Therapeutic Massage

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Neck, Shoulder, Back & Hip Pain
Disc pain
Sciatica
Tennis Elbow
Achilles Tendonopathy
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Plantar Fasciitis
Jumpers Knee
Hamstrings Tendonitis
Stress Fractures
Calcific Rotator Cuff Tendinitis
Bursitis
Trigger Point Pain

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Why pay more for care than you have too? If your suffering with neck, shoulder or back pain we can help!
Shop around and you will find that our prices are lower than most offices so you can get the care you need to feel better without breaking the bank account.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Most problems related to neck, shoulder or back pain can be fixed within 3-6 visits with the proper care. If you are one of the 3-5% of the patient's that don't respond to therapy and your problem isn't improving after a couple weeks of care. A MRI may be necessary to determine if your pain is being caused by a disc problem and your case will be referred out to our local osteopathic pain center for assessment.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Our office is one of the only clinics in Phoenix to offer Acoustic Wave therapy. Acoustic wave therapy is very effective for treating the following conditions:
Tennis Elbow
Achilles Tendonopathy
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Plantar Fasciitis
Jumpers Knee
Hamstrings Tendonitis
Stress Fractures
Calcific Rotator Cuff Tendinitis
Bursitis
Trigger Point Therapy
Non Healing Ulcers
Neck, Shoulder, Back & Hip Pain
Mortons Neuroma
Scar Tissue Treatment
Hallux Rigidus

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Most of our patient's are concerned with the cost of care and how long it will take to fix the problem. We offer very affordable short term care plans that include chiropractic care, massage and physiotherapy to reduce pain for about the cost of what most health insurance co-pys range $50.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. North Phoenix Chiropractor - Dr. Larry Davis

"I was a skeptic," remembers Dr. Larry Davis. "I really didn't know very much about chiropractic, I was introduced to a student that attended Sherman College through a close friend. After a few months of hanging around the college I was hooked. I started receiving chiropractic care at the college clinic for shoulder and neck pain related to a motor cycle injury that occurred when I was a teenager. It was amazing, I'll never forget that first adjustment. I remember feeling as if a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I couldn't believe how great I felt afterward. I met many others in college who had similar stories of greater health and well being after receiving chiropractic care. As I learned more about the philosophy associated with chiropractic, that the body can heal itself from the inside-out, if there is not interference. Interference is most commonly caused by what chiropractors call a subluxation. A subluxation is a loss of motion or a misalignment of a joint in the spine. A subluxation will affect how well the nerves function. Subluxations can be caused by physical stress (over use injury), chemical stress (poor diet), or psychological stress (stress in your life). I developed a strong passion and desire to help people achieve better health through natural means. That's when I decided I wanted to become a chiropractor."

Dr. Davis began his pre-chiropractic education at Spartanbrg Methodist College. He studied basic science courses such as organic chemistry, biology, physics as well as anatomy and physiology courses.

After completing his studies there, he was accepted at Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic in Spartanburg, South Carolina. During his four years at Sherman College, courses included biochemistry, a major emphasis on anatomy and human physiology, x-ray, diagnosis, chiropractic adjusting techniques and patient care in the Sherman Chiropractic Health Center. After graduating in 1996, Dr. Davis moved to the Reading PA and practiced for five years and eventually relocated to Phoenix to establish his practice.

"We love skeptics," smiles Dr. Davis. I still remember the concerns and apprehensions I had when I went to the chiropractor for the first time. So we make it a point to explain everything in advance, answer questions and make sure that everything is understood. Patients appreciate that."

Thank you for visiting our site. If you have any questions set up a free consultation or email the doctor at drdavis@phoenixchiropracticwellness,com

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. We just finished working with a patient (Rick S. from Mesa AZ) He was suffering with Dystrophic Achilles tendon calcification. This condition causes swelling of the tendon and acute pain during walking or standing. Rick had been suffering with the pain for three months and was contemplating surgery recommended by his family doctor. He found our website and decided to try the Acoustic wave therapy. After the first treatment he was 80% better. We treated his achilles tendon a total of four times, and he indicated that he was 95% improved and that he would not be needing the surgery due to the excellent results of the Acoustic Wave therapy.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. Shockwave Therapy is non-invasive, painless, gentle and 100% safe. Typical Shockwave treatments take 5-10 minutes with most conditions responding favorably with 2-5 treatments total. Shockwave therapy provides successful relief of chronic pain and helps restore mobility and strength to injured muscle and ligaments. The use of shockwaves to treat muscle and tendon related pain began in Europe in the early 1990s. Shockwave Therapy requires no anesthetic, no medication, no recovery time and low treatment costs.

