Allison Curran, PT
Allison graduated from the University of New England Physical Therapy program in 1994. She has 23 years of experience in the study and practice of manual physical therapy, a hands-on approach to recovery from injury. Her focus is primarily on restoring the body’s balance and correcting biomechanics, to eliminate pain and restore optimal function. Her emphasis is to educate clients with the knowledge to understand their bodies, gain awareness of structural changes and to understand the impact on the function of the body. Allison believes every client is capable of managing their body through an effective understanding of what is going on, why it might be happening, and how to address the problem in the moment rather than “pushing through” it.
Allison’s training encompasses a wide range of manual therapy techniques that approach healing from a structural perspective and functional methodology. This enables her to address each client’s pain, dysfunction, disease and disability by seeking out the cause of these challenges with a therapeutic approach. Allison’s special interests and expertise involve treating dysfunctions of the sacroiliac joint, headaches, chronic pain, neck and back pain and the treatment of osteoporosis.
Examples of Manual techniques used include:
Muscle Energy Technique (MET): A non-invasive, hands-on system of therapy effective for correcting misaligned joints/ realigning biomechanics. This technique uses isometric contractions of the muscles to help re-establish the normal resting balance of the joints. This technique was first developed by Dr. Fred Mitchell, Sr.
Myofascial Release (MFR):
This technique addresses the Connective Tissue system of the body. The connective tissues system is the only system of the body that is continuous and contiguous. When there is an area of the body that is dysfunctional, it will always manifest through the connective tissue system. MFR is a non-invasive, gentle technique to assess the connective tissue restrictions and restore the pliability.
Strain/ Counterstrain: (S/CS):
This is a hallmark technique of integrative manual therapy. Also called positional release therapy, it addresses increased tension/tone in voluntary muscle tissue, eliminate spasm and abnormal pull on the joint that the muscle crosses. This is a gentle indirect technique used to restore full ROM and relax muscle tension.
Advanced Strain/ Counterstrain:
This is strain/ counterstrain as described previously for the autonomically innervated muscular tissue, including arteries, veins, organs, lymph, and discs.
Cranial Therapy (Craniosacral Technique):
A non-invasive technique which corrects the flow of cerebral spinal fluid around the brain and spinal cord. Balancing the cranio-sacral rhythm is an extremely important part of healing from concussions, traumatic brain injury, whiplash and other spinal trauma.
Neural Tissue Tension Technique (NTT):
NTT is used to reduce scar tissue and adhesions along the peripheral nerves and improve nerve function.
Visceral Manipulation/ Mobilization:
By removing strains that are held in visceral (organ) tissue we are able to attain deeper and more lasting changes in the body and improve digestion, and mobility throughout the spine.
Mulligan Mobilization:
A joint mobilization technique which assesses and treats restrictions in normal movement, joint pain and functional restrictions. Common indications for this approach include: pain of a non-inflammatory nature, acute pain from injury, loss of motion due to arthritic conditions, post-surgical conditions, headaches due to neck problems, dizziness, jaw or TMJ pain and restrictions, acute to chronic ankle sprains, and tennis elbow. Improvements in joint mobility and movement will be seen immediately if this technique is indicated.
Maitland Technique:
Maitland Therapy is considered the cornerstone of modern day orthopedic manual therapy for treatment of the joints of the body. This approach is patient centric and respects the diagnosis with an understanding of the underlying cause of the pain/dysfunction. This manual technique gently provokes the patient’s actual symptoms using carefully graded passive mobilization. This approach is recognized as an efficient, safe and gentle way to evaluate and treat the orthopedic patient to alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, restore movement and maximize function.
McKenzie Method Technique:
This technique uses a systematic evaluation of patients with musculoskeletal pain. The McKenzie Method promotes the body’s potential to heal itself without medication, surgery or other passive modalities such as heat, ice or ultrasound. Most commonly this technique is used with neck pain, back pain and joint pain by addressing the mechanical origin of the problem. Great emphasis is put on the patient understanding their day to day movements and posture that can cause their pain.
Kinesiotape / KT taping Techniques:
Kinesiotape and KT tape are a rehabilitative taping technique that is designed to facilitate the body’s natural healing process while providing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s range of motion. It also provides extended soft tissue manipulation to prolong the benefits of manual therapy administered in the clinical setting.