We specialize in identifying and correcting dysfunctional movement and postural patterns that are causing poor joint alignment, muscle imbalances, and asymmetry. Our bodies develop dysfunctional patterns of movement as a result of sedentary lifestyles, injury/trauma, overtraining, decreased mobility, and poor postural habits. This can cause wear and tear of joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscle strain over time leading to pain and injury. In many cases, daily "micro-trauma" is the culprit. The accumulation of decades of micro-trauma can eventually result in joint replacements and chronic pain among other orthopedic diagnoses.  Other times, a single traumatic episode is the mechanism of injury; however, this can often be traced to a movement impairment that caused a disastrous outcome once the body tissues were overloaded. By carefully identifying and correcting your movement or postural impairment, we can offload the stressed tissue that is generating pain, create optimal joint alignment, and improve muscle balance and symmetry throughout the entire body.

Pilates is a form of exercise and body conditioning that has been practiced for over 100 years. While the method was originally developed by Joseph Pilates to support injury rehabilitation, it was made popular in the United States by professional ballet dancers due to its ability to improve strength and muscle tone without adding bulk. With its emphasis on core strength, alignment, flexibility, and efficient/mindful movement, Pilates is the perfect addition to any physiotherapy regiment. Studies show that Pilates is effective for improving core strength, flexibility, posture, and balance. Your therapy may involve the use of Pilates apparatuses including the Reformer, which allow us to train and strengthen the body in a low-impact, closed-chain environment that is appropriate for clients of all ages and abilities.

Manual therapy is a hands-on technique that involves manipulating soft tissue, muscle, and joints in order to improve biomechanics, increase mobility, and decrease pain. At Bodylove, we practice the Stecco method of Fascial Manipulation® which is particularly effective in treating hard-to-treat, chronic conditions due its ability to look at the body as a whole, not just where it hurts. Many approaches target only the main complaint in treatment; however, this symptom-focused mindset often falls short as it may overlook the actual cause of the complaint, which may be located elsewhere in the body. The Stecco methodology can explain how multi-pain sites and ‘random’ pains can be potentially linked to old internal or musculoskeletal injuries. Treatment to release the fascial tissue along lines of tension helps restore muscle balance and clears pain. In some cases, this method can be combined with dry needling to produce incredible results.

Dry needling is a powerful and minimally invasive intervention for pain, injury, and movement impairments. It combines the ancient practice of inserting thin, filiform needles into the skin first practiced by Chinese acupuncturists over 3000 years ago with modern Western medicine's understanding of the body's physiology and how to generate the best healing response. While the needles are the same as those used by acupuncturists, where we place the needles and the reason for doing so are different than that of acupuncture.  Dry needling can be combined with intramuscular electrical stimulation for increased benefit.   ​ Examples for the use of dry needling include: pain,  muscle tightness, strains, sprains, swelling, weakness, sciatica, tendonitis (aka tendinopathy), back/neck pain, and more. Contact us at info@bodylovebastrop.com to see if dry needling could be beneficial for your condition.

Redcord is a neuromuscular training system for injury rehabilitation and strength training developed in Norway in 1991 by a former gymnast after rehabilitating himself on his boat following a knee injury. Using a system of slings, ropes, bungees, and pulleys, Redcord allows you to perform suspension exercises while off-loading body weight in order to easily see and painlessly address "weak links," muscle imbalances, and asymmetries that can lead to injury and dysfunction. Similar to Pilates, Redcord integrates core stability into every exercise, helping to improve compensatory and inefficient movement patterns. What makes RedCord uniquely powerful for treating pain is its bungee offloading feature that allows you to perform body-weighted, closed-chain exercises with an adjustable load amount, causing the appropriate muscles to "turn-on" and the dominating, bully muscles to "turn-off."  The Redcord system is supported by a large body of evidence demonstrating its effectiveness in treating pain and injury.  ​ *Redcord will not be available as an intervention until we are able to find a permanent studio space.

The international community of pain researchers have identified 3 types of pain: nociceptive pain, which is caused by ongoing inflammation and damage of tissues, neuropathic pain, which is caused by nerve damage, and  nociplastic pain, which is the most recently named type of pain and describes pain that arises without clear evidence of actual or threatened tissue damage. As a medical diagnosis, nociplastic pain is sometimes called "unspecified" pain (i.e. "unspecified low back pain"). Nociplastic pain can overlap with nociceptive or neuropathic pain due to the brain's ability to modulate pain and make it more or less severe depending on how threatened your brain feels. Traditional physical therapy has many tools for treating the first two types of pain. However, until recently, our toolbox has been inadequate to address nociplastic pain. We now know that in cases of chronic pain, pain education on its own can decrease pain and help manage future flareups. Guided by emerging evidence for managing nociplastic pain, we incorporate pain education and techniques for managing nociplastic symptoms into every chronic pain treatment plan at Bodylove.