Is Chiropractic Care and Treatment for Everyone

Everyone is built different therefore what suits some people may not suit another.  Medical treatment of any type can affect people in different ways.  Let’s be honest, you would not go to a chiropractor for a broken leg or to have your appendix removed. Therefore we all need to visit different medical professionals for diverse complaints and injuries.

Some medical ailments can be helped with a variety of treatments, like acupuncture, natural remedies, chiropractors, surgeons and medical practitioners.

When it comes to back injuries, there are alternate ways to relieve the pain.  Each of the above can help in a variety of ways. The best way to avoid any type of pain is to prevent the injuries in the first place.  Therefore we all need to look after our spinal cord.

Back injuries can happen at any time. We can put our back or neck out from simply sneezing. Other spinal cord injuries could result from:

• Defects from birth
• Falls from a height or tripping over
• Sport injuries of any sort
• Medical conditions
• Traffic accidents

Any one of the above could damage your spine. Neck injuries and back injuries can also cause pain in many parts of the human body. It does not just affect the back itself. If your neck is out of alignment you may have headaches, migraines. You may be diagnosed as having tonsillitis or flaryngitis by your doctor, when in actual fact you may have something out in your neck. With manipulation from a chiropractor you will have no more trouble.

Treatment for the back may be done in a variety of ways:

• A physiotherapist will diagnose the pain, which could be joint, muscles, nerves and use a drug free therapy.
• Medical doctors, will often want to operate to rectify it. Often using a disk fusion method.
• Chiropractors use manipulation to realign the disk of the spine to free the nerves often trapped between the disk and vertebrae. All of these treatments can and often do help relieve the pain in a variety of different types of injuries. Often the manipulation can relieve the pain immediately after one treatment or take longer to settle down.

Spine Control

Our spine controls everything. All our movements are controlled by all the muscles and ligaments attached to our spine. All the individual vertebrae provide support for the spine and each disc that is connected in front of your spine helps to support it.

Pain usually happens when nerves become pinched between the disks, this may happen from a simple bout of coughing or moving too fast in an awkward position.

If you neglect an injury, and it goes untreated it could cause further damage. To give an example: If your leg aches you tend to take more weight on the other leg which in actual fact will put more pressure on that leg to ease the pain from the other one. By doing this you are causing more strain on the original back injury.

I know of an instance where someone fell out of a vehicle as a teenager and not been diagnosed correctly. When they suffered years later in life they found after having x-rays that in fact he had broken his neck. Yes it can happen. Some people learn to live with high pain levels and that is why it went undiagnosed.

 On arrival for your first visit at your Chiropractor you will be asked to fill out a form. After an examination he may order x-rays. On viewing these he will know exactly where the problem is.  Your treatment may require a simple manipulation of the disks in your neck, shoulder, back or hips.  This will depend on the type of misalignment.

This is not normally a painful experience.  Although you will need to relax, as if you stiffen up it will make it harder for the chiropractor to manipulate or ease it back into place.  You may need further treatment.  He will also advise you weather in your case to go home and have a warm bath to help after the first manipulation.

In my personal experience I have a problem of relaxing.  I think I am ok and then as soon as he touches me I tense straight up.  Nowadays the chiropractors use a spring loaded gadget which is terrific, as they just put is against the area needing attention and one click and no more problems,  it has enough pressure to put it back in place with no stress felt on my part any more.

Different injuries do require different methods.  Always weigh up your options. If you are not happy with the treatment you receive from your medical practitioner, specialist, physiotherapist or Chiropractor then seek a second opinion, or try a different type of treatment altogether.

My husband and I both swear by our chiropractor. My husband was told by specialists when he was twenty five that if he did not have an operation he would be in a wheelchair by the time he was forty.  He is nearly seventy now and still walking.  Oh yes he has good and bad days like anyone, but without the chiropractor treating him I would hate to know how he would be today. 

So is chiropractic care and treatment for everyone?  I honestly cannot answer that, as every accident and injury is different and needs to be treated individually and in accordance to that injury.

It is very important that we all take care of our spine and the condition of our bones. Many people like myself included do not realize the danger of low bone density. After several tests to find out what was causing some health problems I found out that I have low bone density. The doctor suggested that I take fosomax.

Anyone can go and have a bone density scan from your local xray and scan departments.

Evidently a lot of problems of low bone density are caused by lack of Vitamin D. So if you are over 40 I would suggest that you take a course of Vitamin D and spend at least 20 minutes a day in the sun.

No I do not mean stand out in the full heat of the day. It would be best to spend this time outdoors during the hours of 9-11am and 3-6pm which these times would be less damaging to your skin. Look after your bones and health by preventing osteoporosis.