Understanding the Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Your Health
Chiropractic care is a form of alternative medicine that focuses on diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal disorders. Chiropractors use manual adjustments to manipulate the spine, joints, and soft tissues to alleviate pain and improve overall function. This non-invasive approach aims to restore proper alignment, reduce inflammation, and promote the body's natural healing abilities.
5 PHASES OF CHIROPRACTIC CARE
PHASE 1 - PAIN RELIEF OR ACUTE CARE
Pain is your body's way of telling you "Hey, there is a problem here that I can't fix alone." I like to say pain is often the last thing to show up and the first thing to leave. What this means is that pain is a typically the result of an injury that has been happening for a while. If there is a fire in the house the alarm won't go off immediately. It takes a little while for the smoke to build up enough before the alarm detects it. When this type of patient presents to the office they are often limited in their activity, limited in their range of motion, and are experiencing pain daily. During this phase our goal is to determine the pain generator (nerve, muscle, bone, or joint) and reduce inflammation as effectively as possible. Sometimes this requires X-rays, Electric Muscle Stimulation, Ice, and a Chiropractic Adjustment. Relief can happen in a matter of days or weeks depending on the diagnosis and how long the pain has been present.
PHASE 2 - CORRECTIVE CARE
This phase is the first progression out of pain relief. Once the pain levels have decreased and the inflammation has gone down the real correction can begin. Oftentimes it is in this phase that we start to do more in the office. When we start to rehab, stabilize, and retrain the muscles and ligaments in your spine we can begin to correct persistent misalignments, muscle spasms, and imbalances that caused your injury in the first place. During corrective care our goals are to create balance which takes consistency and commitment but have major benefits.
PHASE 3 - SUPPORTIVE CARE
Supportive chiropractic care indicates that chiropractic care is being used to support a specific medical condition. For example, if someone has been diagnosed with a medical condition (ie: Fibromaglia) or perhaps has had spinal surgery in the past and they decide to use chiropractic care to support allopathic or traditional medical treatment for this specific condition. In this phase our goals are to improve their quality of life and keep inflammation as low as possible. Additionally, when chiropractic care is used in this way we keep other systems working optimally such as stress management, posture, sleep, digestion, etc. Supportive chiropractic care is commonly used as pain management along with other medical treatments.
PHASE 4 - MAINTENANCE CARE
This phase of care usually suggests that the patient has experienced relief from an old injury and wants to "maintain" the progress they have made. Maintenance care indicates their symptoms and pain have resolved and are able to return to normal activities but may experience flare ups from time to time. During maintenance care we can keep a close eye on problematic areas and address them sooner rather than later. Maintenance care looks different for each patient. Some may feel great for a week before they feel they need to come in or some may feel great for a month depending on your lifestyle, level of activity, and overall health goals.
PHASE 5 - WELLNESS CARE
Wellness care is the ultimate goal when you think about true health and chiropractic. It means that you are able to do the things you love, have zero to minimal limitations of activity, rarely get sick, average or above average range of motion, are sleeping well, maintain high energy levels, and and are just thriving overall! Wellness care usually means that a patient has decided to come in for a "tune-up" when they have zero symptoms. Chiropractic care is perfect in this phase because it KEEPS you healthy! At this stage you are being pro-active instead of re-active when it comes to your health!
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