Integrated Team Care for Faster Results

August 21, 2019 Posted in: ASK AN EXPERT

On their own, physiotherapy and chiropractic care are both effective treatment approaches for a variety of ailments. Of course, there is also considerable overlap between the two approaches as both can be quite helpful for the same injury.

However, for those patients with more complicated problems that find their progress difficult or stalling, combining the two approaches can be great options in helping them achieve success. As they say 2 minds are better than one! Here at the Adelaide Clinic Dr. J and Carly are excited to work collaboratively to solve your pain and get you back to living your life pain free!

Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors are typically focused on assessing the health of your spine and determining how any problems in your spine may be affecting your back or other parts of your body. When problems are detected, chiropractic treatment is then carefully administered through the use of joint or spinal adjustments in order to improve the mechanics and movement of your joints and spine, thereby improving the ability of your body to heal and repair. In addition to the adjustments, chiropractors will often provide patients with additional information on things such as specific exercises, dietary and supplement recommendations and postural or ergonomic strategies in order to enhance their recovery.

Chiropractic Adjustment: What Is It And How Does It Help

It creates and promotes change

A chiropractic adjustment results in improvement in nervous system function. The brain, spinal cord, and spinal nerves comprise the nervous system that is the computer and the wiring that monitors and controls the entire body; by helping the nervous system to work better, chiropractic adjustment can help the entire body to work better.  If the nervous system is not working at 100%, the body is not working at its full potential.

Basically, the main job of a chiropractor is to use their hands in order to adjust the joints of your spine or the limbs wherever there is a form of restricted movement. The gentle and specific manipulation techniques help to restore normal body movement – and such treatment can make you move better and more freely.

On top of this, chiropractors are known for treating acute and chronic low back and neck pain, as well as conditions such as sciatica, neck-related pain, tension headaches, neck-related dizziness, joint conditions (in extremities) or vertigo.

Good health and solid well-being are dependent in the nervous system. Therefore, the chiropractic practice focuses on realigning the spine in order to make the body’s nervous system function properly.

Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy often centres around identifying deficiencies in movement patterns as well as recognizing any muscular imbalances or weaknesses. Treatment from your physiotherapist can include hands-on manual therapy, individualized corrective exercises to either stretch or strengthen key areas.  Physiotherapists assess and treat patients with muscle or joint conditions in order to reduce and eliminate pain and address muscle weakness, loss of stability and limited functional abilities.

The best of both worlds
For those patients who present with more challenging or complex injuries, significant breakthroughs in recovery often happen when both approaches are utilized in combination with each other. Much like building a fence, the first step is often ensuring that the fence post is vertical and in the correct position. Once that is established, concrete is then poured around the fence post in order to help it maintain proper positioning and alignment. Once proper function and movement are restored to a previously injured area of your spine or any joint for that matter, ensuring that all the other physical body elements around that structure are working properly and in the right sequence will help to not only improve but also maintain proper function and movement of that area. By doing so, this can also help lessen the chance of relapse.

It’s no secret in healthcare- collaborative care and using more than one technique improves patient outcomes.

Physiotherapy Mobilization: What Is It And How Does It Help

Aside from the technique known as chiropractic manipulation, the practice of physiotherapy focuses on mobilization techniques. In other words, physiotherapists nowadays treat back and neck pain, sciatica, arthritis, joint swelling as well as repetitive strain injuries by using a range of manipulation and massage techniques, electrical therapies as well as exercise.

The combination of all of these techniques helps in healing and restoring the movement. As such, physiotherapy commonly covers more aspects of the human body and helps patients to regain the abilities they had prior to their injury.

The best way to sum up what chiropractic manipulation is as a practice that is primarily concerned with responding to muscular and joint pain through rehabilitative exercise and the use of massage and stretching which may be combined with other processes (ultrasound, hydrotherapy or heat therapy).

Who To Call?

The best solution, after all, is a clinic that specializes in both chiropractic therapy and physiotherapy. By visiting such clinic, you will get properly examined and directed to the right professional and therapy for your needs.