You’ve heard about it, you have a vague notion of what it is, but you’re not sure what it means exactly and how it’s different from sports massage or physical therapy? It’s quite widespread and popular nowadays, and you can find a lot of good practitioners around the US, like San Diego’s https://www.fixbodygroup.com/chiropractor/rancho-penasquitos/san-diego/.
It has turned out to be by far the most popular treatment for back pain, especially the lower-back one, chronic headaches, neck pain, joint problems and the like and it has been proved to have an overall positive effect in curing all those conditions, completely without drugs or surgery, which is hugely important to a lot of people. It has been used not only to relieve various types of musculoskeletal pains but also for ailments such as asthma or menstrual pain.
So here’s a brief explanation to help you understand chiropractic better and see if this is the right thing for you.
Origins
“Chiropractic” is a holistic treatment, meaning its approach to cure encompasses our organism as a whole and not just the “burning spot”. The name originates from two Greek words, Cheiro (hand) and praxis (practice), denoting a treatment done by hands. Spine adjustment and manipulation are the key points in chiropractic therapy. The premise on which chiropractic is based is the existence of the strong connection between the body structure (spine in the first place) and body functioning (coordinated by the nervous system) which strongly affects our health.
Even though spinal manipulation is the central method used in chiropractic, it is not the only one, as chiropractors use other types of treatments as well. What’s more, spinal manipulation is not used exclusively in chiropractic but also in other cure methods such as physical therapy and osteopathic treatments.
How Does It Work?
As already mentioned, spinal manipulation is the main method used in chiropractic and it can help with low-back pain, headaches, neck pain, joint problems and similar conditions, but it’s also been successfully used for relieving asthma, menstrual pain, fibromyalgia and other not necessary back and bone related problems.
During the first visit, the chiropractor takes the whole health history and performs the physical check-up with a special focus on the spine, in order to establish the problem and its cause and verify whether chiropractic is the right treatment for it. Afterwards, in case this is the right therapy for you, the practitioner will apply various manual therapies and adjustments during the following visits. This implies using hands or an appropriate device to produce rapid, controlled pressure on the joints with the purpose of improving the general health of the treated area and to increase the quality of its motion.
The spinal adjustment can be used in combination with other techniques, such as heat and ice, electrical stimulation, relaxation methods, general and rehabilitative exercises, diet counseling, dietary supplements, weight loss and other health factors.
Safety
Safety of this method is a very important part of the ongoing research. Chiropractic is considered an overall safe technique, though it has been known to cause temporary headaches, tiredness, discomfort in the treated areas and such. Still, all these side-effects are all part of the recovery process and aren’t really reasons for concern as the odds for some serious complications have been estimated “low-to-very-low”. In
However, even though the link has not been scientifically proved, there have been some claims that chiropractic practice could be related to some extreme consequences, such as stroke. These claims are yet to be confirmed and occur extremely rarely, so they cannot be properly investigated.
For most people, chiropractic care is the only thing which helps alleviate the pain without the use of drugs or other invasive methods. If you are skeptical about the effectiveness of this method, do more research or even visit a practitioner yourself and experience the beneficial effects first hand.
About The Author:
Thomas is an academic who is always looking to expand his knowledge. An avid reader and podcast listener, he believes that a day when you don’t learn anything new is a day wasted. He is interested in technology and sustainable energy, but his true passion and hobby is bookbinding and books in general.
