If you have never been to see a chiropractor before, you may be wondering what you should expect. You likely have seen a video or heard someone talk about a chiropractic adjustment. Having your back or neck adjusted is definitely a big part of the process�but what else do you need to know? Continue reading to discover the basics of chiropractic and what you have to look forward to.
�Chiropractic Guide for First Time Patients
Your visit begins with a thorough examination.
Don�t expect to walk through the door of the chiropractor and get your back cracked. Chiropractors are highly-trained professionals that focus on individualized treatments and getting the best possible results. That means getting a clear picture of what your condition is and identifying the ideal treatments before starting with the adjustments.
The chiropractor will conduct a full physical examination to identify your injuries, any movement difficulties, etc. He or she will also ask a number of questions to find out how you feel and why you think you feel the way you do.
You might get an adjustment.
There are a lot of ways to adjust the human body, which are not limited to the standard adjustments you may have seen on TV or in movies. Your chiropractor can adjust not only your back but all of your joints, including knees, ankles, elbows and more. He or she can also use different tools to facilitate adjustments and employ techniques that range from extremely gentle to more forceful.
The adjustment you get will be based on your unique circumstances and the opinion of the chiropractor.
You might not get an adjustment.
It can be surprising to be told by the chiropractor that you won�t get an adjustment during your visit, but it does happen. Your chiropractor may determine that other therapies are better for your current condition. The adjustment may have to wait until your body is ready for it.
You will be offered alternative therapies.
Chiropractors focus on getting the best results for patients, which often means employing supplemental and complementary therapies in addition to chiropractic adjustments. Some common therapies include massage, decompression, electrical stimulation and more. Massage can relax soft tissues to allow for better adjustments, or to help adjustments stay in place. Decompression can increase blood flow to discs. Electrical stimulation can increase healing times.
You always have the final say in your treatment plan.
While the chiropractor will certainly have recommendations on which therapies are best suited to your needs, in the end, it is you who decides what happens. After your examination, the chiropractor will present the recommended options and let you decide if you want to start treatment.
You will experience improvements sooner rather than later.
Many patients are pleasantly surprised by how effective their chiropractic treatments are. Often after the first visit, you will feel less pain, more mobile and more at ease. A good adjustment and supplemental therapies can do a great deal to alleviate discomfort and stiffness. The good news is that each successive visit will only add to the good feelings you experience.
Getting Safe, Highly Effective Treatment
According to the American Chiropractic Association, chiropractic care is one of the safest drug-free, non-invasive treatments available for injuries and degenerative conditions related to your muscles, joints and skeletal system. There are so many benefits, and so few potential downsides, that it is hard to find a reason not to try chiropractic!
31 million Americans experience low back pain at any given time. This condition affects many, but finding the exact cause can be a challenge. Chiropractors are spinal specialists that are trained to not only alleviate pain but also find and help correct the cause of the problem.� Prevention is the best cure for any condition/ailment. When someone sees a chiropractor, they not only find relief for their condition, but they learn ways to prevent their symptoms in the future. Using proper exercise and ergonomics, they can ease the discomfort before it starts.
NCBI Resources
A�chiropractor�is the ideal�medical professional�to consult with for any unexplained pain in the musculoskeletal system. They are highly qualified professionals that their specialty is treating conditions like lower back pain and they are very affordable. If you or a loved one have pain in the lower back, gives us a call. We�re here to help!
Back pain and everything that comes with it can really take you out of it. It, being life, that you don’t get to participate in, because you have to anticipate how, whatever the activity may be, is going to affect your back. So you just skip activities altogether. No more! You have options and chiropractic care is one of them. Because back pain can occur due to a variety of health issues, diagnosis is essential to create the correct treatment plan.
Doctor of chiropractic Alexander Jimenez specializes in treating back pain. A few patients share their back pain experiences and how it affected their lives. They describe how Dr. Jimenez has helped them improve their overall health and wellness with chiropractic care. Patients highly recommend Dr. Jimenez and his staff as the back pain specialist.
