Find the answers below to the most frequently asked questions about chiropractors. Having the answers to these key questions can help you choose the right chiropractor for you. If you don't see the answer below to a question you have, reach out to Spencer Orthopedics and our team can help!
A chiropractor or Doctor of Chiropractic is a doctor who focuses on the natural treatment of pain in your joints, tendons, muscles, nerves and other soft tissue injuries. Injuries like these in the spine will often affect the spinal nerves, which is early premise of chiropractic treatment.
The first patient treated with a chiropractic adjustment retained his hearing after the treatment. This may sound funny, but when DD Palmer discovered his patient had normal hearing prior to bumping his upper back area, and lost it afterwards, he theorized that this may have something to do with the painful vertebra.
After he pushed the bone back in place, the patient regained his hearing, and the theory of subluxation was born. Since then, there have been many studies that have covered this area, and chiropractors have evolved this treatment to incorporate other modalities to improve their outcomes.
Some Chiropractors will only focus on working on certain vertebra in the spine, some will only focus on the nutritional aspect of health, some will focus solely on the spinal adjustment and in our practice, we take a sports injury approach to the joints. Although most of our patients are not professional athletes, we find that this approach works the best for joint health and pain relief.
This is a combination of modalities to reduce pain such as magnetic pulse therapy, laser therapy and we combine this is a soft tissue massage and adjustment of the spine or extremity joints. We then reinforce these changes with physical therapy exercises to strengthen the muscles around the joint.
By integrating all of these treatments together we can solve the majority of neck, low back, hip, knee, shoulder and other injuries that come through our doors. We also understand that we can't treat all types of pain which is why we have a medical doctor on staff who specializes in the treatment of pain.
Chiropractic care can vary from practice to practice unfortunately, which is why it's hard to find a similar one in another area if you are a snowbird or relocated to our area. For some practices, they only focus on the spinal adjustment and won't treat hip, knee, elbow and other non-spinal injuries. In our practice chiropractic involves a combination of massage on the muscles, chiropractic adjustments to the any of the joints and physiotherapy to strengthen the muscles around the joints.
We believe that technology exists and should be leveraged, when possible, just like surgeons have reduced the number of open-heart operations because of the minimally invasive stents they can put in your arteries around your heart.
In our practice use one of two modalities to reduce pain and inflammation called a class 4 laser or a pulse magnetic therapy device. We loosen the muscles with a deep muscle massage device, that is used by virtually all professional sports teams. We use spinal decompression for spinal injuries and when we adjust the spine, we use a high frequency impulse machine first, that impulses 12 times per second into the joint, which loosens you up prior to a hands-on adjustment. This great for our elderly patients who cannot tolerate a rough joint popping adjustment and it's also a painless way for a younger individual to receive their treatment.
Chiropractors are doctors, and their degree designation is DC for Doctor of Chiropractic. It's a 5-year degree after undergrad that has the same number of hours of any other doctorate degree. Most schools are privatized in the USA, which allows many doctors to finish their 5-year degree in 3.5 years if they stay in school all year long without summer breaks.
They study biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, radiology, pharmacology, nutrition but have a heavy emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of injuries related to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves or joints. In some states they can do minor surgery, deliver babies and offer injections to their patients and in California the focus is primarily the treatment of pain in joints, nerves, muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Chiropractic treatment is one of safest forms of treatments despite what some others may think. There are numerous studies that have debunked the stroke and spinal manipulation of the neck issue, which was the original concerns with chiropractic treatments. This was show with Dr. Cassidy's study “Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care.”
They followed 3 groups of people who sought out treatment when they had intense neck pain or headaches; some did nothing, some went to their family doctor and the final group went to a chiropractor. The findings showed that those who sought out care with their family doctor had a slightly higher incidence of strokes than the control group and the chiropractors.
The conclusion was that chiropractic didn't cause the stroke and neither did the family doctor, but prior to having a major stroke, patients may have intense neck pain, or headaches and some patients sought out treatment from a chiropractor and some from their family doctor, but it was just a coincidence and not the cause of the stroke which was the finding from the study.
