Every day, millions of people suffer from headaches. They can range in type, causes, and severity, but all headaches affect your quality of life and impact your ability to think clearly and enjoy your day-to-day activities. There are many different treatments out there that people seek out in order to alleviate their pain, including the various ways chiropractors help with headaches. Here is what you need to know about the different types of headaches and how chiropractors help with headaches.  

Types Of Headaches

Headaches can be caused by many different conditions and factors, and range in frequency and severity. Most people only have the occasional headache here and there, but some experience excruciating migraines or cluster headaches. How chiropractors help with headaches will depend on your type of headache. They’ll always seek to assess and diagnose your type of headache and any triggers in order to determine the proper treatment method for you.

There are three common types of headaches: tension headaches, cluster headaches, and migraines.

• Tension headaches are the most common type of headaches. They’re usually mild to moderate in pain, and aren’t typically considered dangerous by medical professionals. Tension headaches can be either episodic or chronic. They’re episodic if you get them less than 15 days out of the month and chronic if you have them more days than you don’t. 
• Cluster headaches are rare, but cause extreme pain. They occur in clusters, with each headache lasting 1-3 hours. Their frequency can range from several times a day to every other day, followed by remissions that can last months or years. While not life-threatening, they’re excruciatingly painful.
• Migraines cause pulsing sensations or throbbing pain that can be severe, usually accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound and nausea and vomiting. Some people experience auras prior to an attack. Migraines can last anywhere from hours to days at a time.

Causes Of Headaches

There are many different potential causes for headaches. When chiropractors help with headaches, they will always ask you questions about any potential triggers you may have noticed that could have caused the headache. Headaches can be caused by many factors, from your genetics to the foods you eat to muscle tension to a spine out of alignment and more. 

In order to ensure chiropractors help with headaches in a way that is beneficial to you, they will always try to find the underlying cause to ensure effective pain management and relief. Some common causes of headaches include:

• Muscle tension
• Stress
• Hormonal changes
• Poor posture
• Staring at screens for long periods of time
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Smoking
• Dehydration
• Alcohol
• Fatigue
• Eye strain
• And many more

How Can Chiropractors Help With Headaches?

The problem many doctors, both medical and chiropractic alike, see with headaches, is that they can cause an increasing dependency on painkillers that get less effective as your body gets used to them, making you need more and more in order to find relief. Unfortunately, trying to relieve headaches can often result in even more headaches due to medication overuse. 

This is why it’s so important to understand the cause of your headaches so that you can treat the root cause and avoid potentially making them worse rather than helping them. Chiropractors help with headaches in just that way. When you seek out chiropractors’ help with headaches, they’ll ask about the frequency, severity, and duration of your headaches, and whether anything seems to cause them. 

Chiropractors help with headaches by coming up with a treatment plan customized to you and your needs. This can include anything from dietary adjustments to spinal manipulations to chiropractic massage and more. While there’s nothing wrong with painkillers here and there, you don’t want to end up with painkillers worsening your headaches rather than helping them. 

Chiropractors help with headaches through providing natural treatment methods that are designed to target the root problem in order to find lasting relief and pain management. For example, if your spine is out of alignment, this limits your neck’s range of motion and can cause problems with your nerves, muscles, and blood supply, which can lead to headaches. By realigning your spine, these problems are resolved and your headaches can be alleviated.

Do You Need Our Chiropractors’ Help With Headaches?

Elevate Wellness offers chiropractic treatments for headaches. We use manual therapy, soft tissue therapy, education about lifestyle changes, and more in order to provide you with lasting relief. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and let us help you find your way to a pain-free life!

An unfortunate reality of today’s world is the commonality of car accidents. Regardless of who was at fault or whether the accident was mild, leaving your car with barely a scratch, or if it was severe, it can be very beneficial to see a chiropractor after a car accident. One of the first things people think of after a car accident is going to the hospital, especially if there are immediately apparent injuries. 

What many people don’t realize is how helpful it can be to see a chiropractor after a car accident too, after seeing a doctor. Here’s what you need to know about why it can be helpful to see a chiropractor after a car accident and the issues that chiropractors can help you with. 

