What Is Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic is a profession, not a treatment. As a profession, chiropractors are trained medical professionals with unique training to manage many common health conditions. Chiropractors utilize treatments, including joint manipulation, physical therapy modalities, patient education, manual therapy, nutrition, and rehabilitation exercises, to address each patient's unique situation. Chiropractors use established methods to relieve pain and impairment without the need for prescription drugs or surgery in the majority of instances. Below are some common reasons to visit the team at Active Health Chiropractic.
How Chiropractic Care Treats Back Pain
Most people associate chiropractors with low back pain (LBP)- and rightly so. Back pain is one of the most common causes of disability and healthcare costs in our society. Lower back joint dysfunction is a major risk factor for the development and progression of low back degeneration. Fortunately, chiropractors provide researched-backed treatment of these joints through spinal manipulation, exercise, and specific patient education. Most patients have reduced pain within their first visit.
How Chiropractic Care Treats Neck Pain
Neck pain is the second most common reason patients visit a chiropractor. Changes in daily habits, postural pressures, and workstation ergonomics are just a few of the things that might cause a stiff or sore neck. If neck stiffness is not treated, a person's joints and range of motion may be restricted. Spinal manipulation, delivered by chiropractors, has unrivalled success and safety for these types of neck pain. Manipulation, in conjunction with exercise and postural reeducation, often alleviates symptoms quickly.
How Chiropractic Care Helps Treat Pain
A chiropractor will spend time with you to learn about your specific pain symptoms. They'll ask you questions, conduct a physical exam, and potentially order imaging to fully comprehend your problem. Your pain is multi-dimensional, affecting many areas of your life—and so should your treatment plan. A chiropractor can carefully craft a care plan to attack all of the postures, activities, hobbies, and stresses that may be resulting in your chronic pain.
Chiropractic Care Treating Headaches
Nearly half of the population suffers from headaches. The cervical spine is responsible for 15 to 25% of all headaches. Successful headache therapy necessitates a multimodal strategy, with spine manipulation as a cornerstone of care. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of spinal manipulation for these types of headaches. (3-5) A recent study in The Spine Journal found that spinal manipulation cuts the number of symptomatic headache days in half, and the number of treatments has a linear dose-response to improvement. (4) Chiropractors can quickly determine the cause of a headache and the best treatment option.
Avoid Long-Term Opioid Dependence
Acute pain is the most common reason for opioid prescriptions. The majority of acute pain, however, is caused by musculoskeletal injury, often known as mechanical neck and back pain. Chemical treatment does not usually work well for mechanical pain (opioids). This ineffective treatment leads to diminished outcomes and chronic use. Opioid dependence, tolerance, and addiction often commence following an acute problem such as dental procedure, surgery, or injury. More than 25% of chronic use follows post-operative or injury-related pain. (6). Here is how chiropractors are helping with the opioid epidemic:
- Chiropractors specialize in the diagnosis of musculoskeletal diseases, and their primary responsibility to patients is to diagnose rather than treat them.
- Chiropractors' unique training allows them to find what is causing the pain and work towards finding a solution—not just covering it up.
- Chiropractors select the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time to resolve problems quickly.
- Chiropractors are an integral part of the answer to the opioid epidemic as a profession.
