How Effective is Chiropractic?

How Effective is Chiropractic? So many people suffer from back pain and turn to chiropractic relief. In fact, 22 million people turn to chiropractors each year. But how effective is chiropractic care really? Is it worth all the benefits and risks that accompany it? Read on to find out.

So What Is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractors are fully credentialed doctors that focus on the body’s spine. They manipulate the spine to restore mobility to joints. They believe that if there is a problem in one area, then other parts of the body will suffer too.

Chiropractors realign the spine to relieve the problem area and remove any stressors on the rest of the body. This allows for pain relief without seeing a traditional doctor. However, it can be combined with medical treatment as well.

Chiropractors believe that by realigning the spine, the body can heal itself. They believe that with the realignment, surgery, and medication can be avoided entirely.

Chiropractors look at your whole body and listen to your history to determine the course of treatment. They take into consideration all aspects of your medical history before working on your spine.

How Effective Is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractors look at the musculoskeletal structure of the body, with particular emphasis on the spine. This realignment is safe and effective for multiple parts of the body. This includes the back, neck, and even arms and legs. It is said to even help with headaches.

In addition to headaches, chiropractic care is also known to help with neck pain and acute low back pain. When combined with standard medical treatments, young men and women have experienced the most effective results.

Chiropractic care can also help those who suffer from osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. These patients work with both their chiropractic doctors and a standard medical doctor to form the best course of treatment.

Compared to traditional pharmaceutical treatments, true chiropractic treatments were shown to be less helpful. However, they were shown to be more beneficial and effective than physiotherapy treatments.

These treatments were shown to be more beneficial especially with long-term treatments. For chronic pain patients, their pain was reduced or kept at a minimum with continued treatment.

Chiropractic care is also shown to be very effective when combined with exercise and other forms of self-care. Patients who have adjustments done alongside yoga and stress reduction have positive experiences with their chiropractors.

Another plus is that chiropractic care is clinically effective as well as cost effective and safe. Because there are no medications involved with chiropractic work, the only cost you face is paying the doctor for their work. Since there is no medication involved, the effectiveness of long term treatment increases as well.

Benefits

Chiropractic care has many benefits, although the extent of the benefits is somewhat in question. According to many studies, the effect has shown to be minimal, similar to traditional treatments.

With the spine realigned, the headaches should subside and low back pain can be resolved after several sessions. However, it’s said that if the pain symptoms don’t improve after multiple sessions and treatments, the adjustments may not be working.

This means that you would need to find a new path of treatment.

Risks

There are few risks associated with chiropractic treatment. Having an unqualified chiropractor is one. If they are not properly trained or experienced, it can lead to improper treatments. Always make sure your chiropractor is properly prepared and ready to be treating patients.

The other risk is mild compared to what could happen. Potentially, you could see no effectiveness from your treatments at all. You could see a chiropractor for weeks on end and never see any improvements in your symptoms.

If this occurs, you simply have to go back to your standard medical doctor and find a new course of treatment. These are mild “risks” though when compared with the benefits and overall effectiveness you could experience from receiving chiropractic work.

Summary

In conclusion, the overall effectiveness of chiropractic care hinges on a couple of things. This includes what your original symptoms are, how frequent they are, your age, and what else you are doing in conjunction.

Overall, the effectiveness of chiropractic care is on the positive side, with happy patients experiencing good outcomes from their treatments.