When To See A Chiropractor After A Car Accident

Of course, one of the first things you should do after being involved in a car accident is to seek medical attention. Even if you don’t feel any pain at the moment, in a few hours, after the adrenaline wears off, you could find that you have injuries you didn’t even realize were there. After seeking medical attention, you should then see a chiropractor, even if you don’t think you’ve sustained any injuries at all. 

It’s recommended that you see a chiropractor within three days of the car accident in order to ensure that any injuries, obvious or hidden, that you’ve suffered can be treated as soon as possible. The sooner you seek treatment, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to make a full recovery and be restored to good health. 

Why See A Chiropractor After A Car Accident?

Chiropractic care is a key component of recovering from a car accident. There are a number of reasons for this. Here’s what you need to know about the top reasons to see a chiropractor after a car accident.

#1. Diagnosis Of Hidden Injuries

As mentioned above, adrenaline is very deceptive. It’s how our bodies make it through traumatic experiences and what allows them to do things they wouldn’t be able to normally, such as lifting cars in order to free a child trapped under one. However, adrenaline can also hide the signs of injury, making people refuse imminent medical treatment because they mistakenly believe that they’re fine.

The reality is that many injuries, such as whiplash, can take weeks or months to manifest. Visiting a chiropractor sooner rather than later will ensure that your injuries are found, diagnosed, and treated. A chiropractor will be able to conduct an in-depth evaluation that will find signs of any injuries, such as soft tissue damage, whiplash, muscle strain, spinal misalignment, and more. 

#2. Immediate Treatment And Diagnosis Matters For Insurance

If you’re working with insurance or an attorney, the sooner you obtain documentation of your injuries, the better for your case. Being able to have your injuries diagnosed and on record right away will minimize the other party’s insurance company trying to claim that the injuries you sustained weren’t related to the crash. This is part of why it’s recommended you see a chiropractor after a car accident, preferably within 72 hours of the fact – not only to get treatment, but also to make things easier for your insurance and attorney.

#3. It Provides Instantaneous Relief

It’s very, very common for people to start to experience aches and pains as soon as immediately after a car accident occurs. These only worsen as time goes by, making it so that you can be incredibly stiff and in a lot of pain the following day. When you see a chiropractor after a car accident, they will be able to help provide instant relief for your stiffness and pains with their adjustments and manipulations and other chiropractic treatments designed to realign your body, alleviate tension, and relax your muscles.

#4. Chiropractors Can Help With A Number Of Injuries

When you’re in a car accident, your body is put under a significant amount of force and pressure that can easily knock it out of alignment. This can result in many different injuries, many of which chiropractors can help with.

Some of the symptoms following car accidents that chiropractors can help with include:

• Whiplash
• Headaches
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Shoulder pain
• Limited range of motion
• Blurred vision
• Herniated discs
• And more

Do You Need To See A Chiropractor After A Car Accident?

If you’ve suffered a car accident, it’s important to seek out treatment as soon as possible. Elevate Wellness offers professional chiropractic treatments that can help you rehabilitate and get back to life as normal. Contact us to schedule a consultation. 

For many people, when they think of doctors, their mind goes to medical doctors, leading them to wonder why chiropractors call themselves doctors if they don’t have medical degrees. While medical doctors are certainly one type of doctor, and among the most commonly known, they are not the only doctors out there. People who get PhDs are doctors, yet many of them do not practice medicine. Chiropractors call themselves doctors because they are – just not in the way you most commonly think.

How Chiropractors Are Doctors

In order to be a medical doctor, you need an M.D. degree, which chiropractors don’t have. You can’t see a chiropractor for many issues you’d see a medical doctor for because they are not trained in how to treat problems, like broken bones and the like. Chiropractors call themselves doctors because they are doctors of chiropractic care, which refers to the practice of utilizing non-invasive adjustments with your hands in order to correct alignment problems and improve how your body functions.

