitland in Adelaide, South Australia as he found that conventional treatments of the day could not completely resolve a patient’s condition
• His approach is based, at times, on reproduction of symptoms and other times on reduction of symptoms
• Either way, symptomatic movements are reassessed continually throughout the treatment session to assess the effectiveness of the treatment
• A comprehensive approach to evaluation and treatment
• A wide number of hypothesis categories are simultaneously evaluated and reasoned through during all stages of the evaluation and treatment session
• This means that the bias of an evaluation and treatment change continually as more information is received verbally from the patient and physically from the examination
• Utilizes both a theoretical model and patient based information
• Theory is utilized but ultimately treatment is based on a patient’s signs and symptoms
• This enables the right amount of and most appropriate treatment to be administered
• Treatment is progressed based on a patient’s response to treatment and clinician knowledge and experience
• Advanced clinicians have a vast knowledge of clinical patterns which improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the whole session
• There is a tremendous difference in this method compared to traditional diagnosis or protocol based therapy where a “cookbook” approach is generally used with minimal clinical reasoning
• The Maitland approach is the most dynamic, patient specific approaches available and provides effective and cost efficient results

Home Exercise Programs

• Some therapies provide large numbers of standard exercises which studies show people do not generally follow through with
• There is good reason for this – they are generally not specific for the individual’s presenting complaint but specific for the diagnosis and prepared well ahead of time
• Hence you may get a sheet with nice pictures of people doing the exercises
• This may look impressive but may not be specific for the individual’s presentation
• Most of the exercises that are predesigned cannot be specific for the individual
• It is only through a thorough evaluation process that the problem can be localized and a minimal number of highly specific exercises be given for the presenting condition
• As a patient progresses these exercises change and the initial ones are no longer necessary
• In this way, AMPT provides you with a highly specific, low number of effective exercises that an individual can perform on an “as needed” basis
• We provide a lot of education on the cause of the problem and ways to prevent recurrences – education can be in the form of anatomy, physiology, ergonomics, appropriate ways to stretch, lifestyle changes, exercise approaches and self management of symptoms

Joint Mobilizations

• Required to reduce stiffness and both local & referred pain in a joint
• Very difficult for a person to perform on their own
• Excellent results obtained when a skilled manual therapist mobilizes the affected joint
• Patients are generally able to see immediate improvements in range of movement and function

Soft Tissue Mobilizations

• Injuries generally result in some degree of soft tissue change
• Joint stiffness is also associated with soft tissue changes
• It is thus essential to manually mobilize this soft tissue (generally muscle) to prevent and break up any scar tissue and thickenings that are present
• Physical therapists have excellent training in this and provide rapid relief from soft tissue issues

Massage

• AMPT provides whole body massage, as well as massage to specific body parts
• Because a physical therapist is providing the massage and our skills far exceed those of other massage providers, the client receives an exceptional evaluation & treatment well above that received elsewhere
• Massage has been shown to improve circulation, remove toxins, improve spirits, stimulate immunity, decrease stress and above all – feel good!!!

Education

• Being educated about your condition is one of the first steps to overcoming it
• Education should be concise, simple and readily understandable
• Due to the highly skilled up to date training of AMPT therapists, we are able to provide excellent patient education to enable the patient to be empowered
• Prevention Strategies/Self EmpowermentResolving a patient’s condition may be sufficient for some therapists, but not for AMPT, LLC
• We pride ourselves in aiming to prevent recurrences of an injury
• This is achieved through concise manual treatment combined with accurate education and effective home program exercise training
• Home exercises are specific to the problems of the patient and thus differ from one client to the other
• We aim not to provide an endless list of exercises that may be performed  for a short duration (if at all) but rather a small number of specific exercises that do not intimidate patients
• The exercises empower patients to be able to self manage their symptoms and develop control over the causes and results of their problem