Chiropractic Care
You may have heard a lot about chiropractic care in recent years—particularly about how it can help you with your headaches or lower back pain.
But what is chiropractic really?
How does it differ from conventional medicine?
How effective is it for some of your most common health issues?
To get more out of life, try getting adjusted! Here’s why: A typical visit will begin with a consultation in which you can tell us all about any problems you are having. Then we’ll put you through a few simple tests that will show us how your body is functioning in different areas—such as flexibility and balance. We’ll use these results to give you an adjustment — basically a treatment technique that realigns your spine to improve mobility and decrease associated symptoms.
Our chiropractic care combines manual treatments with exercises and lifestyle changes to help people reach their health goals. A healthy lifestyle plan is an important part of receiving care from a chiropractor; incorporating exercise and dietary habits into your routine will help you achieve maximum results.
What to Expect
If you’re new to chiropractic care, you may be a little wary of what is involved in your first appointment. That’s totally understandable! A lot of people are surprised when they first visit a chiropractor—especially if they’ve never seen one before. Generally speaking, there isn’t anything really scary about getting a good chiropractic adjustment – as long as you know what will happen when you visit. Here are some things to expect at your first appointment with a holistic doctor of chiropractic.
Phase 1: Relief Care
As soon as you step foot inside our office if you’re in pain, we will do everything possible to make sure you feel better. Depending on how severe your injury is, it could take anywhere from 2-3 visits per week for 4-12 weeks.
Phase 2: Corrective/Restorative Care
In the Corrective Care Phase, muscles and other tissues are allowed to heal more completely – this helps prevent injury. Typically, you will need care 4-8 times monthly for 6-12 months; your healing time can vary depending on how well you responded to treatment and what was originally diagnosed as your problem areas.
Phase 3: Wellness Care
Once your body has fully healed from an injury or trauma, it is very important to come in for periodic adjustments to avoid future problems. Usually, this only requires a quick visit to the chiropractor one to four times per month depending on your lifestyle and goals.
At Reid Chiropractic and Wellness Center, we take great pride in providing quality chiropractic care for our patients in Casselberry, Florida and surrounding communities. Based on our evaluation, we will recommend a suitable therapy program or service that supports the client’s needs and requirements.
Interferential Current Therapy (IFC)
Targeting the pain site, not the entire body, Interferential Current Therapy (IFC) is a noninvasive therapy indicated for the symptomatic relief from, and management of, chronic intractable pain and post-surgical and post-trauma acute pain. It provides a safe and effective alternative to pharmacological approaches to pain control. IFC has minimal side effects and is non-addictive. Adverse reactions associated with electrotherapy may include skin irritation beneath the electrodes.
Advantages of Interferential Current Therapy:
- Safe and effective alternative pain control medications
- Non-addictive and minimal side effects
- Patients can manage their own pain
Mechanism of Interferential Current Therapy:
When two medium-frequency circuits of slightly different cycles per second are superimposed, interference is formed which blocks the transmission of pain messages at the spinal cord level. This interferential stimulation is concentrated at the point of intersection, deep in the tissues, between the electrodes.
IFC modulates a high frequency (4000 Hz), versus TENS which typically delivers at 125 Hz. When current is applied to skin, skin resistance decreases as pulse frequency increases. Thus, IFC crosses the skin with greater ease and with less stimulation than with TENS. Interferential current reaches greater depths and over a larger volume of tissue than other forms of electrotherapy. Normally, very deep pain is difficult to reach with traditional modalities. IFC increases circulation as well.
Clinical Application:
Interferential current therapy has been used extensively to help manage pain, edema, and inflammation due to soft tissue irritation from trauma or degenerative changes, with less dependence on narcotics. IFC can be used for pain associated with several conditions including:
- Back pain (most common)
- Arthritis
- Strains and sprains
- Neuralgia
- Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
- Shingles
- Degenerative joint disease
- Interstitial Cystitis
Frequently Asked Questions
No, a referral is not generally required to see a chiropractor. However, that information will be verified with the person’s insurance prior to the initial appointment.
A typical doctor’s training includes an 8 year program of undergraduate and professional college study and clinic internship prior to entering private practice. The areas of science studies important to the health care of human beings, including diagnosis, anatomy, pathology, physiology, biochemistry, pediatrics, geriatrics, spinal manipulation, x-ray, nutrition, physical therapy modalities and various other appropriate subjects.
Chiropractic is widely recognized as one of the safest drug-free, non invasive therapies available for the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal complaints. However, as with any healthcare treatment there are risks, albeit very small. Most patients may feel some varying degree of immediate relief following chiropractic treatment, but some may also experience mild soreness, stiffness or aches,such as the feeling after some forms of exercise. This typically fades within 24 hours.
Yes, children can benefit from chiropractic care. Children are very physically active and experience many types of falls and blows, from simply learning to walk as well as sports activities. Injuries such as these may cause many symptoms including neck and pains, stiffness, soreness or discomfort. Chiropractic care is a highly skilled treatment and is always adapted to the individual patient and children are no exception. The consideration of chiropractic care for your child is reasonable and logical.
Chiropractic adjustment or manipulation is a manual procedure that utilizes the highly refined skills developed during the doctor of chiropractic’s intensive years of chiropractic education. The chiropractic physician typically uses his or her hands or an instrument to manipulate (adjust) the joints of the body, particularly the spine, in order to restore or enhance joint function. This often helps resolve joint inflammation and reduces the patient’s pain. Chiropractic manipulation is a highly controlled procedure that rarely causes discomfort. The chiropractor adapts the procedure to meet the specific needs of each patient. Patients often note positive changes in their symptoms immediately following treatment.
There is no definite answer to that question since every case is different. The hands-on nature of the chiropractic treatment is essentially what requires patients to visit the chiropractor a number of times. How long it will take to actually “get well” or improve depends on. Many factors such as nature of the complaint, lifestyle, weight, age and how long the condition has been present. Other factors such as Living habits, occupation, genetics, attitude and of course your cooperation will all contribute to the time required for you to improve. Your doctor of chiropractic should tell you the extent of treatment recommended and how long you can expect it to last.
Adjustment (or manipulation) of a joint may result in the release of a gas bubble between the joints, which makes a popping sound. The same thing occurs when you “crack” your knuckles. The noise is caused by the change of pressure within the joint, which results in gas bubbles being released. There is usually minimal, if any, discomfort involved.