Chiropractic Care: How Can We Help?

Have you ever thought about visiting a Chiropractor?

Have you ever wondered how a chiropractor may assist you with your injuries?

Are some of the treatment methods used by Chiropractors dangerous?

Is their fear in the back of your mind preventing you from seeing a chiropractor?

Let’s debunk some of these so we can get you in the treatment room and get you back to do doing what you love

So what is Chiropractic care?

Chiropractic care involves the evidence-based treatment and management of patients suffering with issues involving the neuro-musculoskeletal system, with a particular focus on the spine. Chiropractors focus on treatment that is drug-free, with an emphasis on manual treatments such as soft tissue massage, joint mobilisation, dry needling, cupping, and of course, joint manipulations.

We will do a deeper dive into Chiropractic adjustments in a future blog post although to address the obvious fear concerns some people have I will just say this … We didn’t complete a bachelors degree and a masters degree just to leave university and break spines. So let’s get into it!

Why do people still hold negative stereotypes about Chiropractic care?

Within the profession there are still a handful (I hope its only a handful) of Chiropractors that are dogmatists. What I mean by that is they won’t change their views on what chiropractic was built on, which was a subluxation model of care.

The subluxation model involves practitioners believing that the patients pain is coming from a bone that is “out of place” so we have to “adjust” the bone “back into place”. Sounds good on paper but sorry to burst your bubble, this just doesn’t happen.

We do hypothesise that when you adjust a particular joint that we have an effect on the nervous system such as possibly de-sensitising the area to pain, although this really only is a hypothesis. Back to the question though, it’s the dogmatic approach to Chiropractic care which gives the profession a bad name. Patients being booked in on treatment plans 2x a week for a lifetime, patients being told they need to be adjusted to cure all their health concerns, and all patients being treated with the same treatment approach even if they have completed different diagnoses.

Yes, these all kill the profession and make any normal person believe we just “crack spines” and take patients money. BUT the positive takeaway is that these practitioners are going extinct (thank god) as we are pushing the evidence-based approach to care which will ultimately ensure you guys are getting the best possible care (thank god x2)

How can we help you with your health concerns?

Im just going to rattle off some of the different ways a Chiropractor can get you back to living life pain-free.

• Perform a detailed initial consultation to figure out what is going on with the body and provide you with a diagnosis 
• Provide you with the latest evidence-based education on the particular diagnosis you have presented with 
• We will develop an action plan which will address your goals, and rehabilitation programs that will change at each stage of care 
• Rehabilitation plans will be tailored to your specific goals so we won’t get you doing exercises that have no relevance to your particular activity – this will make your rehab more enjoyable and fulfilling
• Use of manual therapies mentioned above to assist in reducing acute pain presentation which may allow you to get back to do doing what you love almost straight away 
• Using Chiropractic adjustments/joint manipulations to NOT break your back BUT to allow increased joint range of motion and a possible reduction in pain (can you tell I get mad when people say we break backs…)

You can probably tell I’m passionate about your health and health goals so I can get a little mad with how slack Chiropractors get BUT lets summarise the main takeaways about Chiropractic care.

• We provide you with the latest evidence-based approach to care 
• We provide you with the latest evidence-based rehabilitation programs to get you back to health and to prevent it from reoccurring in the future 
• We can treat conditions OTHER THAN THE SPINE; Yes you can come to me for your knee or elbow or hand or toe, literally anything musculoskeletal related we can treat. 

If I’ve missed any other questions you have about Chiropractors please don’t hesitate to reach out, I would love to chat

Written by Nick Dimakis (Chiropractor)