Chiropractic Care

What is chiropractic care?

Chiropractic care is a method of resolving back, neck, and joint pain without the need for potent medications or invasive procedures. 

Chiropractic care is also much more than that, though, as chiropractic physicians diagnose and help prevent musculoskeletal injuries as well as treating disorders affecting your muscles, bones, and nerves.

Your spine consists of 24 bones called vertebrae that form a column. Inside your spinal column is a passageway called the spinal canal, which houses and protects your spinal cord. Nerves coming off your spinal cord pass through gaps in the vertebrae called foramen before branching out to every other part of your body.

If the vertebrae shift out of position (subluxation), they can put pressure on the nerves, causing back and neck pain. Nerve compression often affects your arms and legs as well. Inflammation, thickened ligaments, bone spurs, and herniated discs can all damage the spinal nerves too.

Chiropractic care focuses on easing the pressure on your nerves by restoring proper spinal and joint alignment.

What does chiropractic care involve?

Chiropractic care involves using manual methods or special tools to adjust stuck or subluxated vertebrae and joints. 

Your chiropractor at the Centers for Pain Control and Vein Care uses gentle directional force to move your vertebrae back to their normal position, which relieves the pressure on your nerves.

Standard chiropractic techniques include:

Diversified technique

The Diversified technique treats problems like disc herniation, a common cause of back and neck pain.

Gonstead adjustment

A common chiropractic technique that realigns your spine and reduces pain and inflammation.

Logan technique

The Logan technique uses gentle spinal pressure to relieve tension and stress and help with headaches and migraines.

Flexion-distraction

Flexion-distraction adjustments are helpful for treating back, neck, and joint pain. They're particularly useful for patients with scoliosis and facet joint pain.

While most chiropractic techniques use manual force to make the adjustments, in some cases, your chiropractor might use an activator adjustment tool. 

There are also methods like the Thompson technique, which uses a specially designed drop table to increase the effectiveness and range of certain chiropractic procedures.

Speciality Techniques:

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a minimally invasive technique in which the chiropractor stimulates nerve rich specific points on the body by inserting sterile thin needles through the skin.

How does chiropractic care fit into my treatment plan?

Chiropractors diagnose and treat many different spinal disorders that cause musculoskeletal or nerve pain. The chiropractor will perform a physical and neurological examination as part of his or her process of making an accurate diagnosis. X-rays or MRI studies may be ordered to confirm your diagnosis. Your chiropractor will then develop a treatment plan that is most beneficial to you and your condition(s). Treatments are non-surgical and may include, but not limited to hands on adjustments or special instrument adjustments to the spine, exercises and stretches that are beneficial for the ligaments, muscles, and mobilization, and electrical stimulation, just to name a few.

Chiropractic care is something you can choose to undergo by contacting Centers for Pain Control and Vein Care directly to arrange a consultation. Patients also might get a referral for chiropractic care from their pain specialist.

In many cases, chiropractic care forms a vital part of your treatment plan alongside physical therapy. These methods effectively resolve musculoskeletal pain for a significant number of patients, without the need for prescription medications or more invasive treatments.

However, should you need additional therapies, the chiropractic team at Centers for Pain Control and Vein Care works closely with pain management specialists to ensure you achieve the optimal outcomes from your treatment.

Call Centers for Pain Control and Vein Care today to learn more about chiropractic care and how it can help you, or book an appointment online.