Treatments

Functional Neurology builds on basic neuroscience and uses various strategies to improve or re-establish optimal neurological functions.

For many individuals who have dealt with neurological or cognitive impairments, we can provide carefully determined cautious and safe care that holds the prospect of  improving neurological function.  We now know the brain can change (called neuroplasticity). This means your brain cells can grow, form new connections and even induce new neurons to form!

There are many, many separate and distinct areas of your brain and nervous system and they all need to, directly and indirectly, communicate with one another. When there is a breakdown in this communication, problems occur. This can be movement disorders, weakness and atrophy in muscles, vision and balance problems, ringing in the ears. This breakdown in communication can even cause ADHD, Autism, Parkinson’s, Post-Concussion Syndrome, and other major neurological pandemics in our society today.

A Treatment Alternative

Functional Neurology is unique for a couple of reasons:

1. We use no drugs. In fact, we hope that your prescription drug or OTC drug use goes down or be eliminated entirely!
2. Your functional neurological rehabilitation program will be completely customized to your needs, wants, and goals!

Using the sensory pathways of sight, eye movements, smell, touch, and unconscious proprioception (balance and coordination) we find what areas of your brain are weak and need to be strengthened if they can be strengthened.

An initial visit with us will look a lot like going to your Medical Doctor; it will consist of a consultation, examination, and recommendations. The difference will lie within the exam itself where we utilize your 6 senses (including proprioception) and cognitive capabilities to test your brain and nervous system, challenge it, and find the weak pathways that need to be addressed. We then run what is called a therapeutic trial with rehabilitative exercises or stimulation to see if we can get instant improvement in function and symptoms!

After this initial visit you may be given exercises to do at home, dietary changes to maximize the fuel you feed your body and brain, be recommended a follow-up visit(s), or be sent out for further testing.

Chiropractic care and Functional Neurology are a great combo to overcome neurological challenges and are often times used together. Truly cutting edge and trailblazing, this can be the answer for many peoples health problems that have not yet been helped or resolved!

At HML the Doctors will work with you, your goals, wants, and needs when deciding what your care plan will consist of.

Chiropractic care – Our chiropractic adjustments consist of pre-therapy (warmups) the adjustments themselves, and post therapy (cool downs). Think of them like going to the gym, our workouts go better with warmups and cool downs. One warm up is the roller bed. The roller bed is a gentle rolling massage on the paraspinal muscles on the spine to loosen tight muscles, reduce pain, increase range of motion and force you to lay down and relax for 10 minutes.

Our adjustments can consist of manual adjustments where one thinks of the traditional Chiropractic adjustment. Table drops, which is a gentle form adjusting without the “popping.” And instrument adjusting which is even more gentle than table drops. We then combine our adjustments several other modalities, one of them is the latest in electrical stimulation to reduce muscle spasm, inflammation, increase muscle size, and strength. We also use soft tissue techniques, instrument assisted soft-tissue manipulations and other techniques to increase function and decrease pain.

Our chiropractic care plans for you may also include the following, which are under our Functional Neurology umbrella of care.

Our Functional Care plans are designed indiviudually designed for patients needs. They may consist of Chiropractic Care, Functional Neurology, Functional Medicine, and more. Below are some of the latest in technology for diagnosis and treatment.

Cold Lasers emit light that is therapeutic for the body. The photons of the light enter our bodies and energizes our tissues by increasing oxygenation, energy production, waste elimination and inflammation reduction. This is all done safely without feeling a thing. The Doctors use the laser on most tissues and organs to increase cellular healing, function, potentially speed up results, and reduce pain.

Click to learn more about Cold Laser (PBM)

It has been estimated that the average human only uses approximately ten percent of their brain’s actual capacity and capabilities. Identifying and unlocking the power of the brain to help the body EXCEL in physical abilities and performance, ENHANCE cognitive abilities enabling expanded learning and minimizing learning disabilities, RELAX promoting an internal ability to regulate pain while regulating physical and emotional stress, and to enable the body’s ability to heal itself and RECOVER from traumatic physical and emotional injury, is not only possible but now available through a method of carefully applied neural stimulus. This method is called Systemic Neural Adaptation.

