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Are They Trained Differently
Both Physiotherapy and chiropractic are university based full time degrees. Chiropractic is a five-year full time degree while Physiotherapy is a four-year full time degree. Chiropractors and Physiotherapists are both trained in the orthopaedic, neurological and functional assessment of the spine.
Chiropractic training focuses specifically on spinal structure, function and control. They learn a wide range of specific spinal techniques, ranging from those that involve manipulation to localisation and soft tissue techniques. They are also taught how to exercises to improve movement and increase strength.
Physiotherapists are trained in spinal assessment and treatment. They tend to focus on stretching, exercises and soft tissue techniques to improve mobility and strength.
Physiotherapists do not receive the same degree of training in spinal manipulation as Chiropractors. Physiotherapists training has a much wider scope of training than the chiropractic degree. While they are mostly known for their treatment of sporting injuries, such as joint sprains and muscle tears, physios also work extensively with people recovering from stroke, womens health issues, post-surgical rehabilitation and diseases such as osteoporosis, cystic fibrosis or multiple sclerosis.
Types Of Lower Back Strain
Muscle strain and lumbar strain are the two most common types of lower back strain. Muscle strain is commonly known as a pulled muscle. When the lower back muscles are torn or stretched too far it causes severe lower back pain. As with a muscle strain, if the ligaments, which are very tough and fibrous and connect the bones together, are torn or stretched too far, they are referred to as lumbar strain.
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When You Might Need Pt
So when is a good time to visit a physical therapist and engage in a course of rehab? If you are feeling pain that limits your ability to walk, sit, or engage in your normal work or recreational activities, then you may benefit from working with a physical therapist. A home therapist may visit you in your house if you are unable to leave it due to your injury.
Likewise, if you have had surgery and are not moving well, working with a physical therapist may be a good idea. Your therapist can help you regain full mobility and help you return to your previous level of activity.
Family And General Practitioners
When your neck or back pain first starts, your family healthcare provider, general practitioner , or primary care physician is probably your best bet. They may prescribe some painkillers, give you a few exercises to do, and possibly send you to a physical therapist.
If your healthcare provider deems your problem a serious one, they will likely order diagnostic tests and/or refer you on to a specialist such as a rheumatologist or a neurologist. But family healthcare providers can be slow to include new back treatments as they come out.
According to a 2006 study published in Spine Journal. Other than taking your medical history and giving you a physical exam, which are two staples of spine diagnosis, the study found that even as new recommendations were published by leading medical organizations, healthcare providers did not adopt them into their practices.
Because of this, taking a pro-active approach when shopping for spine care may be helpful to you. One way to do this is to research possible diagnostic and treatment options before seeking the healthcare provider. Asking pointed questions while you’re at your appointment is another way.
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And What About A Massage Therapist
If the root of your pain is muscular in nature, like a muscle spasm, an overworked muscle, or similar problem, then your issue can be helped by massage therapy. The therapist will loosen your muscles and increase the blood flow. The increased blood flow helps heal them faster, and the loosening can stop a muscle spam practically in its tracks.
Avoiding Back Pain After A Chiropractor Visit With Customized Care
One of the best ways to prevent your back pain from getting worse after a chiropractic adjustment is to ensure that youre seeing medical providers who will take the time to understand your needs and build a personalized treatment plan.
Too often patients receive a one-size-fits-all treatment which can result in undue back soreness and pain following treatment.
You wont have to worry about that, however, at White Pine Health.
We personalize all our treatment plans to fit your specific needs. This ensures that your treatment will minimize post-adjustment soreness and pain while providing long-term pain relief.
We offer a full range of physiotherapy, massage therapy, and athletic therapy in addition to chiropractic services, ensuring that youre benefitting from a full spectrum of medical professionals.
White Pine Health offers virtual physiotherapy sessions, giving you access to health-improving physiotherapy care right from home. Contact us to book a free 20-minute video session today.
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Pain That Extends Beyond The Back
If your pain is so severe that it extends down from the lower back into one or both legs, this is a potential sign of serious spinal damage. Specifically, it can indicate the presence of a damaged disc. This can occur because of an injury or may occur naturally with aging, but either way, it’s a problem that requires treatment.
Other Treatment Hasnt Worked
You may need to visit a chiropractor if no other treatment has worked for your lower back pain. Whether it be massage therapy, heat therapy, or any other type of treatment, you have found no relief. A chiropractor will develop a specific treatment plan on a case-by-case basis and include a comprehensive and holistic approach to treating your back pain.
