Types Of Chiropractic Care

Just as there are different reasons for visiting a chiropractor, there are different types of care. Which approach you take depends on what you're trying to achieve. You can visit a chiropractor when you have back or neck pain, but you can also visit a chiropractor to assist you in staying well. Chiropractors are concerned with the health of the whole body, not just the spine. In either case, chiropractic care can benefit you.

The chiropractor and patient decide on the type of care and method of treatment after discussing the patient's current health condition and future health goals.

There are three main kinds of chiropractic care:

Relief care is provided for acute pain and discomfort. The patient comes in for an ache or pain that does not have a chronic underlying cause. They are treated until they feel better and then they are released from care. This normally requires a very few visits.

Corrective care is commonly referred to as dentistry for the spine. Just like it takes many months for an orthodontist to effectivelly treat malpositioned teeth, it will take a similar time for the chiropractor to treat malpositioned vertebrae that have been displaced for a substantial length of time.

Maintenance care helps you retain the benefits you've achieved from the relief and corrective care. Continuing to work with your chiropractor and having periodic adjustments will assist you in living a healthy lifestyle.

You and your chiropractor can create a maintenance care plan that will include treatments and reevaluations at a mutually agreed upon frequency, specific self-help activities, and an exercise plan. As your life situation changes (for example, your job stresses) your treatment needs change and so will your care plan.

Our goals are to reduce your dependence on passive therapy and improve the overall quality of your life. Chiropractic care is a safe and natural way of assisting the body to heal with a belief in the fact that the body has its own restorative capabilities to heal and can draw on these capabilities whenever in need. Chiropractic helps patients to avoid chronic pain and can prevent physical problems before they start or get worse. Most patients find that once-a-month maintenance care is ideal.

Why doesn't one treatment fix me? Why do I have to come back again?

If the injury is new and connective tissue has been damaged, the joint will not function normally until the tissue has healed. Chiropractic care through this period will maintain maximum levels of joint function to allow the healing process to occur at maximum speed.
If the problem is an older, chronic one, other factors come into play. Connective tissue can become altered or shortened by constant contracture in response to the pain, possibly scarred by chronic inflammation, and possibly overstretched in adjacent areas due to altered joint movement mechanics (areas adjacent to non-moving areas move too much to compensate).
As new motion is introduced to the joint, tissues start to remodel back to normal and inflammation subsides and healing occurs. Whether chronic or acute, chiropractic care sets the optimal motion in the spinal joint until nature has done the healing.

What about chiropractic care for the elderly?

Seniors need chiropractic care on an ongoing basis. When you add the results of the advanced aging process to all the other problems that can occur in the spine, it can generally be said that elderly people have more chronic problems and need more chiropractic care.

What is bad posture and how do I get it? What does bad posture do to me?

Lazy postural muscles and bad habits in work or recreation are frequent culprits. Being overweight only compounds the problem. Sometimes a short leg, muscle imbalance, or other anatomical problem is the cause. Sometimes it's hereditary (ever notice how members of the same family can have the same health challenges?) and some times people are just born with weak body parts that need additional care. What harm can bad posture do? Obviously, it can detract from your appearance. It can increase the possibility of spinal joint malfunction and pain and can lead to early spinal arthritis. Poor posture can stress internal organs and weaken spinal areas due to having to compensate on a consistant basis.