All brain functions require timing, rhythm and coordination of neurons to communicate to each other. Whether it is cognitive processing or throwing a baseball the neuronal circuits required to perform those tasks without problems need timing, rhythm and coordination in perfect harmony to occur. The interactive metronome challenges patients to keep whole body motions synchronized down to the millisecond all the while providing auditory and visual feedback.

The brain can be divided into left and right halves. Based on signs, symptoms, and examination findings we may find that we need to stimulate one side of the brain over the other to increase function and even reduce pain. Utilizing sight, sound, smell, and tactile stimulation, and proprioception (unconscious body awareness), we can increase function on one side of the brain over the other to specify and maximize our results

We are proud to offer a more comprehensive vision exam using advanced, state-of-the-art eye-tracking technology. The RightEye system enables us to pinpoint functional vision and brain health issues, identify the root cause of reading problems, and improve athletic performance. In just 5 minutes, this proven, patented technology measures visual skills in ways that a standard eye exam cannot — enabling us to diagnose and treat underlying vision issues that affect our patients’ quality of life.

At HML  we offer our patients Functional Medicine care as part of a Functional Care Program!

What is Functional Medicine?

Our society has been experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, hormone problems, Autism, etc. with little to no improvement in curative and preventative care.

Traditional (Western) medicine is aimed toward acute care, the diagnosis and treatment of trauma and disease that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as a broken bone or appendicitis. And these physicians apply specific, prescribed treatments such as drugs or surgery that aim to treat the immediate problem or symptom.

Unfortunately, traditional medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic disease. In most cases it does not take into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual or factors such as environmental exposures to toxins and the aspects of today’s lifestyle that have a direct influence on the rise in chronic disease in modern Western society.

Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach that engages both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It is an expansion in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century.

By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more individual-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. We spend time with our patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. With this, we support the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual!

A COMMON misconception most people have is that they think of their body as separate systems functioning independently of each other. An example of this is eczema. Traditional medicine typically gives a steroid crème to treat the skin, however, eczema, most of the time is actually a “gut” issue, and also a “brain or neurological” issue. For instance, with advanced testing, we often find that the GI tract is not metabolizing proteins and fats properly and they have an imbalance of “good” and “bad” bacteria in the gut. As for how the brain is involved… The immune system is controlled by the brain, one side of the brain turns on the immune system and one side turns it off, often times we find an imbalance of left and right sided function of the brain as well.

The human body is like a Swiss Watch, as our colleague Dr Patrick Flynn DC, ND says. It is very complex and composed of  many parts. What happens if the smallest gear stops turning for just one moment? That it would affect the whole watch right? And would it keep time properly? No, of course not.

Have you, or someone you know ever taken a medication for heart issues and later found out that the medication damaged their liver, kidneys, or caused acid reflux? The human body is like a Swiss Watch – a lot of gears all working together in harmony! You cannot treat one system (gear) without affecting them all!

For example, detoxification is a very important system (gear), but it is only one of the gears. There are other gears such as the gear of proper nutrition, the gear of chiropractic care, the gear of proper mental health (such as the proper handling of stress), and the gear of proper hormone function. If all gears are not working properly, you cannot be healthy!

To sum it all up, Functional Medicine looks at the each individual as unique. It looks at the whole “watch” not just a part of it. It addresses the cause (or causes) of disease.  Conditions that may be helped include but not limited to severe headache disorders, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, digestive problems such as acid reflux, IBS, Chron’s, Celiac disease, Ulcertive colitis, eczema, RA, Psoriasis.

At HML, our whole philosophy of health care is built on a well rounded holistic model backed by the latest understanding in research and clinical protocols.

FAQ SECTION:

A common question we get, is do you food sensitivity testing? Yes, we use the absolute best, from the people that invented this type of testing. Look into Array1090 and Array10 to learn more. The only type of sensitivity testing that looks at cooked, uncooked, and modified versions of foods. Array 10-90 looks at 90 foods, Array 10 looks at 180 foods. These tests tell you foods your immune system reacts to – this does not tell you foods you are allergic to, that is another form of testing.