Pain is usually an indication of inflammation thats going on inside the body which can be caused by joint, muscular, nerve dysfunction or misalignment. Lower back pain, specifically, can be caused by a variety of factors including improper lifting, poor posture, and poor fitness levels. While lower back pain rarely indicates something is serious, people should seek out treatment well before the lower back pain gets worse.
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Is It Good To See A Chiropractor For Lower Back Pain
Chiropractic care can alleviate tightness and sharp pain caused by spinal misalignment. Massage alone cant remedy this issue, so taking it to a chiropractor is imperative. It is common for a chiropractor to relieve specified conditions involving disfigured tissue, and many patients have pronounced it to be the quickest and most convenient path.
What Is Back Pain
Back pain is one of the most common conditions people experience in Australia and its the reason many workers take sick days. In fact, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, one in six people suffer from chronic back pain every year.
If you have back pain, youre likely to be feeling stiff, achy or tension in your back. It could be caused by simply bending down in the wrong direction, lifting something heavy, an accident or a sporting injury. Back pain can occur at any age but is most common among young and middle-aged adults.
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What Is Chiropractic All About
Did you know that this form of treatment dates back to the 1890s? Its true! Perhaps because of that longevity, chiropractic is widely considered a safe, effective alternative or complement to traditional medical care for certain issues, that is.
Chiropractic is based on the notion that physical problems can be traced back to a musculoskeletal system that is out of whack. Those who practice it are particularly focused on the spine. Given the important role that the spine plays in supporting the body and allowing it to move properly, that makes sense.
Chiropractors use what is called manipulation, or an adjustment. This guides the spine and other areas of the body back into alignment. Manipulation is gentle, although it may sound alarming to the uninitiated: the noise of a patients back and other joints cracking can be a bit concerning. However, the vast majority of chiropractic advocates say that it doesnt hurt. On the contrary, most patients say that an adjustment feels fantastic in the moment. It can also help to relieve both acute and chronic pain.
The Pain Is Generated From Hard Tissue Rather Than Soft Muscular Tissue
The medical industry classifies pain according to the points of the body impacted and the structural tissue involved. Pain that is created by injury to soft tissue like the muscles is often treated effectively through massage therapy, but pain generated from hard tissue is more likely to require spinal manipulation or other techniques best performed by a well-trained chiropractor.
The spine and joints are two examples of hard tissue that may lead to lower back pain. Tightness and sharp pain caused by spinal misalignment isnt easily relieved through massage alone, so visiting a chiropractor is essential. Other conditions may involve unspecified tissue, and most patients find that treatment by a chiropractor is the fastest and most consistent route to relieve.
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How Do You Know If Youre Experiencing Typical Back Pain After A Chiropractic Adjustment
As mentioned above, some back pain after an adjustment is normal that doesnt mean that all pain is.
If youre experiencing severe pain, soreness, or other issues following your chiropractic adjustment, then you should consult with your chiropractor, physician, and physical therapist.
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A good rule of thumb: if the pain is minor or on the lower end of moderate then youre in the clear.
If, however, it persists longer than a few days or is very acute, you should again consult a medical professional.
Other Therapies May Be Preferred
Patients have an abundance of options if they choose to seek care for their LBP, and some of the therapies available may be more appealing than others based on awareness, previous experiences, recommendations from friends and family, general preferences about health care, availability, proximity, religious beliefs, or various other reasons. When confronted with numerous therapies with somewhat equivalent effectiveness and safety, patient preference is an important consideration, and may in fact influence the outcomes achieved if beliefs related to expectations are fulfilled.20 In such situations, patients should be encouraged to first seek the type of health care they most prefer.
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Is Chiropractic Treatment Risky For Herniated Discs And Sciatica
A recent study in the European Spine Journal concluded that chiropractic treatment for back pain and sciatica due to a bulging or herniated lumbar disc is not risky.
To quote the authors: We found no evidence of excess risk for acute Lumbar Disc Herniation with early surgery associated with chiropractic compared with primary medical care.
Not All Low Back Pain Requires Health Care
Many patients with acute nonspecific LBP experience a marked improvement within a few weeks, making watchful waiting a reasonable initial approach, though of course chronic LBP has a greater probability of recurrence and decreased likelihood of complete resolution.14 Most episodes of LBP are of relatively mild or moderate severity and do not greatly impair physical function, making it possible for individuals to carry on with their normal activities despite the pain.15 If watchful waiting proves inadequate to improve symptoms, patients may also choose to manage LBP themselves using heat, ice, over-the-counter analgesics, stretching, exercise, activity modification, or other methods that may not require a health care provider at all, let alone a chiropractor.
