Conditions We Treat

Pelvic Floor Disfunction

We all have a pelvic floor: it's the base of our core and often under-appreciated and over-tight. Most chiropractors don't treat the pelvic floor intentionally, but Dr. Mumma is on a mission to change that.

Dr. Mumma is an international educator on pelvic floor health and function, as well as the best-selling author of Your Pelvic Floor Sucks.

She and Dr. Bailey treat pelvic floor dysfunction in practice through chiropractic care, various manual therapies, and exercises. They often complement their in-office care with support from the TriangleCRC Rehab CAs (chiropractic assistants) or with at-home courses like Postpartum Rehab.

But they also work with pelvic PTs because they don't do any internal work. It's actually within the chiropractic scope of practice in North Carolina to do internal pelvic manual therapy, but our doctors prefer to ensure that they're focused on using their expertise (manipulation, manual therapy, and DNS-based exercise) and referring to other trusted providers for their expertise.

We see patients who have "failed" pelvic PT or traditional PT to address pelvic floor dysfunction. Our patients get comprehensive, collaborative, and holistic pelvic floor therapy with a compassionate and empathetic approach.

Postpartum Recovery

What is postpartum rehabilitation? In short: it’s fully recovering after giving birth. Once you’re six weeks postpartum, this is typically when women get a “green light” from their doctor or midwife for returning to activity. But this is when the rehab actually starts rather than ends. Between 4-8 weeks is when we recommend women begin our Postpartum Rehab program, which is a step-by-step guide to fully recovering after giving birth.

Cesarean Section Recovery

In a traditional ACL reconstruction for an athlete, they return to running at 9 months post-surgery. But cesarean section recovery looks like a 6-week checkup (the same as your friend who delivered vaginally) where a woman is told she can return to sex and activity.

In a cesarean surgery, the surgeon cuts through and moves seven layers of skin, fascia, tissue, and organ. The tissues are severed and the blood and nerve supply have to re-grow. There is no nine-month plan (unless you’re at TriangleCRC, where we take postpartum rehabilitation very seriously).

A lot of women have abnormal sensation of their cesarean section scar and don't consider it to be a problem because it's not painful. This is where our hands-on, gentle scar tissue work is so helpful, because we’ll gradually return sensation to the area to help the tissues fully heal and help the brain learn to load the core and pelvic floor appropriately.

Our c-section recovery looks a lot like our postpartum recovery plan, but with an extra focus on ensuring that the scar itself is fully functioning and has normal sensation.

Preg Lower Back Pain

If you’re pregnant and your lower back is aching, you are not alone. Many women experience pain in their lower back while pregnant, but this doesn’t have to be the case! We frequently see women who are less uncomfortable in their third trimester after receiving care compared to their second trimester!

For those women who are experiencing physical discomfort during a time when pill-popping could lead to disastrous side effects, chiropractic care can be the answer (1).

A woman’s entire body undergoes vast changes during pregnancy: most of them occurring in her torso (meaning her core, pelvic floor, spine, hips, and ribcage). Sometimes these changes are uncomfortable, but they don’t have to be. Maintaining activity levels throughout pregnancy is crucial for the health of mom and baby. If your body can't move well, it can be hard to move in general! Our chiropractors will help you move better so that you can keep on moving. Studies have shown that women who exercise during their pregnancy have a lower chance of cesarean delivery and lower risk of developing gestational diabetes (2).

Our physician-directed fitness classes here at TriangleCRC are also designed to support pregnant women, especially in terms of supporting your changing core and pelvic floor.

There are countless reasons to visit a chiropractor during pregnancy, but one of the most intriguing ones is that it could lead to a shorter labor. First-time moms who see a chiropractor during their pregnancy have 25% shorter labors than women who didn’t see a chiropractor (3)!

If you’re already hurting, don’t continue suffering. The chiropractors here at TriangleCRC are specially trained in prenatal and postpartum chiropractic care. Dr. Mumma teaches prenatal chiropractic care around the world!

And if you’re pregnant and feeling great, don't wait until something hurts. Get your body and your baby ready for your best birth with regular chiropractic care throughout pregnancy!

1. Toda K. Is acetaminophen safe in pregnancy? Scand J Pain. 2017 Oct;17:445-446. doi: 10.1016/j.sjpain.2017.09.007. Epub 2017 Oct 4. PMID: 28986045. Conder R, Zamani R, Akrami M. The Biomechanics of Pregnancy: A Systematic Review. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2019 Dec 2;4(4):72. doi: 10.3390/jfmk4040072. PMID: 33467386; PMCID: PMC7739277.
2. Price, Bradley B et al. “Exercise in pregnancy: effect on fitness and obstetric outcomes-a randomized trial.” Medicine and science in sports and exercise 44 12 (2012): 2263-9 .
3. Borggren, Cara. J Chiropr Med. 2007 Spring; 6(2): 70–74. Published online 2007. doi: 10.1016/j.jcme.2007.04.004

Pregnancy Hip Pain

Hip pain during pregnancy frequently occurs when a woman has some amount of imbalance: maybe she has more tension in her hip flexors on one side or restriction in one of her pelvic joints. Another example of imbalance is the rapid weight gain on the front of the torso that happens during pregnancy. The result of all of these changes can, and does, lead to hip pain in pregnancy.

