Chiropratic Treatment for Back & Neck Pain

[admin]

This 11 minute video shows a chiropractic treatment by Dr Jeff Echols of Austin Texas. He does an initial test of a patient, then does a series of chiropractic treatments/adjustments and then does a follow up test to show how the treatments worked.

It gives you a good idea of what a chiropractic treatment covers.

[admin]

In the UK the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has recommended that the National Health Service (NHS) provide, and pay for, osteopathy, chiropractic and accupuncture. This guidance (linked here) entitled "‘Low back pain: early management of persistent non-specific low back pain’" was issued in May 2009.

The guide says "A key focus is helping people with persistent non-specific low back pain to self-manage their condition. Providing advice and information is an important part of this. The aim of the recommended treatments and management strategies is to reduce the pain and its impact on the person’s day-to-day life."

In the introduction, the scope of these recommendations are: "The NICE clinical guideline on low back pain provides evidence-based recommendations covering the early treatment and management of persistent or recurrent low back pain, defined as non-specific low back pain that has lasted for more than 6 weeks, but for less than 12 months."

The guides "Principles of management for all patients" include:

- Promote self-management: advise people with low back pain to exercise, to be physically active and to carry on with normal activities as far as possible

- Offer drug treatments as appropriate to manage pain and to help people keep active (see box C)

- Offer one of the following treatments (see box D), taking patient preference into account. Consider offering:
– exercise programme
– course of manual therapy *
– course of acupuncture
Consider offering another of these options if the chosen treatment does not result in satisfactory improvement

* The manual therapies reviewed were spinal manipulation, spinal mobilisation and massage. Collectively these are all manual therapy. Mobilisation and massage are performed by a wide variety of practitioners. Manipulation can be performed by chiropractors and osteopaths, as well as by doctors and physiotherapists who have undergone spe******t postgraduate training in manipulation..

[Augustine5I]

Hey,

I think chiropractors have their place within the medical field and can certainly do an excellent job of manipulating the spine when needed. However, it has been my experience that just like any other course of treatment, chiropractic care is not always such a great fit.

One thing to consider is how a chiropractor establishes his/her plan of care. Most times, the assessment is done with only an x-ray. And as any knowledgeable health care provider can tell you, lumbar discs are transparent on x-ray films. In my mind, performing a spinal manipulation can be downright irresponsible without an MRI for those people presenting with a herniated or bulging disc(s).

I would use extreme caution for those back pain conditions such as a herniated or bulging disc when under the care of a chiropractor. It is quite possible to experience a worsening of symptoms after a manipulation when the presence of a herniated disc is at hand. This may happen because of the shearing force used during the manipulation over the torn or herniated annular fibers.

I was never quite sure how chiropractors could justify an "adjustment" to the spine with the presence of a herniated disc anyway, as it is not possible to "manipulate" a torn or herniated disc back into place. Sort of like trying to manipulate toothpaste.


When back pain symptoms are the result of stiff or stuck facet joints, then chiropractic care is one way to quickly get those joints moving again. In this case, results can usually be felt within a relatively short period of time. Often, less than a week.

When patients come to me having failed with chiropractic treatment, I see very little in the way of "self management". Not to mention little if no exercise program. Maybe this is because patient independence is not something they want to achieve? Maybe they are afraid the patient will fall off "program" as they are able to manage by themselves?

As anyone is considering chiropractic care, talk first to your medical physician (chiropractors have a Doctorate degree...not a medical degree). Use a team approach when possible to include a physician, chiropractor, physical therapist and others to heal back pain.

Good Luck,

Tommy Hoffman, P.T.
Bulging Disc Fixed

[gravelbelly]

I don't know how typical my chiropractor is, but he took my history in a rather thorough interview before putting me through a battery of tests that included x-rays and thermographic imaging. He said he would evaluate my condition and let me know if he thought chiropractic could help me.

Well, he thought so, and he was right. But in addition to adjustments, he has recommended a wholistic approach to correcting my back condition that includes exercise and traction.

For me, this combination has brought about a definite improvement.

[admin]

Gravelbelly, glad to hear your holistic chiropractic treatments have worked for you.

Please share the sort of exercises and traction that he has had you doing, so that we can all see what works.

[gravelbelly]

One of my major problems is hypolordosis, a marked straightening of the normal curvature of the neck. This unnatural alignment of the vertebrae causes a compression of a couple of the discs -- very noticeable in the x-ray.

My chiropractor said that his adjustments would account for 60% of the potential improvement, but the rest was up to me. He gave me a foam wedge to use in a neck traction exercise, although you don't need it if you have room to hang your head off the edge of your bed.

You lie on your back with your head off the edge of the mattress. It's important that your head and neck do not touch the mattress in any way. As you let your head hang freely, gravity applies traction to do two things: 1) pull your neck back into its original, normal shape and 2) stretch and lengthen the muscles at the front of the neck, so they won't be pulling the head forward to straighten it.

Note: For most people, this is not a comfortable exercise. Sometimes it gives me a little headache, and occasionally, it nauseates me. I find that listening to music and having some other focus for my attention helps a lot. My chiropractor recommended that you do this exercise for just a minute or two to begin with and then gradually work up to 20 minutes.

This gravity traction exercise does not work overnight. It takes consistency: at least 5 days a week for a period of months. I know it is working for me, because my last x-ray showed a 50% or more restoration of my neck curvature, and my posture has improved in that my head does not jut forward as noticeably as it did before I began chiropractic treatments and this traction exercise.

[gravelbelly]

In my last post, I told what my chiropractor recommended for my neck. Now, I'll relate an exercise he recommends for the lower back.

You lie flat on your back, knees bent, feet flat on floor. Then draw your knees up and hug them to your chest to stretch out the lower back. I discussed a variation of this exercise with him in which you bring your chin to your chest as you hug your knees. I can really feel the stretch along my whole spine when I do that. He gave me the go-ahead on the variation, so I use it now.

One of my goals is to be able to sleep on a flat mattress. When I started, I could only lie in bed for a few minutes before I felt a "lump" in my lower back and had to change position. Now, the combination of adjustments and exercise allows me to lie in bed for an hour or more without feeling that discomfort -- almost there!

[BP4MS]

A combined stretch and exercise that I like is a variation on the above. So lie on your back bring your knees up to your chest and wrap your arms around them, then also curl up your neck. It does really stretch your spine. The variation is then to rock from side to side and back and forth.

With my back pain a couple of people have said just to pull one knee to my chest at a time and hold that - all while lying on the floor. Then alternate with the other knee.

[Augustine5I]

Hey all...the last post reminded me about some self adjustment techniques I learned and put together in a video presentation. Obviously not a replacement for your chiropractor (if you are under the care of one).

They are fairly easy to do and find them quite helpful when trying to free up tight or stiff segments of the spine. Have a look here at these self adjustment techniques.


Best Regards,

Tommy Hoffman, PT
Bulging Disc Fixed

[BP4MS]

Hi Tommy

Do your videos have sound on them - they looked really useful but I couldn't get any audio (maybe it was me??)