What do chiropractors do?
When it comes to back pain, neck pain, headaches, and general aches and pains, there are a multitude of treatment options available to you. Which is the most suitable for you?
You and your family should expect nothing less than the most beneficial care. Since spine-related back and neck pain is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, it is critical to find the right approach to solving your problems.
So where does chiropractic fit into this? Is it really just reduce bread?
What is pain?
The pain is simply a symptom. That is important to understand when talking about health and chiropractic.
Over time, most pain will eventually subside to a tolerable degree, if not completely, whether with the help of medication or not. The underlying problem is that the source of the bread is often still there; however, once he no longer experiences any pain, he mistakenly believes that he is cured. Hence the “just toughen up and deal with it” mentality.
This leads to many people experiencing intermittent chronic pain that never goes away and wondering why. The result is often a larger problem over time that goes beyond discomfort and affects your ability to function.
An alternative approach, and one that is gaining more and more popularity with the abuse of prescription pain relievers now classified as an epidemic(1), is chiropractic care.
Surveys show that chiropractors are used more often than any other alternative provider group with a high satisfaction rate and a steady increase in patient use, which has tripled over the past two decades.(2)
What is chiropractic?
On a broad spectrum, you can seek conservative or non-conservative care for a health condition. Let’s dig in to evaluate our options. Chiropractic, physical therapy, massage, and acupuncture are forms of conservative care. Non-conservative care tends to require a more invasive approach, such as surgery, injections, or prescription drugs (chemicals swallowed), and is recommended and performed by physicians.
Depending on the severity of the injury, illness or condition, you may need immediate medical intervention or even surgery. This is a rare scenario, but it still needs to be addressed. Logic would tell us that any condition that is not life-threatening should be treated with a more conservative approach initially, and then progress to more invasive approaches if conservative care does not work in a reasonable amount of time.
Chiropractors are musculoskeletal specialists who are experienced in caring for a variety of spinal-related conditions, including neck pain, back pain, and headaches. One of the main differences between chiropractors and other health care providers is their ability to find and correct a condition called subluxation. A subluxation is a slight misalignment and restriction of movement in the joint space that connects two bones in the spine (called the “intervertebral joint space”). This restriction can lead to associated muscle tension, nerve irritation, and a host of symptoms that can accompany it, including pain.
Depending on the resources you access, a subluxation can lead to anything from back pain to compromised lung function. This argument of how far a subluxation can go is not within the scope of this document. The research is there.
However, an irrefutable fact is that, if left untreated, it can lead to the development of adhesions in the stuck joint space (3) and evidence shows that immobilized joints can also lead to premature osteoarthritis (degeneration). (4)
What is an Adjustment?
Chiropractors improve subluxated spinal bones by delivering a targeted force to the stuck spinal bones and joint spaces to free up movement and, in some cases, even improve alignment. The force is called settings.
It can be administered by hand or by means of an electrical or spring-loaded instrument. The amount of pressure or force applied to the stuck spinal bones depends on the age and size of the patient, as well as their general state of health.
For example, the average pressure used to fit a healthy adult may be 300 to 400 newtons. The tightening force for a child is usually less than 30 newtons. As a point of reference, the typical pressure used to type on a keyboard is 13 newtons of force.
While a chiropractic office may limit the practice to adjustment, many chiropractors offer services beyond “chiropractic.” It is important to understand that chiropractic is not the only strategy you should employ to conservatively improve spinal related problems such as subluxations. Stretching and strengthening, improving your diet, getting more rest, reducing stress, and changing your posture at work and at home are all great examples of next steps to take to achieve lasting improvements in your spine.
Chiropractic is a field that philosophically incorporates preventive or maintenance care that is part of a healthy lifestyle. Most chiropractors encourage and educate their patients to lead a healthy, active lifestyle that allows them to be in functional form. Like anything else, it takes time to learn and incorporate a new lifestyle to prevent subluxations in the future.
Most chiropractic care plans require multiple visits to restore proper motion and then recommend ongoing, less frequent care beyond this point to prevent future subluxations and ensure the spine remains mobile and healthy.
Chiropractic care is a lot like exercise. You train to get in shape, but you must continue to train to maintain it. form. And just like exercise, routine chiropractic maintenance care isn’t something you have to do to stay alive, but many studies have shown it improves the quality of your life.
Sources
1. Unintentional drug poisoning in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010. Prescription drug abuse. White House Office on National Drug Policy. Consulted in November 2013.
2.Source: Meeker, Haldeman (2002)Annals of Internal Medicine
3. Cramer GD, Henderson CNR. Little JW, et al; Zygapophyseal joint adhesions after induced hypomobility. JMPT 2010;33(7); 508
4.Videoman, Experimental models of osteoarthritis: The role of immobilization. Clinical Biomechanics, 2:223-229, 1987