Are you unsure if chiropractic care really helps? Let’s explain how it works using science.
Maybe you know someone who loves going to the chiropractor, but you’re not convinced that “cracking your back” can make a difference. Or perhaps you’ve experienced relief from a chiropractor yourself.
Maybe you’re wondering: how does chiropractic treatment actually work?
Chiropractic care has scientific benefits that really work. In this article, we’ll talk about a chiropractic adjustment, how often you might need one, and why it’s important for your health.
What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?
A chiropractic adjustment is when a chiropractor quickly pushes your joints to fix them if they’re not lined up right. This can help your joints move better and take pressure off nerves. It also makes that cracking noise you often hear.
Chiropractors have different ways to do this. Some use their hands to push the joints back in place, while others might use a special table or tool. Some just do gentle stretches to move the joints where they should be.
No matter how they do it, the goal is to make your joints line up properly so your body can heal on its own.
What is a Misalignment?
If you’ve ever seen a book about bodies, you might think that all the parts, like bones, muscles, nerves, and organs, are separate. But actually, they’re all linked.
It begins with how your spine and central nervous system work together.
The core of your nervous system comprises two primary components: your brain and your spinal cord. The spinal cord goes straight from your brain down through your spine. From there, your peripheral nervous system spreads out and reaches all over your body.
Each yellow “tube” in the picture is a nerve. When a spinal joint is twisted or not aligned properly, it presses on these nerves. This squeezing can make you feel hurt like your body is asleep, with pins and needles, not strong, or other sensations all over, not only in your spine.
If you’ve ever had sciatica pain, you’ve experienced this. Instead of feeling the pain where the nerve is pinched, you feel it in your hip, buttocks, legs, or feet. If the joint misalignment happens elsewhere, the pain can spread to your arms, face, and stomach and affect how well you can move.
Chiropractors focus on treating the whole body, not just one part. They aim to fix what’s causing your pain, not just ease the pain itself.
Causes of Misalignment
Your muscles, ligaments and soft tissue keep your bones and joints in place. The soft discs between your joints are bendy and can move.
Sometimes, your joints can move in the wrong direction. This can happen because:
- Something outside, like a car crash or fall, pushes your joints.
- Your muscles pull your joints wrong.
- You have bad posture when you’re awake or asleep.
- Doing the same movement over and over, like playing golf.
- Some people are born with joints that aren’t right, like scoliosis.
Doctors usually recommend treatments like physical therapy, painkillers, or surgery to help with the pain. However, chiropractic treatment focuses on fixing the main problem. It helps your joints move better, stops joint pain, and can make other painful feelings go away without any bad effects.
How Does a Chiropractic Adjustment Work?
What happens when a chiropractor fixes a joint that’s not aligned properly?
It’s pretty simple: the chiropractor moves the joints back to where they should be.
Even though everyone gets a chiropractic adjustment, each one is different. The chiropractor might push harder or softer on your joints, or adjust them in a slightly different way compared to another person’s treatment.
But because your joints are flexible, they might want to go back to the wrong position, especially if they’ve been like that for a while. If you’ve had pain from an accident for a long time, your muscles might be used to keeping your joints in the wrong place and they might try to pull them back.
That’s why your chiropractor wants you to keep coming back. Eventually, your body will get used to being in the right position again, and keeping your joints in the correct place will be easier.
You don’t have to let pain control your life.
Lots of people have problems with their spines that can hurt them. You might not even know you have one right now!
But don’t worry. Chiropractors can help with most of these problems. If you’ve been feeling pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle spasms, you should make an appointment with Precise Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. They’ll make a plan just for you.
Chiropractic care is different from regular medicine. Instead of giving you pain pills or doing surgery, they try to fix what’s causing your pain.
Give us a call today, and we’ll help you feel better!
