Chiropractic care is always misunderstood with medical care. Once the symptoms are gone, then the client tends to think that they have no need of care. This is a medical understanding of Chiropractic care. Chiropractic is originally was more concerned about the function of the body and the cause of the symptoms. Chiropractic should not be misunderstood as treatment care or therapy because they remedy the symptoms. Chiropractic is all about finding the cause and finding solutions instead of covering up the symptoms. Chiropractic doesn’t treat symptoms but rather they observe the cause of the symptoms and when the cause is gone then there is no need to do any chiropractic adjustments.
What are they really looking for? Chiropractors are looking for the cause of the symptoms which is subluxations. Subluxations are slight dislocation of the spinal segment that chokes the nerve and limits or interrupts the communication and function of individual nerves that connects to muscles movements, heart functions, and many more! Once these subluxations are gone, there is nothing to change. If there are signs of subluxations then that is what Chiropractors adjust and restore and monitor. If there are signs of subluxations then the Chiropractic adjustments continue.
How do Chiropractors monitor subluxations? Many Chiropractors do a physical examination of a range of motion, pain scale questionnaire, orthopedic tests to measure that the symptoms are gone. Although this method is still only measuring symptoms so in this set of examination they are only looking to cover up the symptoms. There are Chiropractors that go further and take radiological examinations and have x-ray films to see the spine and re-take x-ray films after a certain amount of time. The public and normal people are not educated in looking at x-ray films and anatomy of our skeletal structures. That means we are at the mercy of the Chiropractor to tell us if we are progressing well. Most often times they say that there is progress and we just agree because we don’t want to look like we have no idea what they are saying. There are also other assessments for subluxations such as monitoring spinal thermographs, a static electromyograph, electrocardiographs, and many more assessment tools.
X-rays:
Some chiropractors use x-rays mostly as a scare tactic to make you fearful of your condition and sign up for chiropractic adjustments and never use them. Very caring, objective and scientific Chiropractors are always looking at them when the client comes in and analyzing and comparing the x-rays to the client as a reference. Most of the time Chiropractors want to see if there are specific conditions such as fractures, malformation of the bone structures, and degeneration. This will help to specify the Chiropractic adjustments for more efficient structure in the body so that adaptation to stress is more efficient. When x-rays are taken, many Chiropractors are not being careful of positioning the client and sometimes create scoliosis like an appearance to the x-ray. Which means they are adjusting the spine thinking there is scoliosis but there really was a misinterpretation.
The most important part of using x-ray in the progress of care is to see if the Chiropractic adjustments are improving degeneration, changing the structure of the spine, and further specify the chiropractic adjustments for the clients.
Neurological/Physical Examination:
Many Chiropractors check for pain levels, sensations on different areas of your arms, feet, orthopedic tests, neurological reflexes, checking the range of motion of the neck or low back. Many times these tests are necessary for very severe conditions and not always accurate for subluxations. Most of these tests are orthopedic medical doctor’s procedures and is not designed for assessing subluxations. Often times these exams are initially examined but it is not too often that the results are re-examined again. The results are not explained and do not correlate very well with the client’s problems. Many health insurances require the Chiropractors to do these tests for insurance to cover the chiropractic adjustments.
Computerized Neurological Examination:
There are many emerging assessment technologies for subluxations to make the chiropractic adjustments to be specific and have the better idea of the progress of the personal health. Subluxation Station from Chiropractic Leadership Alliance has been in the industry for more than 20 years. Most common assessment has been measuring heat patterns of the spinal areas called Spinal thermography. Subluxations have inflammation of the nerve and the spinal thermography detect areas of subluxations and the conditions and progress of each nerve. Another common assessment is measuring the state of muscle spasms with static electromyograph. Subluxations cause muscle spasms with imbalanced contraction of muscles. By using the static electromyographs we can see the how new or old the subluxations are. After a number of chiropractic adjustments, the muscle condition can show us how our body is adapting to our stressful environments. A recent technology has been used for assessing subluxation is electrocardiographs. This is measuring the variability of our heart rate to assess how our body is adapting to the environment. Our body is dynamic and constantly adapting to different environments. Electrocardiographs will help chiropractors to assess their chiropractic adjustments are getting rid of the subluxations and helping people to have their body to adapt to the environment.
Chiropractic Adjustment:
In the media, the chiropractic adjustment is often confused with twisting the neck or low back quickly and making a cracking noise that reduces the pain. First ever chiropractic adjustment was not as such. D.D. Palmer investigated the medical history of a partially deaf man, Harvey Lillard. Lillard informed Palmer that while working in a cramped area seventeen years earlier, he felt a ‘pop’ in his back, and had been nearly deaf ever since. Palmer’s examination found a sore lump which he believed was a spinal misalignment and a possible cause of Lillard’s poor hearing. Palmer claimed to have corrected the misalignment and that Lillard’s hearing improved. Two important things from this D. D. Palmer: Chiropractic was not discovered to help back pain, Chiropractic was discovered because chiropractic adjustment helped restored the function of the body.
Chiropractic adjustment and Osteopathic Manipulation Therapy
Often times Chiropractic adjustment is confused with osteopathic manipulation therapy. Chiropractic has always been about restoring spinal misalignment and correcting subluxation only. Osteopathic manipulation therapy is a broader spectrum of therapeutic options in addition to thrust techniques, among which are myofascial release, muscle energy, counterstrain, visceral manipulation, prescribe medication, and surgery.
Chiropractic Adjusting Devices vs. Chiropractic Manual Adjustments
Chiropractic adjustments have various techniques and some useful tools to adjust the spine. Traditionally, chiropractic adjustment was performed by hand only. In the latest century, there were many devices innovated to do the adjustment such as an activator, adjustor, and much more is out there. Many people prefer the chiropractic devices because they seem safer. Although, there are controversies whether the chiropractic devices help people. With Chiropractor’s adjusting manually by hand only, the experience is the best indicator of getting best results for clients with specific conditions. Younger the chiropractor doesn’t mean less experience because some people will practice and discipline themselves to learn how to sharpen their skills.
Specific Chiropractic Technique websites such as Gonstead Clinical Studies Society shows the Gonstead technique practitioners when they attended the last seminars and how many years they are in practice. This may not always be the best indicator of how much practice and skill a chiropractor has. If anyone is looking for a skilled chiropractor, please contact the office.contact our Edina chiropractor today.