Even with this evidence, there are still some naysayers and feel that this is a high-risk treatment. However, the only group out there that people should consider listening to are malpractice underwriters and despite what people might think about one professions risk vs another, underwriters just look at the numbers.
Higher risk and higher rates of lawsuits equates to higher malpractice insurance, and a chiropractor's malpractice can range from $1000 to $2000 a year based on the state they practice in and the number of hours they practice per week, which is nothing compared to most other professions because it's an extremely low risk treatment. Orthopedic surgeons pay a mean average of $225,000 per year which is less in large hospital groups and smaller towns and neurosurgeons pay a mean average of $325,000 per year. Both dwarf chiropractic malpractice rates, which just proves how safe the treatments are.
Side effects from chiropractic treatment isn't going to differ much from massage, physical therapy and a vigorous workout at the gym. We do work on your muscles, tendons and joints and incorporate new exercises to reinforce those changes, which can make one sore. However, if you communicate this with your provider, they always can lighten the treatment and provide alternative treatments if you are in pain. This shouldn't be a major concern if you are considering this type of treatment.
This is the million-dollar question, and it's just like asking someone how much does a car cost. It always depends, but rarely will it be one treatment. In general, the longer you had the injury, the more time it will take and the older you are, the longer it will take. This doesn't mean that it takes forever, but it likely won't be one visit either. This is a corrective therapy, like physical therapy or even personal training, and several sessions is typically the minimal number of treatments anyone will receive tot fix a problem.
Chiropractic care costs vary from office to office and in our office since we incorporate so many different modalities such as laser for pain relief, PEMF for deep tissue healing, spinal decompression, physical therapy and shockwave for chronic tendon injuries, it's not a black and white answer. We offer free consultations with one of the doctors in the office and after they evaluate you, they will be able to provide you an exact cost.
Chiropractic care costs vary from office to office and in our office since we incorporate so many different modalities such as laser for pain relief, PEMF for deep tissue healing, spinal decompression, physical therapy and shockwave for chronic tendon injuries, it's not a black and white answer. We offer free consultations with one of the doctors in the office and after they evaluate you, they will be able to provide you an exact cost.
Choosing us for your healthcare needs is an absolute honor; we work very hard keeping up to date with the latest and greatest, but without forgetting the importance of the relationship with your doctor.
Structure demands function, thus if your condition is stemming from a true skeletal misalignment/postural syndrome we have special instruments and equipment to correct those postural problems. Treating muscle imbalances with manual therapy before any treatment is done every visit because it will make the treatment more painless, but it will also have longer lasting effects.
For those who are arthritic, stiff, frail or just scared of getting “cracked” or “popped” we use instruments that will send a tiny shockwave into the joint that will gently loosen it up prior to mobilization by hand or instrument only for those who are nervous of getting “pop.”
If you are suffering from a disc problem, we have 3 types of machines that will help stretch out a swollen disc to alleviate pressure off those inflamed nerves.
To decrease your pain, there are a wide variety of lasers (cold and hot) and we also utilize the strongest one in the world for extra deep penetration. We also use Pulse Electro-Magnetic Frequency Therapy for chronic pain patients and are one of the Valley's only providers for this type of therapy.
Practicing in a retirement community, we see the toughest cases and thus need to incorporate new and effective therapies to achieve great results. These results motivate the doctors to reinvest in education and technology when needed.
Technology doesn't replace time proven therapies such as old-fashioned physical therapy rehabilitation to reinforce the corrections we make, deep tissue massage which has been around for thousands of years.
The one thing we can promise you is that each case is different and there is no cookie cutter way to treat you. Combining therapies with lifestyle changes will create a synergistic effect that will move you along faster than doing single therapies like only chiropractic, only physical therapy, etc.
We have amazing technology that cannot be matched in our area that includes devices like lasers and PEMF magnetic pulsed therapy for pain relief, spinal decompression for disc injuries and pinched nerves. Shockwave treatments for chronic tendon or ligament injuries and if we can't solve your pain with these treatments, we have a medical doctor on staff who specializes in the treatment of pain.
Finding a good chiropractor truly depends on what your problem is; some younger individuals may just require a spinal alignment to fix their issue, some require more physical therapy to be incorporated. Sometimes, people are looking for convenience of office hours or even the lowest price.
