How Do Chiropractors Treat Back Pain?

March 17, 2021

At some point or the other, you either experience back pain or know someone who gets it. Whether it is a one-time thing, a persistent pain, a sudden onset, or gradual development, back pain is often uncomfortable. In many cases, it may be due to a considerable strain on the back, bad posture, or staying in an unnatural posture for long. In many cases, this pain is easily treatable and manageable without taking any drugs or surgical treatment.

Chiropractors

The individuals who are responsible for the management of pain in clinical settings are known as chiropractors. A chiropractor is a person who has gone through training and certification, enabling them to diagnose, treat, and prevent any ailments that may affect nerves, muscles, and joints. Even though they have the training to treat many conditions, chiropractors are usually synonymous with treating spine and back problems.

Roles of a Chiropractor

Other conditions apart from back pain that a chiropractor might help you with include:

Knee joint pain, for instance, in the case of osteoarthritis
Neck pain or stiffness
Shoulder injury or pain
Elbow pain
Hip pain and injuries
Muscular spasms
Body tension
Injuries from sporting activities
Sciatica
Plantar fasciitis

Types of Back Pain

There are many types of back pain, most of them dependent on manifestation, causes, and description or intensity. For example, pain can be acute or chronic, depending on the duration of pain. Alternatively, back pain can be classified into simple or mechanical, depending on underlying causes. Back pain description means that the pain can said to be:

Radicular – Usually a searing pain, this type of pain can be due to the nerve roots\’ compression or inflammation in the spine\’s lumbar region. An example of this pain is sciatica.
Axial – This type of pain is localized, meaning that it is felt within a confined region and can be sharp, dull, throbbing, or continuous. For example, muscle strains or tears belong to this class.
Referred – Unlike the axial variant, this pain moves around and often changes in intensity. For example, when a person has spinal disc degeneration, they can feel the pain in the hips.

Back pain can also fit in categories depending on the symptomatic manifestations. These classifications are:

Acute pain – The symptoms last no more than six weeks
Subacute pain – Symptoms last 6 to 12 weeks
Chronic pain – symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks
Recurrent pain – The pain is not constant; it returns at sporadic intervals, usually after exposure to circumstances that may exacerbate the pain.

When to See a Chiropractor for Your Back Pain?

It is advisable to try a chiropractor\’s services for your back pain before treatment with drugs or surgical intervention. Suppose you have back pain that you cannot explain or some of the possible conditions above. In that case, you can go and see a chiropractor without needing any referral by another medical professional. There were 3,299 registered chiropractors in the UK as of 2019, meaning you are more than likely to find competent service near you.

How Will a Chiropractor Treat Your Back Pain?

There are many techniques that a chiropractor might use to treat your back pain. Chiropractors mainly work with their hands without needing any particular instruments, save for a few cases. Some of the popular techniques include:

Mobilisation
Manipulation of the spine
Muscle tissue therapy
Manual traction of the spine
Physiotherapy
Acupuncture

Mobilisation

This approach utilises maximising the range of motion of the muscles and joints in the back. By slowly moving around the back muscles and spinal joints, the chiropractor can restore a degree of normalcy to the back and alleviate any pain that may have come with the condition.

Manual Traction of the Spine

This approach is suitable for those who are willing to alleviate pain and reduce subsequent injury chances. A chiropractor will guide you on the best exercises to try as well as the best postures. Being familiar with back pain causes makes chiropractors the best at recommending the best therapeutic courses depending on the pain and its underlying causes.

Manipulation of the Spine

This process seeks to alleviate back pain by using rapid arm thrusts by reducing nerve irritation, increasing the muscles\’ functionality, and restoring a degree of movement on the vertebra.

This treatment method can also go by the term chiropractic adjustment because it is essentially an effort to restore or bring about the spine\’s normal functioning. The normal here refers to the normal alignment of the spine, in which it eases the pain and pressure on the nerves, which relieves pain.

