Can a Happy Valley Chiropractor Help Low Back Pain?
Many people wonder if seeing a Happy Valley chiropractor who is also known as chiropractic doctor, DC, or chiropractic physician can be fruitful and a step forward towards a successful eradication of your back pain. Below is a comprehensive overview of what chiropractors do and the role they play in back pain elimination.
What do chiropractors basically do?
This is a question that hits the minds of many. Well the simple answer is that chiropractors utilize a multitude of treatments made to manipulate the spine, tissues of the body and joints to eradicate pain and enhance functional ability. Basically this would be regarded to as spinal manipulative therapy(SMT), but there are many diversified methods of chiropractic treatment.
The approach that may be used by your Happy Valley chiropractor is usually is based on the individual needs of the patient using traditional philosophy which involves beginning with the more natural and slight therapies before proceeding to more intensive methods.
Informed Consent
At every level during the process, chiropractors hold onto a strict emphasis on communicating with the patient on what is to happen and how exactly it will happen. The chiropractor ensures the patients get to know everything that happens in the event of an examination, diagnoses and the procedure that has been proposed. This enlightenment of the patient is very vital as it enables a quick approval from him or her and the treatment process begins quickly.
Ensuring the patient has all the information pertaining the chiropractic process is essential because some of these processes are technical and risky. This means dangers are involved and it could result to injury. This however does not occur frequently.
The legal definition of material risk may vary from one state to another.
Normally the chiropractor enlightens the patient on the risks involved in freeing away from a given procedure. This is usually meant to empower the patient with proper knowledge rather than scare them. This enables the patient to make a concise decision and have a full control over anything that is going to be done on his or her body.
The procedure of examination.
The patient will undergo a complete and thorough examination done by the chiropractor before a medical plan is undertaken. The assessment will include the following;
The history of your health.
You will view the characteristics of the pain keenly to take notice of any signs that might call for further diagnosis. If the signs are there then further diagnostic treatment should be carried out to eliminate any serious medical problems which may be associated with low back pain like neurological disorders, tumors, fractures and many others.
There are many reasons you may experience low back pain. The chiropractor will narrow down and discover every reason as to why and recommend the most appropriate treatment.
Physical examination including neurological tests and orthopedic.
Examine the sensory nerves, the reflexes and other parts of the body.
Advanced diagnosis.
X-rays are not recommended for LBP that are not specific but they may be called for in case of a serious ailing condition.
Signs and symptoms are classified into degrees of severity, mild, moderate, or severe in accordance to the level of pain. other conditions may be termed as;
- Acute-this condition goes for less than six weeks.
- subacute- It goes for about six to twelve weeks.
- Chronic-this one goes for at least twelve weeks.
- Flare-up/recurrent- The signs and symptoms reoccurs periodically because of exacerbating the original injury.
Typical/therapeutic trial.
If one is ailing from subacute or acute low back pain the right diagnosis of chiropractic adjustments will be between two to three sessions weekly in a period of four weeks going up to twelve total sessions in one trial. This process is good enough to relieve you from the pain. If a patient is suffering from other ailments further treatments is called for.
Outcome measurement's.
This is a valuable tool for a chiropractor because they indicate whether the patient is progressing or not.
There are various ways a chiropractor can determine if the patient is healing or not.
A pain chart or diagram is used to measure and describe the character and location of the pain.
The patient is able to rate the pain he or she is feeling on a numeric pain scale.
One can look at the patients ability to carry out their daily duties.
For some patients the low back pains have been chronic for more than twelve weeks. This requires proper medical attention.