Posture Correction: Chiropractic Care Taken to the Next Level

Sometimes it seems there are as many approaches to Chiropractic as there are practicing D.C.’s. When I was in school the comment was “All the approaches work” but as a practicing Doctor I believe some methods work a whole heck of a lot better than others. Rather than bash the other guy I’d prefer to explain why I believe my technique best serves the long-term interests of my patients. Simply put, I correct bad posture.

If you are a person who has never had an episode of low back or neck pain before, particularly if you know what caused it (A specific event that you know brought on your pain) you are one of the lucky ones who may experience the quick fix that is often available through a visit to a Chiropractor.

If you are one of the VERY common people who have suffered for years with repeat episodes or even worse chronic almost constant pain, you are VERY…. Not likely to be one of those quick fix people.

Most of the patients who appear in my office coming from another Chiropractor have been receiving what we used to tease about in school as “Pop and Pray” Chiropractic. They didn’t get a thorough exam, didn’t get any X-Rays, didn’t get any deep tissue massage or electrical stimulation and in fact didn’t really get a whole lot better. Oh their symptoms did in fact decrease but they never had complete resolution to their problems.

Why is that ? Without a thorough exam I am sorry your doctor just doesn’t really know what is going on. Again without X-rays, there is a HUGE part of the diagnostic onion that hasn’t been peeled. And without a component of the treatment being tissue oriented, half of the template of your problem is left untreated.

What is it that makes my technique different ? The fact that I do all of the above, and use the X-rays to analyze the physics of your posture so we can work together to correct it.

The fact is, bad posture creates chronic pain in nearly eighty percent of the people who appear with chronic pain as their chief complaint. This is particularly true on the opposite ends of the spine, the neck and low back.

How do we get the bad posture in the first place. There are two very common ways this happens.

One is called plastic deformation of tissue. This is trauma, falling down the stairs, motor vehicle accidents (Even minor fender benders can alter your posture by damaging the ligaments in your neck.) Even participation in sports like say…. Rugby or Snowboarding can cause repetitive micro trauma that can cause alterations in your posture and hence your spinal health.

The second way is called Visco-Elastic Deformation of tissue. This is due to the fact that the human body is 70 plus percent water. Yes we are actually highly vicious fluid creatures. When we hold out bodies hours at a stretch in positions counter to good posture (See my article on computer monitor height at: www.edcampchiropractic.com) we start to adapt to that posture which is deleterious to our overall good health and manifests as chronic neck or low back pain.

The good news is we CAN in fact correct bad posture with a regimen of Chiropractic care aimed at doing so. It takes a lot of time and energy to fix these conditions and sadly more time than many Chiropractors are willing to spend with their patients preferring a volume practice over one dedicated to this type of patient centered care.

What separates the men from the boys in Chiropractic, from my perspective its the willingness to do the work, AND take a post x-ray to prove that we have done what we set out to do and actually corrected the posture.

Check out my “Postural Correction Gallery” and see just what I am talking about. A picture says a thousand words.