El Paso Back Clinic
We are blessed to present to you�El Paso�s Premier Wellness & Injury Care Clinic.
We want you to live a life filled with more energy, positive attitude, better sleep, less pain, proper body weight and educated on how to maintain this way of life.
We Are Ready To Get You Back To Normal Life!
Low Back Pain & Your Feet
The feet are the foundation of the body; they support its weight. If there is not enough support, various parts of the body, especially the spine become exposed to added stress, this can lead to:
Back, hip, knee and foot pain
Poor posture and abnormal foot movement
Sports performance compromised
Greater risk of injury
An abnormal walk leads to imbalances throughout the knees, ankles, and feet, and can eventually cause pain throughout the body, and yes you guessed it the back.
Foot Levelers Kiosk
The Kiosk helps guide patients in selecting the best custom-made orthotics for their condition and lifestyle. It’s�
Fast:�Push the Start button and the scanner begins.
Easy to use:�User-friendly easy touch screen.
Engaging:�Videos explain the importance of healthy feet and the benefits of custom-made orthotics.
Cloud-based:�Results can be securely accessed from anywhere.
Comprehensive:�Easily retrieve previous scans to compare them to new scans and see the difference.
The Foot Levelers Kiosk helps you. It saves time so you can spend more time living your life.
Intake Form
This is the intake form that is used to set up a custom orthotics treatment plan.
Low Back Pain
When there are problems with the feet, it can cause problems through the legs and all the way to the spine. This can cause the ankle to pronate, meaning it rolls inward. This alters the way the�bones of the foot�line up which extends through the tibia, or shin bone.
The spine is the foundation for the body, supporting the spinal cord and the limbs. When there is a problem with any of the limbs it can affect the spine and vice versa. The intricate network of tendons, ligaments, and nerves work together within the incredible machine that is the human body.
After ruling out a herniated disc is not causing your sciatic nerve problems, you should look to the pelvis and many times the culprit is the piriformis muscle.
When the piriformis becomes tight or inflamed, it can put pressure on the sciatic nerve and you can get the sensations going down the leg. �Symptoms such as numbness, tingling, and sharp shooting pain.
A common mistake I�ve seen on YouTube videos and at different gyms and clinics, is people using a tennis ball, lacrosse ball, or foam rollers to apply pressure to the piriformis muscle in order to relax it.
If your sciatica is caused by piriformis syndrome, applying pressure to an area that�s already compressed will only add more pressure to the sciatic nerve and cause more pain.
What you should do instead, is stretch the muscle causing the problem so that it relaxes and takes pressure off the sciatic nerve. In this video you�ll learn an easy stretch you can do on the floor.
You simply lay on your back with both legs bent. Then cross the painful leg over the good one. And pull the affected leg towards the opposite shoulder and hold that stretch for 30 seconds.
Repeat the stretch as needed.
This will help to relieve the sciatic pain associated with piriformis syndrome.
As with any conditions, there is no quick fix. You have to consistently perform sciatica stretches and exercises to achieve the best results.
El Paso, TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez looks at stretches for neck pain.
Your neck is one of the hardest working parts of your body.�It is serves us well as a source of strength and balance. When it�s out of whack, your neck can be a source of unending distress. �Let�s face it�today�s use of technology has our necks being put to use in ways it was never intended. �Did you know that looking down at your phone can sometimes exert as much pressure as the equivalent of a 40lb weight?
Unfortunately for the vast majority of people, neck pain will affect them at some point in their lives. Women are more prone to neck pain but men definitely have their fair share as well.
One Of The Reasons Our Necks Pay A Price… We Sit A Lot
Whether it is at home in front of the TV or electronics or at work in front of the computer, our necks get a work out! Distresses on the neck are felt in many ways, including but not limited to: low back pain, severe headache, migraines, or even facial aching and tenderness.
