What Does a Chiropractor Do?
When many people think of a chiropractor, the first thing that comes to mind is an adjustment. Adjustments are an important part of chiropractic care, but what a chiropractor does involves much more than simply “cracking” the back or neck.
Chiropractors evaluate how the spine, joints, muscles, and nervous system are functioning. The goal is to understand what may be contributing to a person’s symptoms, determine whether chiropractic care is appropriate, and develop an individualized approach to care.
It Starts With Listening
Before deciding what to treat, we first need to understand what is happening.
At Quality Care Chiropractic, we ask about your symptoms, when they began, what makes them better or worse, previous injuries or health concerns, and how the problem is affecting your life. Just as importantly, we want to know what you hope to accomplish.
For one person, the goal might be getting through a workday without low back pain. Someone else may want to turn their head comfortably while driving, sleep more comfortably, return to an activity they enjoy, or improve their balance and coordination.
Understanding both the problem and your goals helps guide the examination and any recommendations that follow.
Evaluating How Your Body Is Functioning
A chiropractic examination looks for more than the location of pain.
Depending on your symptoms and history, your chiropractor may evaluate joint movement, posture, muscle function, range of motion, balance, coordination, reflexes, sensation, strength, and other appropriate orthopedic or neurological findings.
This is important because where you feel a symptom is not always the same as where the contributing problem is located.
For example, irritation involving the low back may produce symptoms into the leg. A problem involving the neck or surrounding tissues may contribute to symptoms in the shoulder, arm, or hand. Headaches can also have multiple potential contributors.
The examination helps us determine which findings are relevant and whether chiropractic care is an appropriate option.
What Does a Chiropractic Adjustment Do?
A chiropractic adjustment applies a controlled force to a specific joint with the goal of improving its movement, function, and nerve communication.
Sometimes an adjustment produces a popping or cracking sound, and sometimes it does not. The sound itself is not the goal of treatment, and an adjustment does not have to make a noise to be effective.
Adjustments also do more than mechanically move a joint.
Your joints, muscles, and nervous system are continually communicating with one another. Movement provides sensory information that travels through the nerves to the spinal cord and brain. By changing joint movement and the sensory input coming from the area, a chiropractic adjustment also affects peripheral and central nervous system function.
That does not mean every adjustment produces a particular neurological or health outcome. Rather, it helps explain why joint movement, muscle activity, sensation, coordination, and nervous system function cannot always be viewed as completely separate systems.
Does a Chiropractor Need to Adjust Every Joint at Every Visit?
No. More adjustments do not necessarily mean better care.
The purpose of an examination is to determine which areas appear relevant to your particular problem. Some visits may involve only one or two adjustments. Other situations may call for treatment of several areas.
Likewise, your neck does not necessarily need to be adjusted simply because you are receiving chiropractic care.
At Quality Care Chiropractic, treatment is based on your examination findings, your individual needs, and how you respond to care—not on trying to adjust as many joints as possible.
Chiropractic Care Can Include More Than Adjustments
Although adjustments are strongly associated with chiropractic, they are not the only tools a chiropractor may use.
Depending on the patient and the chiropractor’s training and scope of practice, care may also incorporate soft-tissue techniques, stretching or therapeutic exercises, movement and coordination activities, balance or vestibular exercises, and other supportive approaches.
There are also different ways to perform an adjustment. Some techniques use a traditional hands-on approach, while others use instruments or gentler methods that require very little force.
This allows care to be adapted for different ages, body types, health histories, comfort levels, and clinical needs.
Chiropractic Care Should Be Individualized
Two people can walk into a chiropractic office with similar symptoms and still receive different care.
Why?
Because symptoms are only part of the picture. Their histories may be different. Their examination findings may be different. One may have had symptoms for two days and the other for two years. Their goals, health histories, tolerance for different techniques, and responses to treatment may also differ.
That is why we believe chiropractic care should follow a simple process:
Listen • Evaluate • Explain • Care
We listen to understand what you are experiencing, evaluate to look for contributing factors, explain what we find, and answer your questions. Then, when chiropractic care is appropriate, we provide care based on your individual needs.
Is Chiropractic Right for You?
Chiropractic care is not appropriate for every symptom or every person, and an examination is an important part of making that determination.
If pain, stiffness, headaches, balance or coordination concerns, difficulty sleeping comfortably, or other symptoms are interfering with your daily life, a chiropractic examination can help identify factors that may be contributing to what you are experiencing.
You can also read our FAQ, “Is Chiropractic Right for Me?”, to learn more about how we determine whether chiropractic care may be appropriate for your situation.
If you would like to find out whether chiropractic care may be right for you, call Quality Care Chiropractic or schedule an examination today.
