Today we’re going to start our Monday Myths series here at St. John’s Chiropractic and Performance. Where we are going to discuss and break down common myths in the chiropractic or health industry.
When we break these myths down, we want to then replace them with an even better truth – a more positive truth. The first one that we’ll discuss is that chiropractors only adjust their patients.
When you walk in a chiropractor’s office, it’s easy to have the misconception that you’re just going to get adjusted. Even though chiropractors are very good with their hands, their manual skills, their adjusting skills (spinal manipulation); they often have many more skills and many more tools in their tool belt that they can offer their patients.
Chiropractors not only have a broad license, but they also have a broad legal scope, and they receive training in chiropractic school to do many other treatments besides manipulation. And besides that, they are also diagnosticians. So Doctors of Chiropractic can diagnose pretty much any sort of joint pain, muscle ache, tendonitis, or other soft tissue structure in the musculoskeletal system.
Diagnosis & Treatment
Most just think of chiropractors when it comes to low back pain or neck pain. While chiropractic physicians can certainly diagnose many spine related complaints including sciatica, disc bulges, disc herniation, torticollis, radiculopathy, stenosis; chiropractors can diagnose and treat many non-spine related conditions. This includes shoulder pain, elbow pain, knee pain, foot pain, jaw pain, rotator cuff strains, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, TMJD (temporomandibular joint disorder), headaches and much more. After the diagnosis, they can give a variety of different treatments besides adjustments.
Starting with soft tissue treatments, they can do therapies like massage, pin and stretch techniques, active release, cupping, sports taping, Kinesio taping, dry needling, and acupuncture. All of those are well within the scope of any chiropractor, especially a sports chiropractor.
Besides that, they can do nutritional therapies, they can order blood work, can look at your diet and map out a plan with you. Many family chiropractors do weight loss interventions, they can recommend supplements and do lifestyle modifications, as well, to help you with your complaint and get you living an even healthier life.
In terms of rehabilitation, chiropractors often do specific rehab exercises, following your injury or your pain to help strengthen and mobilize the area. Their expertise in anatomy and movement allows them to have great knowledge in how stretching and other exercises can aid your condition. The best chiropractor gives at-home exercise programs as well. This not only helps get you out of pain but helps keep the pain away.
Multi-Modal Approach
As you can see, chiropractors can do a lot besides adjust and the elite chiropractors will use many of these different tools in the same patient case. The best chiropractor near you will use what is referred to as a multi-modal approach. During a patient case using the multi-modal approach, the chiropractic physician will diagnose you properly and figure out what the best treatment would be you.
Then they would likely use a combination of adjustments, mobilization, exercises, stretching, and nutritional therapy – they combine the best treatments to give you (the patient) the best care and best results possible. So each treatment would look a little bit different for every patient because every patient has different needs.
Chiropractors are not just adjusters, they have the potential to be your musculoskeletal primary care provider and your holistic health guide that leads you to a lifestyle that is pain-free, active, and accomplishing your health goals. That’s our Monday Myth for the week. We hope you enjoyed our first one. Now that you know chiropractors can do much more than adjust, go tell a friend.
