November 24, 2015

Other Treatments Chiropractors Do besides Adjustments

Massage is a very important component of chiropractic. Massage helps relax the muscles and to keep joints working in sync with each other.  This reduces the chance that bones will be pulled into mis-alignment as well as increases the chance that an adjustment will “Hold”.  In addition, massage of trigger points in the muscles and draining lympahtic swelling normalizes muscle tone and flexibility, eliminating stiffness.  Acupressure, massage based on the Acupuncture meridian system is very helpful to restoring normal tone and health.

Craniopathy, separately discovered by Chiropractor Nephi Cottam and Osteopath William Garner Sutherland, is a specialty within both the chiropractic and osteopathic professions. Craniopaths move the bones of the skull and restore normal motion. Click here to learn more about how Craniopathy helps cure migraines and other health issues.

Exercise therapy is very important to successful chiropractic and acupuncture treatment as exercise is an essential part of staying healthy.  All animals are designed to move.  Movement is especially important to the human spine since most of the nutrition to the discs between each bone not through blood flow, but through movement of the fluids in the disc in response to movement of the spine.  Mobile spines don’t degenerate.  Keeping spines mobile is one of the most important preventative medicine therapies chiropractors can do. “Exercise keeps the chiropractor away”.

Traction is very important for treating degenerative spine conditions and ruptured discs because the rupture or bulge is “sucked” back toward the center of the disc, away from nerves by traction. Mechanical traction devices are used for cervical disc injuries but are generally not powerful enough or specific enough in direction of traction to be of help for low back disc injuries.  For low back ruptured discs, Dr. Pearce uses manual traction with modification of the direction of pull to reduce spasm and direct the ruptured material back into the center of the disc. Having used this technique for over 30 years on hundreds of ruptured discs, Dr. Pearce has had to refer only three patients to surgery.

Electrical Muscle Stimulation is sometimes used to keep muscles from atrophying (wasting away) when the nerves to them are injured. All other uses of western physical therapy style electrical muscle stimulation are not usually used by acupuncturists because electroacupuncture is so much more effective.

Physiotherapy modalities, such as, ultrasound, microwave and heat and cold packs, play supplemental roles in treating arthritis and helping patients relax for other treatments.