What are some of the gentle ways you can give your neck a break? Good question, we are glad you asked! Thankfully, stretching our neck muscles regularly is easy to do and it can help relieve and prevent neck pain.
Back pain may be common, but it is not normal. It is so common that half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year. That means there are potentially 150,000 people who suffer from back pain in the city of St. Louis alone. Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide per the Global Burden of Disease 2010 and it is also one of the most common reasons for missed work. In fact, back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor�s office, outnumbered only by upper-respiratory infections.
Imaging will show all my back problems
Imaging may not reveal everything. Back pain is often a complex and multi-factorial issue, meaning that a spinal diagnosis isn�t always straightforward. To uncover what�s causing your back pain and what�s necessary for recovery requires a full clinical diagnostic process. This typically requires three steps. First you need a review of your medical history. To get to the root of your back pain, your physician should spend time asking you a series of questions about your symptoms, history, activities, positions, treatments, and more. After that is explored you will need a physical examination. A competent physician should check your spine to determine function, strength, discomfort in certain positions, and more. Lastly, you will go through diagnostic testing. Only after a physician has reviewed your medical history and given you a physical examination is imaging appropriate. Everything from an X-ray to CT scans and MRI scans can be appropriate to assess certain conditions.
Back pain that comes and goes isn�t a problem
Our bodies are incredible at adapting. However, what we know is that in nature nothing stays the same.� When someone tells me that their problem comes and goes it concerns me because it due to something that they are doing or not doing that�s causing them to either notice the problem or not notice the problem. Either way the underlying problem is still there and needs to be corrected. When the pain comes and goes, it�s usually the lead up to your back �going out� without warning. The reality for many individuals is that back pain is a result of a cumulative effect from simple movements.�� There�s always a cause for back pain and seeing a physician is your best chance for appropriate diagnosis and recovery
In fact if you find yourself saying, �back pain runs in my family� or �I just learned to live with it,� those are concerning statements because it means that the current approach you�re taking to correct the problem isn�t working, and you should make a change in order to actually correct the problem.
Drugs and Surgery are the only way to correct your back pain
In 2013 The Journal of the American Medical Association suggested chiropractic care as an option for people suffering from low back pain and noted that surgery is usually not needed and should only be tried if other therapies fail. In fact, after an extensive study of all available care for low back problems, the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research recommended that low back pain sufferers choose the most conservative care first. They also recommended spinal manipulation as the only safe and effective, drugless form of initial professional treatment for acute low back problems in adults
�Back pain is a normal part of aging
While we see back pain in older populations we also see it in younger populations as well.� We are seeing more and more people starting to have more back pain and arthritis at younger ages.� There are even times where I hear patients ask if arthritis in their spine is normal at their age. Again this may be common, but it is not normal.� If it were normal it would likely be seen in the entire spine not just in specific segments of the spine.
Tips to Prevent Back Pain
�Maintain a healthy diet and weight.
�Remain active�under the supervision of your doctor of chiropractic.
�Avoid prolonged inactivity or bed rest.
�Warm up or stretch before exercising or physical activities, such as gardening.
�Maintain proper posture.
�Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
�Sleep on a mattress of medium firmness to minimize any curve in your spine.
� Lift with your knees, keep the object close to your body, and do not twist when lifting.
�Quit smoking. Smoking impairs blood flow, resulting in oxygen & nutrient deprivation to spinal tissues.
�Work with your doctor of chiropractic to ensure that your
Dr. Vidan�is�a private practice Chiropractor in St. Louis. He�is very passionate about helping athletes from peewee�s to pro�s get back on the field after an injury and stay on the field. This allows athletes to enjoy the most out of their sporting experience. Dr. Vidan provided chiropractic care for the St. Louis Cardinals players and staff during the 2011 World Championship season, and continues to enjoy the opportunity to help athletes and organizations at the highest levels.
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