Welcome to National Chiropractic Health Month (NCHM) 2016, a time when everyone should become aware of the benefits of chiropractic treatment for pain management, especially in the face of a national opioid epidemic.
Chiropractic healthcare is a treatment of the body’s structure – the spine and every function that affects the body’s movement. A chiropractor works to align these systems through a series of manipulations to relieve pain and restore the power of movement to the patient.
Spinal manipulation is at the core of chiropractic treatment but there are various channels through which chiropractors help people regain their optimum health, through therapies that include education on posture and exercises and teaching the right and wrong way to sit and stand and lift and push, so that the stress on the back and neck are reduced. Chiropractors even educate when it comes to nutrition because no treatment plan can be fully effective without the right diet. In addition to healing neck and back pain, a skilled and expert Fort Lauderdale chiropractor can also help with a range of other health problems, including migraines, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia and whiplash injuries from car crashes.
According to the American Chiropractic Association, www.acatoday.org, chiropractic has been shown to provide health benefits in myriad ways: It has outperformed all other back pain treatments, including prescription medication, deep-tissue massage, yoga, Pilates, and over-the- counter medication therapies.
It has outperformed all other back pain treatments, including prescription medication, deep-tissue massage, yoga, Pilates, and over-the- counter medication therapies.
Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) are the highest rated healthcare practitioner for low-back pain treatments above physical therapists (PTs), specialist physician/MD (i.e., neurosurgeons, neurologists, orthopaedic surgeons), and primary care physician/MD (i.e., family or internal medicine).
Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) are utilized by all 32 National Football League teams in “optimizing the functionality, endurance and overall conditioning of professional football players in the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal strain injuries, including neck pain, low back pain, strains to hamstrings and quadriceps, and whiplash injuries.”
With prescription pain drug abuse now classified as an epidemic and the number of spinal fusions soaring 500 percent over the last decade, the essential services provided by Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) “represent a primary care approach for the prevention, diagnosis and conservative management of back pain and spinal disorders.”
Injured workers with similar injuries are 28 times less likely to have spinal surgery if the first point of contact is a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), rather than a surgeon (MD). Chiropractic care has an excellent safety record, viewed in the context of other treatments for back pain such as steroids, pain medications and surgery.
Most studies suggest spinal manipulation achieves equal or superior improvement in pain and function when compared with other commonly used interventions for short, intermediate, and long-term follow-up.
So let this month of National Chiropractic Health be your starting point, the time at which you make a pledge to bring an end to your chronic back or neck pain, or resolve to see a chiropractic professional to help with your fibromyalgia or chronic migraines. Your Ft. Lauderdale chiropractor is ready to help you regain the quality of life you thought was lost … a pair of healing hands is all it takes!