There are many reasons folks seek chiropractic treatment. We are going to discuss when or why you may need to find a chiropractor?
Some people use chiropractors for spine adjustments or aligning vertebrae for preventative care. Others need help managing severe pain conditions, such as whiplash from a car accident, degenerative disks or have scoliosis.
Different chiropractors have different philosophies regarding adjustments. Some chiropractors’ objective is to help you return to your previous state of health, and then they do not necessarily expect to see you again unless you’ve got further issues.
Other Chiropractors believe in a routine preventive maintenance program, which may vary from a trip each week — with an adjustment done only if you need it — into a trip once every month or two. Some chiropractors say to visit only once you feel you want an adjustment.
What Does A Chiropractor Do?
Chiropractors can often treat common neck and back pain in a couple of sessions, occasionally with once-a-week visits.
However, it may take longer or more frequent visits based upon your personal condition, and similar factors that stress your body, and duration of symptoms. Your previous injuries may influence treatment time, and any suitable care you received and rehabilitation for those injuries when they happened.
With hours on a computer and often too little exercise, modern life often contributes to common neck and back pain, and you might realize that a normal adjustment every two to four weeks may prevent problems.
What Can Chiropractors Treat?
There is a real debate over chiropractic care about what chiropractors can — and can not — efficiently heal. The American Medical Association supports physicians referring patients to chiropractors for therapeutic or diagnostic services, provided that they think it will benefit a patient.
But in fact, such referrals frequently remain the exclusion as debate persists involving many health care providers and chiropractors, and within the chiropractic profession, over what care chiropractors can offer.
Individual practitioners have a more narrow or broad perspective of what they treat and licensing impacts a chiropractor’s practice range in every state. Some clinics focus squarely on the backbone and treating lower back pain. They may also advise on lifestyle changes, such as exercise and diet.
Many also provide a broader choice of treatments, from electric stimulation for nerve pain to advocating herbal remedies to treat acute ailments such as a cough. Some chiropractors, who undergo further training, provide other alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, also.
Weighing The Evidence
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine notices that evidence for spinal manipulation and mobilization is still the most powerful for musculoskeletal conditions, such as lower back pain and neck pain, where treatment and studies tend to concentrate. According to the center, these manual treatments can help treat conditions, including migraines and cervicogenic, or neck-related, headaches, lower-extremity joint ailments, and whiplash-associated issues.
Overall, the benefits individuals see from these types of manual remedies are a little to moderate. So none of those are cures. Generally, people are reporting a reduction in pain and some type of improvement in functional ability.
According to NCCAM, manual therapists do not appear helpful for issues like asthma or high blood pressure and stay inconclusive for other problems like mid-back pain and sciatica. But some experts say data continues to rise that supports chiropractic adjustment in these two areas.
The latest data is insufficient to prove for or against manual therapies to deal with different issues such as jaw joint problems, or TMJ disorders, and lymph nodes. Some patients, however, say they found success in treating those conditions.
The research will not weigh in heavily in a decision regarding whether or not to find a chiropractor for many individuals. This is particularly true given how scant studies stay for certain applications of manual treatments. However, many will urge all to look beyond what is advertised.
As a consumer, what you would like to know is:
- What is the evidence for this?
- What’re the clinical researches that show this has benefited?
Additionally, prospective patients should check if a clinician is properly trained and licensed to supply the intervention. Just because something works doesn’t mean anyone can do it.
The American Chiropractic Association observes that chiropractic students spend a substantial part of their curriculum analyzing clinical subjects related to assessing and caring for patients — ranging from anatomy to rehab, comparable to medical doctors who provide primary care.
Usually, after several years of undergraduate education, chiropractors complete a doctor of chiropractic degree that normally takes four to five years. Even though they can’t prescribe medication or perform surgery, DC’s education enables them to diagnose a complete range of health issues.
“What people don’t understand is that we can deal with anything your primary care physician can tackle,” says Justin Schaefer in Essential Health & Wellness at Columbus, Ohio. “We can at least offer an adjunct service to it. It’s not that we are going to have the ability to cure all these issues, but we’re trained to recognize and cope with these problems.”
For example, he references a current patient he treated successfully using the homeopathic treatment for ear infection. For other issues, which range from a broken bone to a terrible skin disease, Schaefer says he can diagnose but consult with a primary care physician or specialist.
