Spokane All in One Care

Sign Up to Our Email List and Get Latest News & Tips

Spokane Osteopathic Medicine

Doctors of Osteopathy, DO’s, are physicians who provide a patient-centered, whole-body approach to health and wellness.  Similar to Nurse Practitioners, the practice of osteopathy focuses on health promotion and disease prevention rather than medical allopathic physicians (MD’s) who focus on pain and symptom reduction/management.  

These unique providers combine the prescriptive and surgical ability of medical physicians along with some of the manipulation styles of chiropractic physicians (DC’s).  In essence, they provide a middle of the road approach, the best of both traditional medical practices and alternative/complementary care.  DO’s have special training in the structure and function of how the human form (bones, muscles, tissues) affect the function of your organs (heart, lung, GI system, etc.). 

Physical Therapy: 

Subsection: Pelvic Floor Therapy

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy utilizes exercises to stabilize and strengthen the core muscles, the abdomen, low back, diaphragm, and of the muscles that connect the low back to the hips.  One of the major benefits of Pelvic Floor PT is that the majority of treatments are performed at home after a detailed conversation and exam to determine the cause of your condition.  Traditionally, Pelvic Floor PT is utilized by women for urinary incontinence. However, as the pelvic floor is a major spinal stabilizer, it is also used for treatment of chronic low back pain and vestibular/balance issues.  

Conditions which are often helped with Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy:

• Urinary dysfunction / incontinence (women and men with prostate issues)
• Painful intercourse
• Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
• Constipation
• Leaky bowel movements
• Postnatal delivery pain (painful abdomen, scar tissues, dropped uterus, etc)

Physical Therapy:

Subsection: Vestibular Therapy

At the Natural Health Center, we offer a multi-speciality approach to vestibular rehabilitation/therapy.  Vestibular rehabilitation treats balance and stability disorders that are often felt as “dizziness” or “vertigo” which may cause a person to have issues with balance, maintaining posture, and even seeing correctly.

After a detailed exam with one of our providers (PT, DC, NP, DO), followed by an in-office computerized posturography exam, you will be treated with an assortment of therapies which may include balance activities, eye-movement exercises, and even manipulations/adjustments which are designed to correct body-brain balance and eye movements.

When would you consider vestibular therapy?  Anytime you have symptoms of dizziness going from a sitting to standing position, turning your head, or even reading.  In addition, if you have difficulty reading and have neck pain at the same time could indicate you are having issues with your brain’s ability to track movements without turning your head.  Furthermore, if you have chronic low back pain that comes in cycles and has been present for a long period of time, with or without “sciatica”.

Advanced Practice Nursing

Nurse Practitioners, NP’s, are Advanced Registered Nurses who have undergone extensive graduate training in pharmacology, physiology, and public health to provide primary care services for all age ranges.  As independent clinicians, the NP blends the clinical expertise in diagnosis with treating health conditions emphasising disease prevention and health management.  NP’s are notoriously patient-centered and provide a whole-body approach.  As Dr. Wellwood (our Nurse Practitioner-Chiropractic Physician) likes to say “Nurse Practitioners practice common sense medicine, emphasizing good food, clean air, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle to treat the whole person”.

Nurse Practitioners are independent of physicians (unlike Physician Associates/Assistants who are required to practice under a MD/DO) and practice at the top of their own “individual scope”.  What this means is that no two NP’s are the same with their practice style dependent on their individual education.  While one NP may specialize in cardiac issues, another will specialize in oncology, another in neurology, and yet another in Physical Medicine.