Chiropractic Treatment

Chiropractic

As chiropractors we specialise in the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical pain pain that is non surgical, non malignant back pain.  The first job is to determine that you have mechanical back pain which is usually a matter of consultation, it is very common, about 97% of all back pain.

We would then do an examination to determine which structures are involved, explain it to you and propose a treatment.  It is highly likely this will include advice and self help although that will depend on the problem.

Understanding

We are easy to talk to and feel it is very important that you understand what is going on.  That sounds caring but it makes a great deal of difference to the outcome of any care you receive, according to research making you feel that you control your problem makes you four times more likely to recover than if you do not feel you control your problem.  Putting you in control is part of the Spine Team’s philosophy.

Treatment

Chiropractic treatment is correctly understood to be based on spinal manipulation.  The point of spinal manipulation is to free the muscular reaction around tight joints, these joints become tight as a reaction to previous overload or expected overload.  So you can see that the problem can be new or can be a learnt behaviour due to repetitive overuse.

Spinal Manipulation

The spinal manipulation itself requires the tight muscles around the joint to be suddenly stretched, a bit like stretching out a cramp, this causes a sudden release of the ‘protective’ but not helpful tension and the joint is decompressed, its range of motion should then increase and the symptoms start to ease.  Quite often there is a delay in the improvement as swelling needs to reduce and as an irritation remains one treatment is not usually enough.

Spinal Manipulation itself is not usually painful but is sometimes delivered to very sore areas and therefore can be sore to have done, we manage this very carefully wherever indicated.  There is often a ‘click’, or more accurately a ‘pop’, when a spinal manipulation is done, this is caused by a sudden pressure change as the joint, the stretch increases the volume and then suddenly drops back to normal there is an energy release given off as heat and sound, think opening a bottle of Champagne!

Recovery

The length of time that a problem needs to recover will vary from one person to another and can be affected by the duration of the complaint, the history of previous similar problems and the context in which the problem is suffered.  Understanding and managing these variables is part of the Spine Team’s philosophy.

The main advantage and the main disadvantage of Spinal Manipulation is that it often is administered to the site of the pain, this means it can be a little sore for the 24 hours after treatment and may on odd occasions take up to three days to settle depending on the patient and type of problem.  Treatment programmes tend therefore to be structured with a few recovery days between visits.  This post treatment tenderness is carefully managed by our practitioners but if you feel you are more sore than expected please call us.

But don’t forget

Chiropractic treatment is not just ‘manipulation’ and it would be a mistake to think it is.  At the Spine Team great importance is placed on the ‘context’ in which treatment is given, that ‘context’ relates to all aspects of you and your life and fully understanding those variables makes quite a difference to the outcome of your care, particularly in those patients who have suffered for a while without relief or who have had repeated episodes.