Dr. Atalla is a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist trained in medical manipulation and other treatment techniques for the body and spine. With training in musculoskeletal medicine, Dr. Atalla has a non-invasive philosophy with multidisciplinary approaches to non-operative pain management. Dr. Atalla is able to make a sound diagnosis and create a plan of treatment to bring patients back to their everyday function quickly and comfortably.
- Trigger point injections
- Joint injections
- Osteopathic manipulations and techniques
- Home exercise programs
- Customized physical therapy and spine recovery plans
Sara Atalla, D.O.
Sara Atalla, D.O.
Dr. Atalla received her training at the osteopathic medical school at Nova Southeastern University. She continued training after medical school in a residency specialty called Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This specialty focuses on improving quality of life and making someone who was injured/impaired as functional as possible. This training includes treatment of patients who suffer from pain, stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputations or any other disability that can benefit from rehab. It also focused on looking at the whole patient and offers a well-rounded approach to getting the patient as functional as possible.
Osteopathic philosophy looks at the whole patient and focuses on restoring function and healing to the body. Osteopathic manipulations (adjustments to the body) are taught in addition to conventional medicine.
Dr. Atalla’s Approach:
- Talk to you, the patient and obtain a thorough history going over current medical problems, social history and discussing symptoms
- Perform a physical exam looking at the entire body and analyzing for any dysfunctions
- Determine the underlying cause of the dysfunction
- Come up with a well rounded treatment plan, which may include the following:
- Osteopathic manipulations (body and spine adjustments, other techniques that will help with pain relief and correction of any abnormalities found)
- Trigger point injections (tender points in the body that can be injected to offer pain relief and relax the muscle)
- Medical management (go over medical problems and add medications that may help decrease inflammation and/or reduce pain)
- Physical therapy prescription, which will be tailored to the specific cause of the problem. Physical therapy is not just exercise. There are many things that physical therapists can use to provide relief including electrical stimulation, traction, massage, ultrasound, which will be prescribed based on the diagnosis. We work closely with the physical therapy department to determine your progress and what can be done to adjust treatments for the best results possible.
- Home exercise prescriptions will also be taught.
- We look at work environment and determine if anything can be done to prevent further injury/pain.
- We would go over any lifestyle changes that could help as well
- We may look into referring you to the pain management specialist in our facility or pain psychologist if that is thought to be helpful
- We would then follow-up closely with you and adjust treatments as needed until you are as functional and pain free as possible!
