Have you ever scheduled a visit with a chiropractor and not been entirely sure what types of treatments you will receive? The options can be overwhelming and with all these differences, how do you find the office that is the best fit to help your needs? This blog will be a two-part series that will give you a short summary of your options so you can truly optimize your care.
Let us begin the first part of the blog with short descriptions of some of the common services offered in a Chiropractic office and how these services can help relieve your symptoms.
- Acupuncture or Dry Needling
- Acupuncture is a technique involving small painless needles being placed in certain points of the body
- Decreases inflammation
- Decreases muscle spasms
- Decreases pain
- Activator
- A handheld device that gives a very light set push into a joint
- Great for infants, children, and people who cannot receive a deeper stretch, such as the elderly
- Adjustment
- Chiropractic adjustments consist of a stretch with a quick and comfortable impulse
- Adjustments are administered to your spine and extremities
- Increases motion
- Decreases inflammation
- Decreases pain
- Arthostim
- This is very similar to the Activator
- This is a machine that gives a set impulse
- Multiple attachment heads
- Corrective and Rehabilitation Exercises
- These forms of exercises are geared towards aiding you out of pain in a safe and effective manner
- Changes the improper movement patterns that play a role in your reoccurring pain.
- This is done so you will be able to transition to performing pain-free daily life activities, functional exercises, and sports
- Dry Cupping
- A technique that uses suction cups over damaged areas of the body
- This is done to aid the healing process by increasing blood flow
- Functional Medicine
- Nutrition used in a manner similar to prescription medications
- Used to treat disease and achieve optimum health
- Functional Training
- Functional training combines exercises from the gym, circuit training, corrective training, and rehabilitation
- This is done to train your proper movement patterns that re-enforce pain-free activities of daily living and sport
- Machine Massagers
- The G5 K3 machine combines a gentle massage with a vibrational component The vibrational massage machine stimulates blood flow, relaxes the muscles, and more importantly, it helps our patients feel fantastic
- Soft Tissue Work AKA Manual Therapy
- Manual therapy is a specialized form of massage that uses the hands or tools to treat areas that are stuck in a flexed state (these are commonly called knots)
- These techniques can help damaged tissues heal properly
- Decreases the overall time needed to heal from sprain/strain injuries
- Therapies done with the hands include:
- Myofascial Trigger Point
- When a thumb, elbow, or other object is pressed lightly into a muscle known to cause pain
- These muscles can even cause nerve pain down the extremities
- The pressing makes the pain go away by stopping the flexed state of the muscle
- Our way of telling your muscles “hey hey, relax”
- Active Release Therapy
- When a thumb, elbow, or other object is pressed lightly into a muscle known to cause pain
- Specific movement is done to help get the muscle to relax
- Increases the range of movement as well
- PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Rehabilitation)
- Stretching of a specific muscle that is directly or indirectly causing your pain
- While stretching, the doctor has the patient give a small muscle contraction
- This tricks the nervous system and increases the range of motion
- Think about this like putting the muscle into a tap-out state where it gives up
- Myofascial Trigger Point
- Therapies done with the hands include:
- Therapies done with tools
- The tools will give you the same benefits as above
- These tools also hit the reset button on the healing process
- Graston
- FAKTR
- Incorporates movement as well as restore your optimal range of motion
- Therapeutic Modalities
- Therapeutic modalities aid people through the initial phase of injury before rehabilitation and mobilizations can be performed
- Common modalities used:
- TENS unit machines or electrical muscle stimulation
- A form of electrotherapy, feels like a comfortable tingly massage that will:
- Reduce pain
- Decrease muscle spasms
- Decrease swelling
- A form of electrotherapy, feels like a comfortable tingly massage that will:
- Flex-Distraction Technique
- Patients will lie face-down on a mechanical table which will gently move them into a flexed position to help decrease pain, muscle spasms, and inflammation.
- Spinal distraction traction machines
- Segmental roller traction machines
- TENS unit machines or electrical muscle stimulation
- Common modalities used:
- Therapeutic modalities aid people through the initial phase of injury before rehabilitation and mobilizations can be performed
- Ice
- Ice is no longer a gold standard for new injuries and is used for conditions with excessive swelling
- Heat
- Heat is used to increase blood flow to restart the healing process in areas of the body that have been stuck in pain for a long time
Stay tuned for next week when we will take what we have discussed in this blog and apply it to choosing the right office for your needs.
In the meantime, feel free to look at the services we offer At Chiro MSK Specailists. We have an extremely wide array of Chiropractic services for you to help you get on the fast track to recovery.
You can see a complete list of our services here.
We appreciate your continued interest in our blog. You can subscribe below so you can be notified when part 2 of this blog is up. The next blog will complete the information you need to feel like a more empowered consumer.
