Many are quite familiar with the pain, stress and limitations wrought by chronic back pain — and almost as many, seemingly, are familiar with the anxiety that comes with seeking a solution.
That’s why Dr. Adam Roussel of Physicians Medical & Rehab puts great emphasis on allowing his patients to guide their rehabilitation process from start to finish, enabling each to be comfortable every step of the way.
“We really stress patient satisfaction,” Roussel said. “We’re extremely goal-oriented. When our patients come in for an initial consultation, we always ask them what their goals are and try to meet those goals as quickly as possible. We put a lot of emphasis on making sure they’re okay with the treatment before we even begin.”
Established four years ago by Roussel in his hometown of Destrehan, Physicians Medical & Rehab is an affiliate of Riverbend Family Chiropractic and Rehabilitation. Helping people become pain-free and on the way to enjoying their lives to fullest potential, he said, is greatly rewarding, especially doing so for people who live in the community where he grew up.
Roussel has years of training, expertise and experience in helping patients get pain relief for back pain, neck pain, headaches and other related conditions originating from the spine. Chiropractic care under a trained professional can be used to prevent injuries and help achieve total health or wellness.
“It’s something I was always interested in, just helping people rehabilitate their injuries,” said Roussel. “I actually met my wife in grad school, and her older sister was in school in Atlanta for this. We made a trip to visit some of her classes and I decided, ‘I want to do this.’”Roussel received a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology from Louisiana State University and a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy from L.S.U. Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, with clinical experience in acute care rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, and pediatrics.
He then went on to attain a Doctorate in Chiropractic at Life University in Marietta, Georgia.
He aims to not only treat his patients’ pain, but to rid them of it in a timely manner, noting he understands time is a valuable asset to those who come to see him.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Roussel said. “Our goal is to help patients return to their prior level of function as quickly as possible and without pain. They should feel relief quickly, possibly after the first visit.”
One of Roussel’s top instruments used to combat chronic pain and soreness is the spinal decompression table, which is used to help patients that have back and neck issues like disc bulges, herniations, facet syndrome, failed back syndrome, sciatica and arthritis.
The table is hooked up to a computer that allows Roussel and his staff to monitor the patient’s progress along with the weight and stress-level the back can endure during treatment. It can aid with the recovery of back and neck pain as well as treating Sciatica.
“By incorporating decompression into a patient’s treatment plan, it facilitates a quicker recovery that is non-invasive,” he said. “It’s non-invasive, non-surgical and it provides relief for back and neck pain.”
He said there is no manipulation involved with the table. “You won’t feel any popping or cracking or anything like that,” Roussel said. “People are sometimes apprehensive about that part of it, but it’s eliminated with this. The table is real gentle. Several people have actually fallen asleep while on it. This lets them sit down, relax and address the issue without having to go through the (spinal) manipulation.”
The table treatment can make an immediate and significant impact.
“One of our patients had been having back pain for a long time,” Roussel said. “He ultimately lost his job because of it. After two weeks of treatment on the table, over three visits, he started to feel better. He said, ‘man, this is incredible.’”
A treatment used in conjunction with the table is called laser-enhanced spinal decompression, which involves a class IV laser applying heat to tissues and stimulating cells to help the body recover and heal.
“It helps with pain, inflammation and healing, and so when you mix laser treatment with decompression, you can get better and quicker results,” Roussel said. “It’s a hot laser that gets heat to tissues … the light from lasers stimulate the cells to produce more ATP, which will help the body to recover and heal.”
The full-service chiropractic and rehabilitation facility also offers treatment plans that involve stretching exercises for patients for use both on their visits and at home. Patients are taught how to perform special “blueprint” exercises which can strengthen and correct the irregularities in their body which may be causing pain. Many of these corrective exercises can be performed in the comfort of one’s own home to help improve the effectiveness of the patient’s chiropractic care and spinal correction plan.
The practice also offers spinal manipulation, active therapies such as Active Release Technique® (ART), and more passive, soft tissue therapies like massage therapy, dry needling, Graston Technique®, heat, electric muscle stimulation and intersegmental traction, which induces motion into the spine for the purpose of stretching spinal joints and increasing mobility.
Injuries that require this kind of attention to ultimately solve are rather common, particularly, Roussel said, soft-tissue injuries that can arise from a fall, participation in athletics or simply from daily, repetitive motions that build cumulative damage.
“Soft tissue injuries occur pretty often,” Roussel said. “And then those tissues don’t receive enough oxygen and the injuries just kind of stay there until they’re addressed.”Other conditions treated at Physicians Medical and Rehab include whiplash, headaches, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel, sciatica, arthritis, sprains/strains, sports injuries, fibromyalgia, extremity pain and dysfunction, disc bulges/herniations, pediatrics and pregnancy.
The practice also produced videos on its website www.destrehanpmr.com to provide more information.
Physicians Medical & Rehab is located at 1972 Ormond Blvd., Suites A-C in Destrehan and is open from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. To schedule, call (985) 307-0977.
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