Click the green button on top right corner to book an appointment with physiotherapist Keltie Cheney for returning clients (or call/text 902-221-6111 if you are a new client) or Osteopath Andrea McCulloch (or call/text 902-440-2148).
OUR PHYSIOTHERAPIST
Credentials:
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Education: graduated from Dalhousie University School of Physiotherapy in 2003.
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Numerous Post-Secondary courses and studies including Pain Science Education, Somatics, Acupuncture, Vestibular Rehabilitation, Concussion Management, Orthopedic Manual Therapy, Kinesiotaping, Cranial Nerve Mobilizations and Movement Impairment Syndromes.
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Work Experience: working private practice physiotherapy since 2003 in Halifax (One to One Wellness Center), Dartmouth (Burnside Physiotherapy), and Montreal (Physio Synergie).
Keltie's values:
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Provide the best evidence-based practice, on an individual basis, for pain relief, mobility problems, and loss of function or activity.
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Provide one-on-one, patient-centered care, that includes education, hands-on treatment for pain and immobility, and strength prehabilitation and rehabilitation.
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Provide support so the client will be empowered to self- manage and to reach their goals.
" My clients seek excellent care and are willing to invest in their health. They want special attention. They often seek me out after trying and failing with other therapy or because a family/friend/physician told them to seek my expertise. They want to know what is wrong and why, and what can be done to fix it, not just "band aid" it. My clients want to learn how to take control over their pain and not rely on passive care.
It is my role as their physiotherapist to give them the tools to empower them to be independent, healthy, strong and mobile. I want them to reach their personal goal; whether it is staying active into older age, or preventing pain and loss of function because of a static lifestyle. When treating my patients, we work together in partnership for the best possible outcome." Keltie Cheney
Personal:
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Keltie loves living in Dartmouth since 2005 with her husband and three children. She is passionate about living and teaching a healthy lifestyle that balances hard work and having fun with family and friends.
Keltie Cheney
OUR SERVICES
PhysioMatters in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia treats pain, injuries, and mobility issues! Physiotherapy is provided in a quiet, private room for the full appointment time. We use education and gentle, hands-on techniques including dermoneuromodulation, joint mobilization, acupuncture, and soft tissue massage. We also value an active treatment approach using mobility and strengthening exercises.
For pain, injury, or mobility issues, the physiotherapist will treat you one-on-one, in a quiet, private room, for the full appointment time. Treatment will include education, gentle hands-on techniques, such as dermoneuromodulation, joint mobilization, acupuncture, and soft tissue massage. We will also include active mobility and/or strenghtening exercises. (See below for more details on specific treatment options).
Nerve Desensitization Techniques
After injury, or when you have had a pain that is just not going away, your nerves (or nervous system) can become more sensitive and painful. Dermoneuromodulation (light skin stretching), nerve flossing (neurodynamics), and specific mobility exercises (somatic/body awareness movements) really help to calm down the increased sensitivity of your nerves. We often blame our joints and muscles for pain, but without the nervous system being assessed and treated properly, it is likely that you will not succeed in obtaining a full, pain-free recovery. Nerve pain can often be treated and prevented. We at PhysioMatters are experts at understanding the mechanisms of pain and the appropriate treatment to calm the nervous system.
Joint Mobilizations
Joints can get a very “stiff”, or “blocked”, feeling that prevents you from moving through your full range of motion. Joint mobilizations are extremely helpful for people who are tightening up due to osteoarthritis, recovering from an injury, living a sedentary lifestyle, or holding static postures for most of their workday. Mobilizations are gentle, passive and relaxing, specific movements that help joints gide with less guarding or “sticking”.
Gentle Manual Physiotherapy
Sometimes our bodies can get so sore, that even the slightest touch can be painful and scary. The first treatment approach when you are in pain should always be gentle because your brain needs to feel safe in someone else’s hands. Subsequently your body will relax and let go of a lot of pain and discomfort.
Using a very light, hands-on technique to the painful area called dermoneuromodulation (or the adjacent area), can have an incredibly calming effect on your sensitized body. Gentle, manual physiotherapy will help to decrease the irritability or guarding of the painful area and encourage recovery, better movement, and activity.
Kinesiotaping
Kinesiotaping is a technique where soft, stretchy tape is placed on the skin of the irritated body part. The tape provides a sense of support or “gentle hug” feeling and calms the painful area significantly. If the tape is placed in a good location, with the right directional pull, you don’t even know it is there; but you feel less strain, weakness, guarding and pain. The tape can stay on for up to 5 days, even with a shower!
Tissue/Muscle Tension
Muscles can get tight, stiff, hard and inflexible for many reasons. Tissue tension is a result of a sedentary lifestyle, or because your muscles are repetitively tightening to avoid going into painful movements or positions.
A thorough physiotherapy assessment can help to discover what causes the stiffness and soreness. The physiotherapist has many treatment options to calm down "angry/tired/tight" muscles and can teach you ways to avoid their tension from returning. Getting the tools to calm your muscles so they feel relaxed and flexible is often way less complex than you would think.
Mobility (the ability to move) Exercises
Whether you have had an injury, live a sedentary life-style, or even if you don't know what you did, muscles, joints and nerves may experience tightness, guarding, sensitivity, soreness, numbness, and stiffness. PhysioMatters can show you why you may be moving in a way that is prohibiting recovery (guarding/protecting) and give you the tools to meet your goals (moving freely and returning to activity). Mobility exercises, also called "somatic, or body awareness movements" are gentle, easy and relaxing for any part of the body. Plus, you can do them anywhere, with no equipment, and they are for everyone at any age.