Chiropractor Scott Cady in Sunnyvale Chiropractic in Sunnyvale, California, couches it slightly differently, highlighting his function’s limits. “The huge bulk of the work I do arise joints and muscles.” He requests patients with high blood pressure to exercise and eat better. “Though I also support those patients to see their medical doctors,” Dr. Cady says. “I’m only 1 piece of this puzzle; I am not their whole medical care provider.”
For patients thinking about chiropractic, specialists point to a growing body of research on manual treatments, such as spinal manipulation, and note treatment constraints.
Many healthcare professionals, such as doctors of physical therapy, osteopathic physicians, or DPTs, and naturopathic doctors, can offer manual therapies. Research concentrates on the treatment, not who provides it.
However, the Chiropractic profession stands out for manual treatments being the dominant treatment throughout the profession. It is true that with the chiropractic profession, its outset (when it was founded in 1895), using manual therapies has become the focus. Sometimes it takes going to a few chiropractors to find the right one.
Serious Pain Needs Intensive Chiropractic Therapy
If you have an illness or injury, causing severe pain, you will probably need intensive treatment. This might entail as many as three or two back adjustments weekly, with a gradually decreasing number of weekly visits, which could last a year or longer.
It depends on your condition, how intense your body’s harm is, and your degree of pain, along with how well you respond to chiropractic care.
Suppose you don’t begin to see improvement in a couple of weeks. In that case, the treatment probably is not working, and you might want to think about other options, like another chiropractor who uses another approach or an evaluation with a physician.
As different chiropractors utilize different techniques (for instance, the traditional thrusting alterations versus low-force adjustments), you might have to visit several chiropractors to get the best one for you.
An essential thing to look for in a chiropractor is someone who adjusts your treatment plan as you progress. It is impossible to know beforehand how many treatments you will want.
A reasonable expectation is a three- to a six-week treatment program, followed by a re-evaluation and fresh treatment strategy based on your individual circumstance.
From the origin of the chiropractic profession in 1895 to the present, many chiropractors have made adjustments, such as to control the spine, in a bid to ease patients’ pain and improve joint function.
How individual professionals go about laying on hands or do not when using instruments rather — varies widely. There are approximately 150 techniques referenced in chiropractor literature. Professionals typically use more than you to tailor treatment to their patients’ needs.
Generally considered safe, specialists advise patients to inquire about risks, such as rare serious complications such as a compression of nerves or a herniated disc, before agreeing to experience adjustment.
Here are five of the most frequently encountered methods in chiropractic offices:
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Gonstead Technique
This hands-on technique usually involves adjusting the low back or pelvis as the patient lies on his side. Chiropractors use it to realign joints, reduce stiffness and pain, and increase mobility. This adjusting method is virtually universal in chiropractic education and is taught to students early in their learning process.
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Activator Method
A handheld adjusting device provides a soft impulse into the vertebral parts of the backbone or the extremities. The force feels like a mild thumping feeling when used to treat everything from low back pain to specific kinds of headaches, like migraines. It’s quite comfortable for the individual and an exceptional alternative for seniors.
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Flexion-Distraction
It is also called decompression manipulation or Cox Technic. It is used in over half of chiropractic practices and a choice method when treating facet joint pain, scoliosis, disk herniations, and other ailments. Patients should expect to feel a gentle stretching movement,” he says of this technique, which needs a specially designed adjusting table.
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Thompson, or Drop Table, Technique
This involves a specially adapted table with cushioned platforms made to drop a fraction of an inch once the chiropractor applies a fast push to make an adjustment. The subtle shedding motion, which individuals feel as shaking, makes it quite comfortable for many patients. It may be used for the spine or extremities.
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Diversified Technique
Also applied to correct the spine and extremities, this seems like the Gonstead technique. It is considered the most commonly used technique involving quite exact hands-on thrusts to restore good movement and alignment to the spine.
Do I Need A Chiropractor?
If you’re feeling great but wish to catch minor misalignments before they generate problems, a chiropractic adjustment that takes from once a month to twice a year is an option. Or, you can get a chiropractic appointment when you begin to feel some pain or strain.
Ultimately, you — and your chiropractor — determine how often you will need an adjustment. By understanding your own body and how it reacts to changes, you can decide what works best for you.