What is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractic Practitioners, known as chiropractors use a hands-on method of spinal manipulation, which involves a sudden application of controlled force to a spinal joint. This is done to improve the range and quality of motion in the treated area. Chiropractors also use other methods of treatment such as heat and cold, electric stimulation, strength training and traction. Some surgically trained chiropractors will from time to time, depending on the patient’s case perform minor surgery.

Chiropractors believe that disruptions in the structure of the spine make the body ill or susceptible to illness. Since the body has a great capacity to heal itself, they believe that their job is to remove the cause of the illness or vulnerability from which the illness appeared. The body will then be able to heal itself.

Chiropractors normally do not use drugs, seeing this as the domain of conventional medicine.

Historically, chiropractic care has been practiced since the times of Hippocrates in ancient Greece. Modern Chiropractic care was developed by DD Palmer. Palmer’s first patient was reportedly a deaf janitor, whose hearing Palmer restored through chiropractic manipulation. Palmer developed a doctrine of vertebral subluxation – a misalignment in the spine, which interfered with the natural healing ability of the body. By correcting subluxation, a chiropractor activated the healing ability and set the patient on the way to recovery. Few chiropractors now uphold this doctrine in its initial form as new theories, explaining the effectiveness of chiropractic have been put forward

People mostly turn to chiropractic care for treatment of chronic lower back pain as Chiropractors have had the most success in treating this condition. Other ailments for which people tend to rely on chiropractors are neck pain, headaches, sports injuries, strains, and, more rarely, arthritis.

Chiropractic care is generally safe if administered by a professional. It is good advice, however to consult with one’s conventional doctor before going to an appointment with a chiropractor. Extremely rare but serious complications were strokes in cases of neck  and shoulder level manipulations (there are no exact statistics on this risk, but it is estimated at somewhere between one in 40 000 and one in 10 million manipulations) and cauda equine syndrome (Characterized by leg weakness, loss of sexual and/or bowel and bladder functions, changes of sensation around the rectum or genitalia.) from lower back manipulation (about one in 40 million manipulations). In 1993, a professional review recommended that neck and cervical manipulation not be conducted with children.
These risks taken into account, it is also known that many people report disappearance of such conditions as lower back pain after being treated by a chiropractor. The chiropractic field is also constantly improving its standards of diagnosis and treatment, ensuring that professionally trained chiropractors are reliable and competent specialists in their area.