Acupuncture
At PhysioMatters, the goals of acupuncture (placing very tiny, sterile, one-time use needles into very specific areas of the skin), are to increase blood flow to the affected area and to give the brain a new “input”. When the brain gets a new input, it sends healthy blood to that area of the body. The new blood contains healing oxygen and naturally-occurring chemicals which help heal and reduce swelling (collection of old blood at the site of injury). By inserting the tiny needle, the brain can focus on something different than the same input it gets from the irritated nerves when you have persistent pain (pain that is lasting longer than the expected healing time). Combining acupuncture with the gentle light skin stretching technique (dermoneuromodulation, see above), is very effective in calming pain and swelling, both acute and chronic.
PhysioMatters believes that safe strength training is very important to good health, recovery from injury and prevention and treatment of age-related issues like arthritis and osteoporosis. Building strength is also proven to be very effective in cancer prevention and recovery. Physiotherapists are experts at exercise prescription. At PhysioMatters, we have over 16 years of personalized strength training experience and during your treatment we can create and coach you through any work-out, full body or specific body-area, that will help you reach your goals. Feel safe to learn how to effectively strengthen yourself without worrying you will over-train, over-stretch, or injure yourself.
Strengthening your balance to prevent falls after lower body injury, post-surgery, post-concussion or due to age related muscle loss is very important. Your physiotherapist can help you regain confidence and stability with a few strengthening exercises that will get you back on your feet and wanting to move more and safely. (See below for more information on strength training.)
On-Site Gym or Home Supervised Strength Training and Coaching
People are often intimidated by starting a strengthening program on their own because they are scared about injuring themselves. They may lift something the wrong way or do too much of something and hurt themselves. Knowing how to strength train properly, with good form, working the intended body part with no compensations and with the right intensity for strength gains is crucial. You can strength train anywhere, but you need to do it correctly! At PhysioMatters we will take you, one-on-one, through an entire personalized program once or twice a week in the on-site gym, or we can show you how to exercise safely at home or in any public gym.
Remove fear from exercise and have an exercise expert help you to be the "strongest you" that you can be.
Balance Training / Fall Prevention
Having good balance gives you confidence in your body's ability to move safely. Unfortunately, when most people are asked, “How’s your balance?” they say, “It's terrible." We all know that if we don’t have good balance, we are at a higher risk of falling and hurting ourselves. So, we start to avoid activities we enjoy such as sports, walking on certain terrains (the woods or the beach), or going up and down stairs in arenas. However, balance is like most physical things: if we practice, we get better. There are lots of simple exercises that the physiotherapist can teach you so you move and feel safe, stable, and strong.
At PhysioMatters, we believe that the most successful recovery involves not only feeling better, having less pain and more function, but the client being an active participant in learning and maintaining an improved quality of life. Knowing what to do, when to do it, and feeling less dependent on a therapist gives you an incredible feeling of empowerment. Excellent client care means you help the physical, as well as the mental side of the person. Ask as many questions as you want; we are here to help you understand what is going on in your body. Knowledge is power!
Ergonomic Retraining
Is there a "perfect posture"? Should you sit or stand in a better, safer way? We can help you to know how to avoid the “cricked neck” from sleeping, the painful lower back due to your sitting position, and the “numb, achy hand” you get from using your mouse or cell phone. PhysioMatters will help you know the "rights and wrongs of posture" to prevent and relieve your physical discomforts all over your body.
Pain Science Education
People often have pain lasting longer than what is considered "normal healing time". Understanding what pain REALLY is all about will give you a sense of control over reducing the pain and regaining movement and activity back into your life. At PhysioMatters, we have worked with clients suffering from chronic/persistent pain for over 15 years. We have helped hundreds of people understand and gain control over the powerful cycle of persistent pain. To quote David Butler (Physiotherapist, pain science researcher and author of 'Explain Pain' ), "Know pain, know gain."
CONTACT US
Dartmouth Physiotherapy Clinic Address
Hours
68 Queen Street, Unit 100
(Downtown) Dartmouth
Nova Scotia, B2Y 1G5
** Lots of free street parking available **
For more info:
email: info@physiomatters.ca
Call or text 902- 221-6111
Regular booking hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For appointments outside of these hours, please contact us at info@physiomatters.ca
Initial Assessments (1 hour) and 45 minute appointments will need to be booked through email, phone, or text. Follow-up 30 minute
appointments are available for on-line booking.
Walk, Bus, Ferry or Drive!
Walk/Bus/Ferry: PhysioMatters is just a five minute walk from the Alderney Ferry Terminal (where multiple bus routes stop).
Drive: PhysioMatters is a 3 minute drive from the MacDonald Bridge. Free “2 hour” street parking (Queen St between Dundas and Irishtown Rd and also on Dundas St between Queen St and Ochterloney St) or at parking meter along Dundas St and Victoria Rd.
When you arrive: Enter 68 Queen St, Unit 100. There is a 6 inch (curb height) step to get in front door and a 4 inch step to the washroom. There is no office administration person to meet you, so feel free to sit in the immediate waiting area until the therapist greets you. You will not wait long as we try very hard to run on time because we respect your schedule and we will ask you to also do the same. (We will not be able to extend your appointment if you arrive late.)
Appointments are 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour in length. You will be with the physiotherapist for the full length of treatment or strength training time.
