Visiting the chiropractor leads to adjustment, and lining up joints, and may even come with cracking and popping noises as a chiropractor works on your neck, back, and spine. How do chiropractors know where to adjust? How do they know just the right points to limit your pain? In this blog, we will discuss how our chiropractor with Elevate Wellness works to improve your mobility and knows what areas could be leading to your pain. Chiropractors do go through training and education to know how to safely adjust the spine, it is best not to try chiropractic techniques at home without the proper training. 

1- The Difference Between Adjustment And Cracking

When you crack or pop your joints at home, you are not fixing the problem. What happens when you hear a crack or pop is you pop a gas bubble in your joints. This only provides relief because it releases endorphins but it only moves your weakest joint. 

Although you may feel better for a minute or a couple of days, doing this consistently is not helping subluxations and can actually further damage your body. Cracking your back at home can lead to muscle strain, tears, stretched ligaments, or arthritis. This can make your pain worse or limit your motion even further. 

Chiropractors work to identify the subluxations that can lead to pain and will make adjustments that help the weak and stronger joints to work together. 

2- Patient Assessment And Manual Therapy

Chiropractors will speak with each patient about what they want help with and ask them questions about their posture, range of motion, and more. Answering these questions will help a chiropractor to know where misalignments are occurring and where to apply pressure when working with you. Chiropractors often adjust on symptoms and what they have learned from schooling or past experience.

Once they are ready to adjust, they use manual therapy which helps to move body joints and the spinal column into its proper order. Doing this and realigning the spine will help limit pain. Controlled pressure will help achieve this and you may hear some cracking or popping.

3- Utilizing X-Rays And Other Scans

Another tool used by chiropractors is x-rays, which can help them look for internal inflammation, bulging discs, scoliosis, or other issues that occur in the spine and bones. Using this tool will help them show you where your pain is originating from, and know where they need to focus to improve your range of motion. X-rays can also help them determine how long you may need to seek treatment and they may give you exercises to complete at home. 

Depending on what pain you experiencing or other issues you have, a chiropractor may order an MRI, CT scan, or other external tests to make sure that they can safely treat you. This will help them develop a plan for what areas need the most help and how to move forward.

Chiropractic Adjustment With Elevate Wellness

Elevate Wellness discusses your health history, does X-rays, and uses technology to make sure we make the right adjustments. Doing these steps will ensure that all adjustments and alignments are necessary and do not lead to further pain. We specialize in treating neuropathy, back pain, sports injuries, neck pain, whiplash, headaches, and more. 
Our chiropractor knows firsthand the benefits that can come from working with a properly trained chiropractor and now helps those in our community have better health. If you are looking to start chiropractic treatment, fill out our contact form here.

Seeing a chiropractor is more often than not, a long-term commitment to keep your body healthy. Some patients see a chiropractor for an injury, while others do it to relieve constant body pain. How do patients know when they are fully recovered and no longer need to seek treatment? When is the right time to cut back on appointments? Elevate Wellness wants our patients to know when their health has improved and how our care can help them throughout their lifetime. This blog will discuss different injuries and what the timeline for chiropractic care looks like for each. 

Weekly Or Monthly Chiropractic Appointments

Consistency is key with any health journey or something new if you want to see results. Weekly and monthly chiropractic sessions can help with the most painful conditions and help the most in the long term.

Waiting to seek treatment for pain will lead to body deterioration and the longer you wait to align your spine, the more pain you can experience. Feeling better physically and mentally is possible even just with a few chiropractic sessions. If you are looking to just feel better or improve your immune system, only a few appointments will be needed. 

Auto Injuries

Whiplash, broken bones or sore muscles from a car accident can be something that you are fully recovered from. Chiropractic care can help aid in the healing process and make your recovery process much simpler. Depending on what injury you have experienced, you may only need chiropractic adjustment once a week for a few months until you are fully recovered.

Herniated Discs

Patients with herniated discs can see improvement in 1 to 3 sessions every 2 to 4 weeks. Excruciating pain is going to be treated on a case-by-case basis and each person will need different techniques to help. 

Back Pain

80% of Americans experience back pain, so seeking medication or stretching for back pain is common. Lower back pain often is treated in 6 to 12 sessions during a 2 to 4-week cycle. After your symptoms have improved, chiropractors may suggest other exercises that you can complete outside of the chiropractic office and may limit the number of sessions you need on a weekly basis. Many patients may not ever consider themselves fully recovered from back pain, but learn to better manage the symptoms. 

Migraines

Chiropractic can help limit migraines and find relief without the need for medication. Each case will vary and some chiropractors will use stretching, massage, or a combination of multiple methods and holistic approaches. If you have genetic predispositions to headaches, you may need more chiropractic appointments. 