Just like a restaurant, some people seek out a 24/7 cheap meal, and you can probably find a chiropractor near you that is cheap and open for many office hours as well. Cheapest doesn't mean least expensive either because if they don't fix your problem, what was the point in getting a bunch of cheap treatments?
Some people seek out restaurants that offer great service and high-quality food which more like our office. We're not high end, but we're not the cheapest either; we're open 5 days a week, but not 6 days a week.
Unfortunately, insurance reimbursements have steadily declined for chiropractic, which is why their goal is to get you in and out as fast as possible. This works for some, but our office treatments range from 10 minutes to 60 minutes based on the problem you have, which is great for patients looking for solutions for their pain, but not for someone who just wants to cheapest in the area.
If you still don't know who to see, we typically refer to doctors who have extensive training treating sports injuries because they combine muscle work, joint alignments and physiotherapy exercises, which we feel works best for most patients.
You can also look at their online reviews and please take them with a grain of salt because it's rare that you will see someone that can make 100% of people happy. We have had people leave a bad review because they thought someone was rude to them in the waiting room, which has nothing to do with treatments. We have had competitors leave bad reviews as well. If you look at our reviews you will see many more good ones than bad ones, just like a good restaurant has as well.
Obviously, referrals are the best, but if you don't have one from a friend, you can look at the chiropractor's reviews and see if they offer a free consultation; if you feel comfortable at that point, get a treatment. Since this isn't a surgery, you can just try a treatment or two and see if this is the right place for you. Just like picking a restaurant, sometimes you pick well and sometimes you pick poorly, but there isn't a law that says you have to do business with the bad ones again.
If you are reading this, my suggestion is to try us out to see if we are right for you.
There are hundreds of chiropractic techniques, but most practice something called diversified which is a combination of several techniques. Some large doctors may gravitate towards the ones that require more brute force and smaller doctors may use more light touch adjustments, exercise and instruments to aid in treatment.
At our office we have techniques we use for soft tissue related injuries such as Active release technique, Graston, Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, myofascial release and more.
For the spinal adjustments we use the appropriate technique for the individual but use an impulse gun that delivers 12 mini-adjustments to the joint per second, which loosens up the joints prior to an adjustment.
For the adjustment technique we use a combination of CLEAR, Diversified, Flexion distraction, Gonstead, Petibon, Thompson drop and upper cervical when required.
We always incorporate physical therapy to reinforce the changes we made with exercise which allows us to get faster results than the average chiropractor and requires less visits because the patient does some of the work.
Many people complain about going in for treatments all the time for many weeks, but this 3-step process will get you better results in less visits, which saves you time and money at the end of the day.
Chiropractors are great at treating musculoskeletal injuries. This could be nerve pain from a pinched nerve, sciatica or more. It could be a chronic tendonitis or tendinosis in your shoulder, hip, knee or ankle. It could be a joint issue in your hip, back, neck or shoulder.
It's a low risk, low-cost treatment that gets to the root cause of most structural pain, which should involve a physical treatment. Physical therapy is great, but joint manipulation should be incorporated with these treatments, and if you haven't tried chiropractic combined with physical therapy you are missing out.
Most people will seek out these treatments from their medical doctor, which is great, but you will usually get a drug for a physical treatment of your pain, which never solves the problem.
All accidents will involve pain, inflammation, swelling and many times there will be a joint injury. Chiropractors will often use modalities to reduce the inflammation and pain first, then they will address the pain in the muscles and re-align the injured joints.
At this point, physical therapy is great for reinforcing these changes, but many sports chiropractors will have extensive training in this area and will provide you the appropriate exercises to continue improving your condition.
Chiropractors have made their living off lower back and hip pain. Close to half of our practice is related to the treatment of sciatica, lower back and hip pain, but chiropractic care is great for any joint injury.
Other common treatments include pain and tension between the shoulder blades, upper back or ‘shoulder' pain which is related with the neck and upper back. These injuries are becoming much more common since people are growing up with smart phones, tablets and sitting in front of a computer for work. Over time these same people may develop headaches, which often are related to pinched nerves in the upper part of the neck that radiate into the head.