How does it work?

The term shockwave refers to piezoelectric pressure pulses that expand as a wave in the body. The pressure pulses break down scar tissue and calcifications, stimulating metabolism, enhancing blood circulation, and enabling damaged tissue to regenerate. At Chiropractic Wellness Center we use the Wellwave manufactured by Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corporation 353 Corporate Woods PkwyVernon Hills, IL 60061.
Shockwaves stimulate certain components within the body so that it is able to heal from injuries. In addition, shockwave therapy is also effective in cases of chronic pain when the body has demonstrated a previous inability heal competely by itself. In addition to stimulating the healing process, shockwave therapy may have a direct effect on nerves, diminishing pain.

Many traditional therapies, such as anti-inflammatory medications, steroid injections, physiotherapy, massage, acupuncture, and so forth, can assist the body during the early, acute phase of an injury. The WellWave can be an effective alternative modality to these treatments. However, traditional treatments are much less effective in assisting the body to heal when an injury becomes chronic. As an example, many patients can relate to a history where a steroid injection (like cortisone) seemed to be effective in resolving pain early in their healing process, but subsequent injections were much less effective.
What makes shockwave therapy unique is that it is one of the very few technologies in any field of medicine that seems to work well when an injury reaches the chronic, non-healing state. Shockwave therapy appears to be able to jump start the healing process in chronic, non-healing injuries and move them back into the acute phase of healing.

True shockwave therapy produces a very strong energy pulse (5-100 MPa) for a very short length of time, (approximately 10 milliseconds). The energy pulse quite literally breaks the sound barrier, and this is what creates the shockwave - along with a distinctive popping sound. A properly focused shockwave passes through normal tissue and targets injured areas where it has several known medicinal effects:

This shockwave exerts a mechanical pressure and tension force on the afflicted tissue. This has been shown to create an increase in cell membrane permeability, thereby increasing microscopic circulation (right) to the tissues and the metabolism within the treated tissues, both of which promote healing and subsequent dissolution of pathological calcific deposits.

The shockwave's pressure front creates behind it what are known as "cavitation bubbles". An example of a single cavitation bubble is pictured to the right. Cavitation bubbles are simply small empty cavities created behind an energy front. They tend to expand to a to a maximum size, then collapse, much like a bubble popping. As these bubbles burst, a resultant force is created. In the human body, this force is strong enough to help break down pathological deposits of calcification in soft tissues.

As cavitation bubbles collapse, they create smaller, secondary energy waves known as microjets. You can see how a microjet forms in the diagram to the right, and you can see it pictured in the center of the cavitation bubble in the photograph immediately above. These microjets also create a lot of force that also breaks down pathological deposits of calcification in the soft tissues through direct, mechanical means.

However, it's not just one cavitation bubble or just a few cavitation bubbles being produced, but hundreds and thousands. In this photo hundreds of cavitation bubbles form from a single shockwave. Multiply this by several thousand shockwaves being administered to an injured tissue through a course of a shockwave treatment and you can imagine the forces that can be mustered to break down deposits of calcification that are found in joints, soft tissues and spurs.

Beyond breaking down pathological calcification deposits, shockwaves has been shown to stimulate cells in the body known as osteoblasts. These bone cells are responsible for bone healing and new bone production, so stimulating them enhances the healing process of bone. Shockwaves have also been shown to stimulate fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are the cells responsible for the healing of connective tissues such as tendon, ligaments, and fascia.

Shockwave therapy initially diminishes pain through what is known as hyperstimulation anesthesia. This is where the nerves sending signals of pain to the brain are stimulated so much that their activity diminishes, thereby decreasing or eliminating pain. This effect is usually temporary.

Shockwave therapy is also believed to diminish pain over longer periods of time through the stimulation of what is known as the "gate-control" mechanism, where nerves can be stimulated to "close the gate" to pain impulses sent to the brain. It is sometimes thought of as activating a sort of "reset" button that recalibrates pain perception. Interestingly, and in apparent support of this theory, it was demonstrated by research presented at the 2005 conference in Vienna that using anesthesia with shockwave therapy alters the sensor input - motor output balance of nerve fibers, inhibiting the pain-killing effect.