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What Is Low Back Pain
Your low back is perfectly engineered to provide strength, support and flexibility to your upper body. Its no wonder that your lower back is so sensitive to pain and injury from everyday life. Low back pain can source from a number of causes, as well as range in severity. A low back injury can be mild and annoying and work up to severe and debilitating. In fact, at any given time, approximately 31 million Americans experience low back pain or discomfort.Dull pain, achy pain, burning or spasming in the lower back is nothing to mess with.
How Effective Is Chiropractic For Lower Back Pain
Many people who look for chiropractic care, do it for the treatment of lower back pain. In fact, neck pain and back pain are known to be two of chiropractic cares specialties.
According to a 2018 study from the World Health Organization, patients who chose to try chiropractic treatments reported less pain intensity, less disability and improvement in functionality. They also reported high satisfaction with their treatment and needed less pain medicine.
Also, unlike pain medications, chiropractic treatments rarely cause side effects. That makes chiropractic care a great alternative for people who have already taken heavy medications but still experience persistent pain.
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When You Should And Shouldnt See A Chiropractor
It is no surprise that many Americans suffer from chronic pain, whether its in the neck, lower back, or shoulders. Anyone who has experienced pain understands its all-consuming effect. Chronic pain sufferers will try almost anything to get relief.
Of the millions of Americans that suffer from chronic pain, a huge majority have found relief through chiropractic care, which is a complementary therapy that involves the physical alignment or adjustment of the spine that has moved out of position. Chiropractors use adjustments and manipulations to address alignment issues that cause pain and other symptoms all over the body, including impeding the bodys natural ability to heal. However, the benefits of chiropractic care do not end at pain relief. There are a plethora of other conditions and symptoms that can be alleviated with chiropractic care.
So, should you automatically assume you need to see a chiropractor? Not necessarily. Chiropractic care can help millions of people, but not everyone. Lets talk about when you should and shouldnt see a chiropractor.
During The Lower Back Adjustment
So what happens during an adjustment? You will be asked to lie down on a special table. The chiropractor will manipulate your limbs to stretch your muscles and to stimulate joint release thats the popping or cracking sound. Its just like cracking your knuckles, but on a larger scale. This is normal and harmless.
They may also bend your joints or position you in a certain way, and hold that position for a little while. Try to relax, dont tense up your muscles, and let them do the work. The practitioner may focus on your lower back, but the adjustment may very well involve the entire body.
A chiropractor will sometimes also perform therapeutic massage, manual therapy, or myofascial release to complement the spinal manipulation. Or they might refer you to a practitioner who specializes in those forms of treatment.
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How Does Chiropractic Care Help Lower Back Pain
Your main question is probably: What does a chiropractor do for lower back pain?
Well, most chiropractors try to reduce the pain and help improve patients functionality. They teach people how to improve their health via exercises, proper use of ergonomics or other back pain therapies.
Licensed chiropractors can make mechanical adjustments to your body, ease pain and improve spinal alignment. They know how to use these adjustments to restore movement in your joints and spine. This process is known as spinal adjustment or manipulation.
Many people find these adjustments more effective over the long term than drugs and surgery, while having the added benefit of being much safer .
And this isnt just theory or some random, unproven idea. There have been many studies done showing the efficacy of these treatments. In fact, per the Harvard Medical School, spinal manipulation is considered an efficient treatment for lower back pain.
Why Do Doctors Not Like Chiropractors
Historically, medical associations showed their resentment towards any other community that treated the injured. First and foremost, they started out as an action involving turf. Chiropractors arent taught how to manipulate their patients properly by medical doctors, which makes them unable to know how to do it.
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Chiro Or Physio: Which Is The Best
Chiro or Physio who should you see. This blog aims to help you discover if a Townsville Chiropractor or Physiotherapist will be best suited to you. It is designed solely to give you background information about the two professions to help you decide which type of care is best for you. It is based on the opinions of the author after 35 years of practice and is based on many thousands of conversations with patients and many long philosophical discussions with both Physiotherapists and Chiropractors in the past. I hope its helpful to you.
What You Need To Be Careful Of
Unfortunately there are good and bad chiropractors and physios, just like every other profession. While different practitioners use different approaches, good practitioners generally will get good results if they do what they do well. The challenge is finding the right one for you.
If you see a physio or chiro who says anything like: Dont go to anyone but me, only I can help you or you have a bulging disc dont see anyone but me they are probably more interested in building their practice than what will be best for you. One of the traits of great chiropractors and physiotherapists is that are honest with you as to whether they can help you and what your other options of treatment are.
If you found this blog useful please let us know in the comments below. We love hearing from you and appreciate any constructive criticisms or advice you can give us about this topic.
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