We address pregnancy hip pain the same way we treat everything: by looking at the whole human. At Triangle Chiropractic and Rehab, we’ll utilize adjustments, Traditional Chinese Medicine, massage and soft tissue work, pelvic floor and pregnancy-specific core exercise, Dry Needling, and more, to ensure your whole body moves well throughout pregnancy.

Our doctors are Webster Certified, but our expertise goes much further. Dr. Mumma is an international presenter on prenatal chiropractic care and literally wrote the book on improving pelvic floor function.

Our whole team is ready to help you feel better, move better, and prepare for a more comfortable birth and easeful postpartum recovery.

Shoulder Pain

The shoulder is a ball and socket joint, which means it’s not incredibly stable. Despite that, many people feel tight in their shoulders constantly from a combination of posture and breathing mechanics. Additionally, pain in the shoulder is frequently coming from the spine. A 2020 study showed that over 47% of shoulder pain was actually coming from the spine. (1)

Our examination will determine the source of your shoulder pain so that we can apply the best treatments to get you moving and feeling well.

Rosedale R, Rastogi R, Kidd J, Lynch G, Supp G, Robbins SM. A study exploring the prevalence of Extremity Pain of Spinal Source (EXPOSS). J Man Manip Ther. 2020 Sep;28(4):222-230. doi: 10.1080/10669817.2019.1661706. Epub 2019 Sep 2. PMID: 31476129; PMCID: PMC8550529.

Knee Pain

If you’ve suffered from knee pain, you know how disruptive it can be to your daily activities. But most knee pain responds incredibly well to the care we provide.

After our doctors perform an exam to determine the cause of your knee pain, we’ll begin a plan of treatment that utilizes some combination of everything we offer here: comprehensive manual care, cutting-edge shockwave treatments, cold and hot therapies, and more.

Shockwave for knee pain has been a game-changer. We can speed up healing times by adding shockwave therapy to your care plan. For generalized knee pain–even meniscus tears, tendinosis, or ligament sprains–we typically recommend 3-6 sessions of shockwave alongside our comprehensive rehabilitative chiropractic care.

For more advanced osteoarthritis, the shockwave sessions are a bit longer and more intense, but the results speak for themselves. We typically recommend weekly shockwave sessions for 6-12 weeks alongside chiropractic care and rehabilitation.

Neck Pain

Waking up after “sleeping wrong” with pain and the inability to turn in both directions equally is relatively common. Our treatments for neck pain consist of chiropractic manipulative therapy (adjustments), exercises you can do at home plus ones you do with us in the office, cupping, myofascial release, dry needling, and shockwave.

We may do all of these treatments or just some; each patient receives an individualized plan based upon their examination that is tailored to their specific needs!

Low Back Pain

Despite how common low back pain is (most likely 8 out of 10 people will experience low back pain at some point in their life), surgery is rarely necessary. Patients who first seek chiropractic care have a less than 2% chance of needing surgery (compared to almost 43% of those who saw an orthopedist). (1)

The doctors at TriangleCRC can help determine what avenue of care is best for you (including if we need to refer you to a trusted surgeon). Our chiropractors are trained in Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment (also known as McKenzie Therapy or MDT), which is an excellent first-line assessment to ensure you get the right treatment.

Without MDT, doctors (and patients) tend to seek evidence of a disc derangement through advanced imaging such as an MRI. MRI is valuable in some cases, but recent studies concluded that early unnecessary MRI led to worse outcomes for patients! (2)

Before rushing to a surgeon or even getting an MRI, seek conservative manual therapy to address your low back pain – even severe low back pain with radiation into the legs and feet. Studies suggest conservative care is an effective and cost-effective method for the treatment of lumbar disc derangement and low back pain in general.

1. Keeney BJ, Fulton-Kehoe D, Turner JA, et al. Early predictors of lumbar spine surgery after occupational back injury: results from a prospective study of workers in Washington state. Spine, Dec. 12, 2012.
2. Webster B. and Cifuentes M. Relationship of Early Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Work-Related Acute Low Back Pain With Disability and Medical Utilization Outcomes. JOEM • Volume 52, Number 9, September 2010

Injury Prevention

Elite athletes and weekend warriors alike both benefit from regular chiropractic care. Athletes require a lot from their bodies. If something doesn’t move quite as well as it should, or the athlete isn’t recruiting muscles in the proper sequence, outcomes will suffer. Whether that means eventual injury and pain or merely a less successful game, athletes who want to perform at their best need to treat their body like any other piece of athletic equipment – with care and respect.

Manual therapy such as chiropractic care can help athletes avoid injury and improve outcomes. The DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization) treatments and exercises that we utilize in your care as well as in our gym help to prime your body for moving in the most stable way possible.