Why I Treat the Way I Do

I get asked a lot why, as a chiropractor, I use cupping, scraping, ART, and dry needling instead of just adjusting and sending you on your way. I truly feel, with all my past education, this makes the most sense for patient outcomes, not the best business model.

Pain and restriction don’t live in one place. They stack up in layers. The most superficial layer is your fascia, the connective tissue just under the skin, packed with pain receptors and reflexive nerve responses. When that layer gets bound up, everything underneath it tightens in response. That’s what cupping and instrument-assisted work (scraping) are built for. Releasing that surface layer and calming down the nerve irritation that comes with it.

Underneath that is a deeper layer, the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joint capsule, and how well they move relative to one another. This is where Active Release Technique comes in. ART is, hands down, the best tool I have for restoring that relative motion between tissues and releasing tension held deep in the muscle itself.

Then there’s a layer most people never think about, blood flow. Tendons and ligaments don’t have great circulation to begin with, and when they’re overworked or under-recovered, that only gets worse. Or sometimes, in the case of a deep hip muscle or deep hamstring injury, dry needling targets exactly that, restoring blood flow to tissue that needs it most. It’s also what I turn to when someone doesn’t have enough pain-free range of motion for ART to do its job yet.

Only after those layers are addressed does the adjustment come in. Don’t get me wrong, the adjustment is powerful. There’s real neurological benefit to restoring motion in a joint that isn’t moving well. But if I adjust a joint that’s still buried under fascial tension, muscular restriction, and poor blood flow, I’m essentially working through several layers of resistance at once. It might create temporary relief, but it won’t hold. Which is a big part of why traditional chiropractic care so often means two or three visits a week for 3-6 weeks.

That’s not what I want for you. My goal isn’t to be the thing that fixes you over and over. It’s to remove the roadblocks so you can move better on your own. Every layer I address, fascia, tissue, blood flow, joint mechanics, is in service of that. Once those roadblocks are gone, it’s on you to maintain what we’ve built, usually with a simple set of movements I give you to take home.

The more you do, the less you’ll need me. That’s the whole point.

Ready to get started?

Text or call (931) 321-1414, or fill out the form below and I’ll get back to you.