Chiropractors diagnose and treat many different spinal disorders that cause musculoskeletal or nerve pain. To begin being treated in the beginning of your appointment you will need to have some things done to figure out where the target area is that will need the most treatment. Similar to other types of doctors, a chiropractor performs a physical and neurological examination as part of his or her process of making an accurate diagnosis. X-rays or CT scan studies may be ordered to confirm your diagnosis, this is completely normal and also necessary for treatment. Every year, millions of people in the U.S. see chiropractors for relief of an array of ailments. Below we will go over some of the most common things a chiropractor does treat. All treatment may vary from different professionals.
Myofascial pain is a chronic pain disorder where pressure on sensitive points in your muscles—called trigger points—can cause deep, aching pain in seemingly unrelated parts of your body. This is known as referred pain. Sometimes myofascial pain feels like a “knot” in your muscle, and occurs after a muscle is used repeated
Short leg or leg length discrepancy is also known as limb length discrepancy (one leg is shorter than the other). It can be caused by different types of structural (eg, birth defect) or postural problems
Spondylosis or spinal osteoarthritis may affect the spine’s facet joints or other bones. This type of arthritis is often associated with aging.
Herniated disc usually occurs in the neck or low back. A herniated disc can cause pain when the outer ring (annulus) or interior matter (nucleus pulposus) presses on a nearby nerve root.
Whiplash is a hyperflexion/hyperextension injury commonly occurring when a motor vehicle is rear-ended. The neck and head are “whipped” suddenly and quickly forward (hyperflexion) and backward (hyperextension), which may lead to severe neck sprain and/or strain.
You may be suffering from pain that is not listed above, and more than likely a chiropractor will be able to help you. We have multiple muscles and joints in our bodies, so until they can see where the issue is it will be hard to tell what is your most problematic area.
