How I Work with Your Chiropractor
Chiropractic is becoming more and more common in the United States as people of learned over the last 60 years that it's no longer junk science but a percision method of improving peoples health. Chiropractic like massage therapy and personal training has a number of different methods to get to the same goals some of them have greater effectiveness on people than others but in a general sense still very effective for most people. Currently in all US states chiropractors must be licensed by their respective states with varying degrees of requirements in licensing governing boards which can look at many different aspects of their business practices to ensure consumer safety. All major insurance companies still provide coverage for chiropractic services in limited amounts and is considered a staple of car accident recovery.
As I'm sure many of you are aware chiropractors will often times have personal trainers and massage therapist in their practices from a business standpoint this often brings in extra revenue as it can become a one stop shop for a majority of clients. With the population also aging physical and occupational therapy clinics are also starting to employ chiropractors. Chiropractors often provide a necessary service for injury recovery that physical therapy cannot but with the treatment methods being different a lot of people get turned off by the way chiropractors set up your treatment plans. I believe that this misunderstanding of methods leads to people to similar outcomes as physical therapy in regards to not completing the treatment plan as required this can hinder a persons ability to heal correctly for the long term.
Chiropractors are responsible for the percision movement of bones and joints into the correct alignment. Like many healthcare professions that have evolved over time chiropractic work can be done in a very precision method or can be done in a very palpation diagnostic method both can be done accurately however secondary information is always needed like x-rays or movement study or GANT. At Tony Schwartz Bodywork LLC I have the most respect for proper chiropractic work when it is done correctly it can change lives for the better when it's done carelessly it can be ineffective or actually harm people. I think a good chiropractor should have a massage therapist and staff and the reason is is I believe that if they work together as a team they can significantly decrease healing time and reduce chronic pain. Chiropractors need a frequent treatment plan in order to keep your adjustments working correctly often times tight muscles or compensation patterns can pull bones back out of place in flaming nerves and other tissues. In my opinion some chiropractors do you ask too much of clients when it comes to frequent appointments for extended periods of time but I believe that everyone can benefit from regular appointments.
What I can do to help my clients better understand the connection between chiropractic and body work is give you a simple scenario that plays itself out all over the world everyday: patient comes in to a chiropractor with a neck that is tilted forward reporting wrist pain and a posture that leans forward that only in the head but in the shoulders. Pain is also typically be reported in the jaw and neck area most often manifesting as a headache. A chiropractor will sometimes take an x-ray or simply palpate the area to verify the patient's concerns there are also a number of devices that can be used by chiropractors to detect muscle tension. Once the patient has been correctly assessed and adjustment will typically take place. The idea behind the adjustment is to move the bone safely back into a proper alignment to the best of the chiropractors ability at the same time the nerves that sent signals to the muscles will be briefly interrupted this can help reset the mechanism in our brains that tells us to tighten muscles. A chiropractor who typically do this from the source of the major nerves where as a massage therapist or body worker may do that directly on the tissues that are the tightest through a different method called holding. A bodyworker can then go in after the adjustment and start further helping the patient relax which will reduce stress and prevent further holding patterns from continuing this will increase the effectiveness of the chiropractic adjustment and prolong its positive results until the next adjustment typically days or weeks. This is not need forever just until the pattern is gone.