As you may expect, since chiropractors treat the body, they’re required to have in-depth training in order to lawfully practice. This includes:

• A Bachelor’s degree with a focus on “pre-med” or the sciences, such as biology, kinesiology, exercise science, human biology, anatomy, and more.
• A 4 year healthcare degree from a university or college that is accredited.
• A state license that they need to pass a national board exam in order to obtain.
• Proven competence with working with patients, generally one year. 
• Continuing education requirements in order to keep their licenses.

In most states, chiropractors are designated physician-level providers. Many insurances cover chiropractic care, including the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, Medicaid, Federal Workers’ Compensation, state worker’s compensation programs, and more. 

What Chiropractors Can’t Do

Chiropractors have a bit of a bad reputation due to a few bad apples claiming that chiropractors can provide services they simply aren’t qualified for and that their treatments can help issues that science hasn’t proven. Every field has people like this that can smear the public idea of the profession as a whole, unfortunate as it is. It’s a big part of why people are so skeptical over why chiropractors call themselves doctors and ask if chiropractic care is even legitimate. 

Chiropractic care is legitimate, but like everything else out there, it has its limitations. If you run into a chiropractor claiming they can do any of the following things, you’ll know that they’re not legitimate and that you should continue your search to find a qualified chiropractor who is legitimate and honest, who you’ll be able to entrust your care to. 

Chiropractors cannot:

• Prescribe medications. Chiropractic as a whole is a field that is very proud of how its treatments are all natural and non-invasive. Chiropractors will always strive to get to the root of the problem so that you can avoid having to take meds whenever possible. Aside from the nature of the field as a whole, prescription medicine can generally only be prescribed by medical professionals and psychiatrists. While chiropractors are doctors, they’re not medical doctors, so they cannot prescribe medication.

• Conduct surgery. You need extensive, specialized training in order to be a surgeon, which chiropractors don’t have. Just because chiropractors call themselves doctors (because they are), doesn’t mean they can treat every health issue out there. Besides, chiropractic care is focused on non-invasive treatments to restore body functions and assist in rehabilitation and strengthening. Surgery is as invasive as it gets!
• Treat traumatic injuries. There are many injuries that chiropractors can treat, such as whiplash, back pain, hip pain, and more. They cannot help you with fractures or other such traumatic injuries, although they can help you in the rehabilitation process after a medical doctor has done their part.
• Advertise themselves as medical practitioners. This has happened a lot over the course of pandemics in history, which makes the majority of legitimate chiropractors look bad when they’re not. Chiropractic care helps you maintain better overall health, helps you heal faster, and helps you regain strength and mobility – but they cannot claim to be a substitute for medical doctors. When you have chiropractors call themselves doctors, and they’re claiming to be medical doctors, that’s when it simply isn’t true. 

What Chiropractors Can Treat

Just because chiropractors can’t treat every problem doesn’t mean that it’s wrong that chiropractors call themselves doctors. They wouldn’t be required to go through such extensive training, be covered by insurances, and be honored as doctors on a state and federal level if they weren’t. Chiropractors can treat a wide array of issues, and many medical doctors will refer you to chiropractors for treatment for ailments such as spinal disk issues and sports injuries and back pain and the like. 

In many cases, people find it beneficial to see a chiropractor before they see a medical doctor. This is because since chiropractic care gets to the root of the problem, in many cases, chiropractic care can eliminate the need to take the next step of going to a medical doctor. 

Some of the reasons why people see chiropractors are:

• Leg pain
• Hip pain
• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Muscle tension
• Sprains
• Pelvic pain
• Shoulder pain
• Headaches
• Alignment problems, like scoliosis
• Whiplash
• Stress
• Sleep problems
• Helping align the pelvis for birth
• And more

Chiropractors call themselves doctors because they have every right too, with all the specialized knowledge and experience their field necessitates in order to treat people. Elevate Wellness has a team of experienced, legitimate chiropractors who are open and honest with you through every step of your treatment. We’ll get to the root of your problem and utilize non-invasive methods such as adjustments in order to improve your quality of life. Contact us today to schedule an appointment, and let’s get started on helping you feel better!