Muscle Tissue Therapy

In some cases, back pain results from either tension or injury to the tissues and muscles of the back. In this case, a massage is just as effective as any other treatment options available. Chiropractic massages work to either increase the muscles\’ blood flow or flexibility, both of which ease and hasten the therapeutic process. This technique is most useful for axial pain but may prove effective for other types of muscular pain.

Physical Therapy

Even though physical therapy may be the preserve of physical therapists, a chiropractor gives you a better assessment and recommends a course of action that best fits your case. A chiropractor is likely to recommend an exercise that ignites your muscle memory and provides the most natural pain relief or alleviation approach. Whether you intend to correct your posture, relax, or regain muscle strength, a chiropractor will likely provide you with all the relevant and necessary guidelines.

Medical Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a technique where the chiropractor or acupuncturist inserts tiny needles at specific points where the muscle or tissue has a connection with another part of the body. This technique is proper, where the pressure of chiropractic realignment is too much or cannot solve the problem. Like all the adjustment techniques above, this method makes the brain focus on the pain, which is a relief.

Lifestyle Changes

Depending on the degree of injury or path to recovery, a chiropractor might recommend some lifestyle changes to ease your treatment. Some of the recommendations may include:

Changing your diet
Dietary supplements
Electric shock therapy
Hot or cold packs
Physical exercises

Are Chiropractors Actual Experts?

A chiropractor has to go through four years of undergraduate study or get a postgraduate qualification and certification by the UK\’s General Chiropractic Council. As far as your chiropractic needs, there is a guarantee that the chiropractor you go to knows all ways to help you on your road to recovery.

All Chiropractors at Thrive Chiropractic & Health Clinic are registered and regulated by the General Chiropractic Council which assures the highest standards of education, patient safety and professional conduct are met.

Choosing a Chiropractor

Sometimes, you may find yourself wondering whether or not you need a chiropractor. In that case, you could find people to refer you to a chiropractor and narrate their experience and how they have found it helpful. It is a good idea to confirm whether your insurance covers chiropractic services or requires a doctor\’s referral. If you find yourself doubting their credentials, you could ask to see your chiropractor\’s qualifications.

What Does a Visit to a Chiropractor Entail?

A chiropractor visit is similar to any clinical visit, and you should not expect any significant variations in the same. At the chiropractor\’s, you can expect them to:

Take your history while adhering to doctor-patient confidentiality requirements.
Carry out a physical assessment to try and identify the cause of your problem
Carry out any further tests that may help shed more light on an affliction, such as X-rays and blood analysis, all for reasons that they have to explain
Make a diagnosis, clarify the problem, and state whether they can provide any help or treatment
Start treatment, subject to consent if you like the care proposal they present to you

Does the Treatment Hurt?

For the most part, chiropractic procedures are safe and non-injurious to you. However, there is a possibility that you may be sore from some of the manipulations or from the needles they use in medical acupuncture. In either case, the pain is relatively mild and dissipates within minutes or hours after the treatment.

Frequency of Chiropractor Visits

The number of times you visit your chiropractor is usually a factor of the seriousness of the illness. For acute injuries or conditions, a high frequency is more helpful, while one or two visits per week are otherwise fine. As the recovery increases, fewer and fewer visits follow. In most cases, there is complete recovery save for a few random subjects.

Chiropractic care is as effective as surgical and medicinal interventions, with markedly fewer side effects. The key to appreciating this treatment process is understanding that pain may not necessarily have any visible causes. Your back pain may not go away immediately, but with exemplary patience, your chiropractor will find a working solution.

Back pain or any other kind of services from a chiropractor often require more than a single visit. It is easier to go through the process if you find a chiropractor you can work efficiently with and have a good rapport with because they are a part of your journey. A good chiropractic match not only helps you cope better but also speeds up your return to total health.

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How Do Chiropractors Treat Back Pain?