Stages Of Chiropractic Care

After an injury or consistent pain, your spine will need repetitive treatment in order to regain proper alignment. Below are the phases of chiropractic care and how they work to improve your body. 

Initial Intensive Care: Intensive care immediately addresses pain and symptoms. This requires frequent chiropractic sessions to help a patient find relief. Spinal adjustments can be combined with other exercises, diet changes, and lifestyle improvements. 

Rehabilitative Care: Acute symptoms will need to be reduced before you move into this phase. This is the phase where you will complete healing is possible and your body gains more strength. During the rehabilitative phase, lifestyle changes are even more important to maintain your health and progress. 

Wellness Care: This is more of an elective phase in the process and refers to when a patient is completely free of symptoms. Gaining progress during the other two phases is only maintained when you stay conscious about good health. 

Recovery With Elevate Wellness

Our team at Elevate Wellness looks forward to improving the health of the community. Improving your body and immune system can be accomplished with a chiropractic adjustment. No matter where you are on your health journey, we are here to help you accomplish your goals and work to make patients feel they are fully recovered.

Even if you don’t currently have symptoms, chiropractic can help you feel more energetic and improve your quality of life. Regular chiropractic care keeps your nervous system in check and helps you to live your best life, pain-free.

Getting an appropriate amount of sleep and getting quality sleep can help improve your physical and mental health. Proper sleep can help you overcome sickness, alleviate pain, and clear your mind. If you are someone who is constantly experiencing back pain, adjusting your sleep could help limit your symptoms. Improve your sleep habits or your sleeping position to avoid spinal misalignment and back pain. 

Elevate Wellness can help adjust your spine to limit back pain while you sleep. Proper sleep positions and proper mattresses can help you avoid misalignment and get deeper sleep. 

Find Better Mattresses

The type of mattress that you use can make a difference in your sleep and pain. Having a supportive mattress or one that curves along your body will help to cushion you as you sleep and provide support for your neck, back, and legs. This can help limit the pain by having proper weight distribution and limiting pressure on major pressure points that lead to pain.

Doing some research on the best mattresses for back pain will help you determine what mattress can help with your specific pain. The Sleep Foundation has a list of some of the best mattresses for lumbar support, best for those who sleep on their sides, best for spinal alignment, and more. 

Regulating the temperature of your mattress can also help you get better quality sleep. Even if your mattress is not the top-ranked for support, staying asleep and avoiding excess movement and sweating can improve your quality of sleep and thus improve your health. 

Different Sleepers Need Supportive Pillows

Using a pillow to elevate your head will improve your sleep and limit back pain. Pillows should be comfortable but also provide needed support for your neck and spine. Going to sleep in pain can make it hard to get some healing and restorative sleep. 

If you continue to experience back pain, try searching for a nontraditional pillow and look for one that can support the natural curve of your neck. When a pillow is too high, it can put excess strain on the neck, shoulders, and back. 

Sleeping Positions To Limit Back Pain

Different sleeping positions will also help you determine what pillow and mattress are best for you. For back sleepers, a thinner pillow will help provide support while you sleep. While those who sleep on their side may need a firmer or higher pillow. 

You can improve your sleep by working on changing your common sleeping positions to more support options. If you are a side sleeper, putting a pillow between your knees and pulling them slightly up to your chest can limit strain on your back. It is best to avoid sleeping on your stomach because it puts the most strain on your lower back. If you do sleep on your stomach, a thick and elevated pillow will help with back pain. 

Chiropractic Adjustment For Better Sleep

For patients who experience sleep apnea, snore, or struggle to stay asleep, chiropractic care can help limit your symptoms. Chiropractors can help your spine and body better communicate and circulate nutrients. Chiropractic can help with circulation, which will help sleep apnea patients get more oxygen. 

Chiropractors can work to help you limit stress and tension in the body, which will make sleeping more comfortable. Limiting stress in your daily life, doing chiropractic-recommended stretches before bed, and going to your chiropractic appointments will help improve your sleep and stop waking up with back pain. 

Improving the central nervous system function, improving blood flow, and relieving muscle tension can all be done by a professional chiropractor. Seeking chiropractic treatment may be the solution to your sleep problems. 

Chiropractic Care With Elevate Wellness

Dr. Casey Simmonds wants to help patients sleep better and limit back pain. If you want to improve your sleep, doing what you can at home combined with our chiropractic treatment can limit back, neck, or shoulder pain. 

Our Bountiful office looks forward to serving members of our community. We treat whiplash, headaches, back pain, neuropathy, spinal disc injuries, and more! During your first visit, we discuss your health history and what you hope to accomplish with treatment. Doing so helps us to understand what treatments will be most effective for you and determine how many sessions you will need. 
Contact our office to learn more about what we offer, or head to our website to read more about our treatment methods.