Chiropractic Care for Back Pain in St. Louis, MO
There are several different alternative means of pain treatments that can be found across the nation and a vast majority of people who seek one of them choose chiropractic care. There are over 22 million people that visit chiropractors each year to reap the many benefits that chiropractic care has to offer. It is an all-natural method of pain relief that has a proven track record of success. Of the many people that get chiropractic care each year almost 8 million (35%) are looking for relief from various types of back pain. This pain is the result of auto accidents, sports injuries and other stresses a person’s spine encounters every day. Chiropractors also treat such conditions as carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain and headaches.
What Is Chiropractic?
Doctors of Chiropractic use what is called hands on spinal manipulation among other highly successful alternative treatment methods. The purpose of hands-on spinal manipulation is to properly align the body’s musculoskeletal structure; the improper alignment of it is the source of back pain and many other pains felt in a person’s body. Once the spine is realigned it tends to relieve pain and speed up healing; all this is done without the use of invasive surgery or medicines with side effects.
Hands-on manipulation also has lots of other benefits for a body too. It can restore mobility to joints that have been affected by such things as a fall, repetitive stress movements or inflamed nerves.
The initials DC identify a “Doctor of Chiropractic” medicine. To receive a chiropractic care degree a person must have a valid four year degree at an accredited college and also attend four years in a specialized course at a chiropractic college. Among the curriculums that are studied are nutrition and overall body wellness. That is why chiropractic care can be an essential part of any overall wellness program that you decide to pursue.
It is an excellent alternative method of relief for such things as painful muscles, joints, bones and the many other soft tissues that can be found throughout the body. It very often is combined with conventional medical treatments or other alternative treatment methods to produce very favorable results with pain reduction and healing.
What Does Chiropractic for Back Pain Involve?
A chiropractor will use a three step method to determine an appropriate treatment for the pain you are experiencing.
This starts with an evaluation of your medical history. They will want to know when you first noticed the pain you are having and what were you doing at the time you first noticed it. They also will want to know things like what makes it better and what makes the pain worse.
They will also do a physical exam to gather further information about the source of your pain and they may even order some tests to be done that will guide them in establishing your optimal course of treatment.
Treatment usually involves several manual adjustments in which your chiropractor will manipulate your spine and joints by using a sudden and controlled force to help with improving your range of motion and the quality of that motion too. Most chiropractors also are very familiar with the proper exercises for rehabilitation and can give you useful insight on how to correct your posture too. The main goal of any chiropractic care is to help restore the full functioning of your musculoskeletal system by keeping it in proper alignment and pain free. Chiropractic treatment will also help prevent the reoccurrence of injury.
What Are the Benefits and Risks of Chiropractic Care?
There are few alternative treatment methods that are considered as safe as Chiropractic care. It is considered a very safe and very effective method for treating such things as lower back pain.
Research has also established that chiropractic methods are useful in treating both neck pain and headaches too. Sufferers of such ailments as fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis have responded well to chiropractic treatments also.
Treatments such as prolotherapy or sclerotherapy that are used by some medical doctors and some chiropractors to treat back pain have not been confirmed as to their effectiveness yet. Also people who suffer from spinal cord compression, take blood thinners or have inflammatory arthritis should not undergo treatments like spinal manipulation. Cancer patients should get clearance from their treating physician before undergoing any type of chiropractic treatment.
All chiropractic treatments are established by the accurate diagnosis of the back pain problem you are having. That is why you need to give your chiropractor as much information as possible to help them with an accurate diagnosis. Be honest with them about such things as your lifestyle, medications, surgeries and current medical conditions. In the rarest of incidences such things as herniated discs or slipped discs have actually worsened with chiropractic treatment. There have also been a few cases where neck manipulation actually caused a spinal cord injury.
