Over the years, I have been asked many
questions about chiropractic and have heard patients describe their complaints
and symptoms in interesting ways. While
some of these inquiries or descriptors are quite unique and create an
"inner" smile as I hear them, many of them are very common and recur
frequently. However, they often contain
wording that is misleading or create mental images that are not very
accurate. I will attempt to clarify a
number of them below.
#1 - I
threw my back "out" or I'm "out of alignment". These are two of the most frequent statements
I hear when someone is in pain or their spine just doesn't feel right. However, the spinal joints are not actually
"out" which would strictly mean they're dislocated, with associated
ligament and other soft tissue damage.
If that were the case, the pain and/or movement difficulty would likely
be exponentially more and you wouldn't be in my office but at the
hospital. The mechanism to cause such an
injury would be severe, such as a motor vehicle accident or fall, which is not the
situation with most cases of spinal pain.
Instead, it is more likely that other tissue changes have occurred, such
as stiff muscles, inter-vertebral disc pressure imbalances, or an inflamed
joint, that are causing you symptoms and/or to move differently. Our bodies often then compensate to unload
painful structures making you feel "crooked". This is important to understand so treatment
expectations are realistic as it's not just a matter of putting a joint back
"in". Trust me, I wish it were
that easy!
#2 -
"Once I start seeing a chiropractor do I have to keep going
back?" This is a frequent belief that people have and
one that often prevents some from consulting with a chiropractor in the first
place, as they're not prepared to begin their lifelong chiropractic
routine. There is no truth to this
however. After the initial assessment a
diagnosis will be made and then a treatment plan should be determined in
collaboration with the patient.
Typically, if someone will respond well to treatment they respond early
on, without absolutely needing months and/or years of treatment on a very
frequent basis. Some patients do elect
for "maintenance" or "supportive" care however, once the
initial pain level has largely improved, as they note they feel better with
treatment. Often, the many activities we
do on a daily basis are contributing factors to becoming "tight" in either
our neck or back, and play a role in recurring episodes of pain and
stiffness. Having that tension addressed
periodically, with once per month being a frequent schedule, is reasonable and
aimed at preventing a flare-up.
#3 - "I'm
in so much pain I think I need an x-ray".
I can understand why someone might come to the conclusion that the amount
of pain they're experiencing reflects the degree of injury that may have
occurred, but that is most often not the case.
Often, there is no traumatic mechanism to suggest a fracture, no
indication of infection, no symptoms associated with a more serious illness,
such as cancer, and no other indications.
Therefore, there is nothing obvious to rule out, which an x-ray would
serve to do. Pain is a complex
neuro-physiological process that is not solely dependent on tissue damage. It is not uncommon to see a client in extreme
pain get rapidly better, exceeding the healing rate of any known condition,
which supports the notion that there's more to the pain story than just an
injured body part.
This
article is for general information purposes only and is not to be taken as professional
medical advice.
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