Conditions We Can Help

How Do We Know Which Conditions Are Helped With Chiropractic Care? 

Chiropractic has been the "go to" therapy for many conditions over the years, starting with headaches, neck pain, and low back pain. Most research studies have focused on the benefits of chiropractic for lower back pain because this is a condition that is common and frequently leads to invasive procedures like injections and surgeries.

While we do treat primarily the spine and conditions related to the spine, many people are surprised to learn that we can adjust the extremities as well (arms, legs, ribs, and your jaw). Anywhere two bones connect, this is a joint and a joint can become misaligned. The spine is so important because not only are the joints involved, you have to consider the powerful impact of the spinal nerves and your nervous system.

Nerves control everything in your body and if they're not working their best, you can't either. That's why some of the things that are helped with chiropractic care can seem very confusing. While we do not specifically treat anything other than joints, muscles, and nerves, there is growing evidence to suggest chiropractic's role in treating a variety of conditions that don't immediately appear to be helped with spinal adjustments. 

Conditions Related To The Cervical Spine

Your cervical spine (the neck) is a very powerful area of the spine. The upper portion of your neck houses your brain stem, and some chiropractors focus exclusively on this area for that reason. Headaches are commonly cause by misalignments in the cervical spine, including tension headaches and migraines. 

The nerves that are in the cervical spine control your upper extremities (your arms). Shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, numbness, tingling, and radiculopathy are all commonly seen conditions by chiropractors. We will look to the area of pain first (like checking your shoulder when you have shoulder pain), but we will also check the nerves to see if the pain you're experiencing is actually referred pain from the nerves in your neck. 

Conditions Related To The Thoracic Spine

The thoracic spine is the portion of your spine that includes your upper back and mid back. Upper back pain, mid back pain, and pain between the shoulder blades are the most common reason why people visit our office for thoracic-related problems. These problems are usually directly related to posture and sitting at computers for extended periods of time. 

The thoracic spine can become stiff and rigid. This lack of movement eventually restricts range of motion and makes even basic daily tasks a lot more work. Lack of thoracic mobility can eventually compromise how you use your neck and your shoulders. While your pain may be in the other areas, the cause of the pain was the misalignments in the thoracic region. 

Conditions Related To The Lumbar Spine

Your lumbar spine is your lower back. Patients coming in with lower back problems may also be suffering with hip pain, SI joint pain, lumbar radiculopathy, spinal stenosis, bulging or herniated discs, facet joint pain, piriformis syndrome, or sciatica. They feel the pain as being in the "lower back" but getting specific as to which joint or muscle being involved helps us zero in on the area to treat. 

Low back pain affects 85 million Americans every year, but people still don't really know what to do about it. Sitting all day has increased the pressure on the discs and joints of the lumbar spine and can lead to a lot of conditions. While diagnosing the problem can happen very quickly following our initial problem, the results will be based on your consistency with treatment and following through with home care recommendations. 

Since you usually can't stop doing your normal daily activities (like sitting), following through on recommendations will go a long way in making sure your problem doesn't continue to get worse and require increasingly more invasive therapies and treatments. 

Conditions Related To The Extremities

The extremities are all joints that are not related to the spine. This includes your arms, legs, ribs, and your jaw joint (TMJ). These areas often will require some muscle work and exercises, because the joints aren't quite the same as the joints of the spine. You may also need kinesiotaping or some of our additional therapies (like PEMF therapy) to get the results you're after. 

If you're not sure if we can help you, your best option is to schedule a no charge, no obligation initial consultation with our office. We'll sit down and discuss your health concerns and how we might be able to help. If you choose, we will move on to an examination and take any necessary x-rays at that time. The examination is key, but the x-rays will give us the chance to rule out anything more serious and to take the measurements we need to perform adjustments properly. Not all conditions will require x-rays, this will be done on a case-by-case basis.