If you’re suffering from back or neck pain, your first reaction should not be to grab the aspirin. Instead, see a chiropractor for gentle manipulations that can help relieve pain, decrease dependence on prescription medication, improve posture, and even reduce the frequency of headaches and migraines.
To identify the cause of your problems, a chiropractor will do a physical examination and could recommend imaging or lab work. The chiropractor will create a treatment strategy when a diagnosis has been determined.
Spinal Adjustments
Using spinal manipulation, chiropractors use hands-on treatment to realign the spine and other body parts. Pain management with a chiropractor reduces pain, improves mobility, and boosts overall wellness.
Pain management is a top reason many people visit a chiropractor. But they also manage issues like fibromyalgia and chronic headaches. They help patients find ways to live with these problems without prescription medication.
One chiropractic adjustment is as effective in lowering blood pressure as two medications. They can also treat conditions like vertigo that results from a misaligned cervical spine and boost immune system function. They can help with digestive issues, too, such as acid reflux, and offer relief from cervicogenic headaches or migraines. In addition, a chiropractor can use soft tissue treatments such as trigger point therapy and myofascial release.
Massage
Using various techniques, massage breaks up muscle knots, increases flexibility, and can help to relieve stress and tension. It also helps to break the pain cycle. This is a vicious cycle where pain activates the muscles and causes them to tighten up, which inhibits movement and decreases blood flow. Over time this can lead to poor biomechanics, which triggers more pain, and the cycle continues.
Massage breaks the cycle by improving your range of motion, boosting oxygen levels, and activating those same feel-good endorphins you get after working out. It also encourages blood flow, helping the body circulate the “good stuff” while eliminating waste, toxins, and carbon dioxide.
Electrical Currents
Chiropractors ensure the musculoskeletal system is properly aligned, increasing blood flow and nerve conductivity. They also use spinal manipulations to relieve pain in joints and muscles.
During spinal manipulation, a chiropractor uses their hands to apply controlled force to a joint that has become restricted in movement because of an injury. The patient may hear a popping sound during this process, but it’s nothing to worry about—it’s similar to the pop you might get when cracking your knuckles.
Additionally, a chiropractor educates patients on good posture, ergonomics, exercise, and wellness-enhancing behaviors. They also offer dietary recommendations and vitamin supplements for recovery and pain management. Many patients discover that frequent chiropractic visits enable them to manage chronic pain without using drugs.
Fitness Coaching
The aches and pains that accompany chronic pain can have a psychological impact on those suffering from it. It can cause a negative focus on their life, leading to isolation and lack of interaction with friends and family.
Regular exercise improves pain tolerance and increases strength. It also decreases reliance on pain medication and helps prevent muscle atrophy caused by long periods of inactivity.
As a health and fitness professional, you can increase your client base by working with people who need help managing their pain. As a pain management expert, it’s your job to get your clients moving by explaining that acute pain is a faulty alarm system and they should not fear exercise. Exercise modalities like MAT, walking/cycling, and water aerobics are good choices as they can target specific imbalances and conditions contributing to chronic pain.
Nutritional Advice
Giving patients receiving chiropractic therapy nutritional counseling is a typical way to guide and educate them about the advantages of adopting good eating habits. The amount of nutritional management chiropractors use in their practices varies.
Some chiropractors use a method called Contact Reflex Analysis (CRA). This system claims it can tell “in what ways your body chemistry tends to slip off balance” and reveal dietary modifications and nutritional supplements needed to restore the balance.
A diet high in whole foods and dietary supplements is more frequently advised by chiropractors who provide nutritional guidance than those who do not. They are also more likely to suggest a trained nutritionist to their patients. This is a trend that should be supported since it’s positive.