These are common spinal injuries that a chiropractor treats, but they often treat shoulder pain from impingement, bursitis and rotator cuff injuries, elbow pain issues such as tennis or golfer's elbow. Hand and wrist pain, knee, foot and ankle pain.
That doesn't mean that chiropractic care can fix all of these issues every time you have pain in one of these spots. However, if you have only tried medications and you hurt in your joints, tendons or muscles in in one of those areas, seeking out treatment from a chiropractor is common. If after your evaluation you require an injection, pain medications or surgery, a competent chiropractor will make that referral to the appropriate doctor.
Chiropractic care is the ideal treatment for pain during pregnancy because it is a safe and natural. As the belly grows, the alignment of the lower back and pelvis change, and it is common to develop lower back pain. Since most women want to avoid taking pain killers while pregnant, chiropractic care becomes the ideal treatment.
Many women continue coming in throughout their pregnancy because they will feel better throughout their pregnancy and the many claim that their delivery is smoother when their pelvis is limber and aligned.
Chiropractic care should be one the first treatments that you seek if you have lower back pain. Chiropractors will address the tight muscles in your hip flexors and back associated with back pain and will un-pinch those nerves causing pain. Once your joints are moving properly in your lower back, you will notice that the muscle spasms start to disappear.
Chiropractors will then provide you with some core strengthening and stretching exercises to improve your core, so your lower back pain doesn't return.
The problem with many patients is that they take pain killers and anti-inflammatories for far too long and seek out chiropractic care after their spinal injections, pain killer and physical therapy quit working. Chiropractors have produced some miracles, but most would prefer that you sought out their treatment before other doctors were considering surgery.
Chiropractic care should be one the first treatments that you seek if you have neck pain. Chiropractors will address the tight muscles in your neck, upper back and pecs to improve your posture which is usually affected when you have neck pain.
Loosening up your upper back and your neck is vital for neck pain to improve and no matter how many exercises you practice in physical therapy, nothing will replace the spinal adjustment that will un-pinch those nerves in your neck and loosen up your midback.
Chiropractors will then provide you with some core strengthening and stretching exercises to improve your core, so your neck pain doesn't return. Most people don't associate core exercises for the neck, but there are tiny spinal muscles and postural muscles that must be addressed.
The problem with many patients is that they take pain killers and anti-inflammatories for far too long and seek out chiropractic care after their spinal injections, pain killer and physical therapy quit working. Chiropractors have produced some miracles, but most would prefer that you sought out their treatment before other doctors were considering surgery.
Sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve is irritated and inflamed, typically causing radiating pain into the buttock and potentially down the leg into the foot. The pain could be related to the spinal issue, spinal disc issue, pelvic issue and rarely a piriformis muscle issue.
Chiropractors may have a device like we use in our office called a deep tissue laser and PEMF device for inflammation reduction. Determining the cause of the sciatica is important because the treatment may be focused on the spine or the pelvis, but after a thorough evaluation a competent doctor should be able to determine what is causing your sciatica.
Many patients will have muscle pain and spasms, which is addressed with our massaging instruments and many times we will use something called spinal decompression, which creates a negative pressure on your discs to un-pinch and alleviate those nerves. At this point we can loosen and un-pinch those nerves much easier bay hand with a spinal aligning adjustment.
Finally, we reinforce those changes with physical therapy exercises and stretches. Sciatica encompasses a large part of our practice because it's common and we do a great job assessing and treating sciatica.
A chiropractic adjustment rarely hurts if done properly. Most doctors will use different techniques on the same patient as they progress with their treatments. A vigorous treatment is rarely performed on the initial visit because there may be muscles spams, pain and inflammation involved around the joints.
We have patients that get some soreness, but most feel better after the treatment.
Chiropractic adjustments are one of safest forms of treatments despite what some others may think. Even when they are in the neck, they can be extremely safe and there are studies to back it up. This was show with Dr. Cassidy's study “Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care.”
They followed 3 groups of people who sought out treatment when they had intense neck pain or headaches; some did nothing, some went to their family doctor and the final group went to a chiropractor. The findings showed that those who sought out care with their family doctor had a slightly higher incidence of strokes than the control group and the chiropractors.
The conclusion was that chiropractic didn't cause the stroke and neither did the family doctor, but prior to having a major stroke, patients may have intense neck pain, or headaches and some patients sought out treatment from a chiropractor and some from their family doctor, but it was just a coincidence and not the cause of the stroke which was the finding from the study.
Even with this evidence, there are still some naysayers and feel that this is a high-risk treatment. However, the only group out there that people should consider listening to are malpractice underwriters and despite what people might think about one professions risk vs another, underwriters just look at the numbers.
Higher risk and higher rates of lawsuits equates to higher malpractice insurance, and a chiropractor's malpractice can range from $1000 to $2000 a year based on the state they practice in and the number of hours they practice per week, which is nothing compared to most other professions because it's an extremely low risk treatment. Orthopedic surgeons pay a mean average of $225,000 per year which is less in large hospital groups and smaller towns and neurosurgeons pay a mean average of $325,000 per year. Both dwarf chiropractic malpractice rates, which just proves how safe the treatments are.
All patients are assessed prior to receiving an adjustment but it would be silly to think that adjustment on a 1-week-old baby, 5-year-old, 25-year-old, 55-year-old and 75-year-old person would the same. Young people are very flexible and require minimal force to move the vertebra into position; plus, they haven't had an issue for a long period of time, so they require minimal treatments.
The adjustment of a 25 year can be more vigorous if required because their bodies can handle it, but it's often not necessary. Finally, the adjustment of a 75 year does require more force if you were trying to fix them in one visit, but since many of them have arthritis and some have brittle bones, they require more finesse and other therapies to loosen them up prior to the adjustment.
This makes the process painless and more effective in the long run.
The chiropractic adjustment is great for a lot of things but eliminating back pain forever isn't one of them. If you went to the world's best dentist, you would still have to brush, floss and water pick between visits. The adjustment is a critical element for eliminating lower back pain, but when this is combined with stretches and core exercises you can have your back pain eliminated.
I believe that a lot of lower back pain is aggravated by the lack of proper movement from our sedentary lifestyle and excessive sitting. Your average person can't do a proper squat, bend or twist and I see this in people when they walk, ride a bike or attempt to run. Your average adult has multiple movement dysfunctions, that is developed and not something you are born with.
Just watch a 4-year squat down and you will see they perform a perfect squat, but after years of sitting in desks, combined with falls and injuries, we develop a movement dysfunction.
Which is why you will usually get empathy from others when your back goes out.
4 out 5 adults experience a bout of lower back pain in their lives and it's one of the top 5 reasons why people visit their doctor. Correcting these movement dysfunctions is one of the keys to maintaining a healthy back.
It would be nice to be able to adjust every vertebra in your body, but even as a chiropractor I cannot. Certain ones in your neck and lower back can be done easily, however the typical trouble spots are hard to get.
These are trouble spots for a reason because they are in awkward transition zones between your cervical and thoracic vertebra and your lumbar to sacral region for example. There are many people who try, but it's virtually impossible unless you had a special tool and training and even then, it's difficult.
A lot of people ask this question and wonder if they were able to adjust the vertebra or not. I just tell them if they adjust their spine and they only feel good for about 20 to 40 minutes, then they missed the problem vertebra. If they feel good for a week or more, then they got the correct vertebra.
Usually, people pop the same ones over and over again and the euphoric feeling from the pop but have their pain return in 20-30 minutes, which is why you should call us to get checked out.
Many years chiropractic patients were put in gowns, but that hasn't been common practice for years. Unfortunately, due to sexual allegations with various healthcare providers, many providers are scared to be in a room alone with a patient when they are in a gown, which is why it's less common in today's world of healthcare.
The most common time gowns are worn is when the patient receives an x-ray in our office.
Chiropractic treatment is recommended for all children because they are extremely active and always playing, falling and creating new injuries. Many times, they won't complain until it becomes a big issue, but getting your child's spine checked on a regular basis is important for a healthy spine.
For example, if a young child has a pinched nerve in their lower back and sacral region, this can lead to bed wetting, which is a common issue alleviated with chiropractic care. Colicky babies will have less gas when their thoracic vertebrae are aligned, un-pinching nerves that feed the stomach.
