Chiropractic
What can I do at home to help with my lower back pain?
There is no cookie-cutter answer to the question of low back pain; this is why chiropractors, as experts in this area, have advanced training to diagnose what is going on in your body. But what you can do at home to have a healthy body is to move! Your body was built to move all day so going for an easy walk where you allow your arms to swing freely can be a great healer. It is a nice place to start the road to strengthening the body but there are also targeted exercises that help correct any imbalances you may have that are causing you pain. In fact, most of our patients find that the exercises we send home with them prevent future injuries. Another way to decrease your pain at home is to try to breathe through your belly. When you allow your belly to expand with your breath, your body creates a natural support system for your low back, protecting you from pain. Another tip is to think about your posture. Slouching puts extra pressure on your spine, which means extra tension on your nerves. You can also see a chiropractor. At Sublime Health, we address your muscles as well as your joints to get your body moving better and with less pain. So stand up tall, take a nice deep breath that fills your belly, and walk on over to Sublime to get your low back feeling better.
Stay tuned for some blog posts with more tips on self-care!
When should I book an extended appointment?
If you know that you need more time than usual with our chiropractors, we always appreciate it if you book an extended appointment. We can then provide a little extra care without rushing you through your appointment. For example, if you have 3 or more areas that need our attention, if you need cranial or visceral treatments, or if you want to spend time in our rehab room learning exercises that you can do at home.
Why would an infant need to see a chiropractor?
Anyone with a body can benefit from body work. Kids have a lot going on! Birth is traumatic, even under the most ideal circumstances, and can lead to dysfunction within the body. Childhood is one of the most active periods in life. The first few years come with lots of bumps and falls as your child learns to crawl, walk, etc. Older children are often involved in very active extracurriculars. Good biomechanics become crucial in this age group. It is important to ensure that your child uses proper movement to set the foundation for a healthy body. When joints (spinal, cranial or otherwise) are not moving properly, they can irritate the nervous system. Since the nervous system runs your child’s body, this often leads to dysfunction. In kiddos, this manifests differently than adults. Ways to know if your baby is in need of care include poor sleep, nursing difficulties, torticollis or constipation. For school age children, complaints of growing pains, ‘rolling ankles’, clicking joints or increased soreness following activity may be the first symptom of poor biomechanics and muscular imbalance. As holistic practitioners, we believe in preventative medicine as well as treating acute problems. Chiropractic care removes sources of interference, restoring function, and allows the body to heal itself. We are movement specialists who take pride in setting the body up to perform at its peak ability. Early treatment gives your child the best possible start for a healthy life!
Is chiropractic care safe for my child?
Chiropractors provide one of the safest care options for kiddos. Most quality research found less than 15 injuries in more than 120 years of pediatric chiropractic! Not only is it safe, but chiropractic care has shown to be helpful in treating many issues facing families including constipation, torticollis, and feeding issues. As a Doctor of Chiropractic, we use gentle touch to help soothe the muscles, joints and nerves in new babies. Being born is hard work. In both vaginal and c-section births, baby’s head is under a lot of pressure and since the head houses the nervous system, restriction here can cause discomfort elsewhere in the body. We often use craniosacral therapy to specifically treat restrictions within the cranium and nervous system. When chiropractors treat babies, it looks different than when we work with an adult. Much of the difference is lighter pressure. To treat the muscles of a new born, we use less pressure than it takes to bruise a peach. If the chiropractor and parents feel an adjustment is appropriate, the strength of the adjustment is similar to a key stroke on your computer. As chiropractors, we love treating babies because we get to see changes happen for baby- and for the new family- usually within just a few treatments.
Being a new parent is full of tough decisions; seeing a chiropractor to help with your child’s wellness shouldn’t be one of them.
Is it safe to be adjusted during pregnancy?
It is absolutely safe to see a chiropractor through pregnancy. Our training allows us to know what we can and cannot treat with confidence.
Will it hurt to be adjusted?
Typically, an adjustment is not painful; most patients report that they like how an adjustment feels. However, if a joint is very inflamed, some patients will experience brief pain during the adjustment. Some patients also report an associated soreness after an adjustment, similar to that experienced after a deep tissue massage or after your first day back at a sport or exercise program.
What will my first chiropractic appointment look like?
While everybody’s first experience is unique, there are some things that each of our patients can expect from their first time seeing a chiropractor. You will be required to fill out some paperwork, so please allow yourself about 15 minutes before your appointment time to complete our patient intake forms. These forms give us the opportunity to direct your assessment and make better use of your time.
After reviewing your paperwork, our chiropractors conduct a thorough history to determine what has brought you to see us, how it’s impacting your day-to-day-activities, and to get a sense of your medical and injury history. If you have an extensive list of medications, surgeries or injuries, it can be helpful to come prepared with a list for our files.This history will be used to direct our physical examination.
Come prepared to move! The purpose of the physical examination is to help the chiropractor determine what is causing your problem and helps us to direct your treatment plan.
After you have been assessed, we will discuss with you what we suspect is going on, and what we recommend to do about it. This is your opportunity to ask any questions you may have, and have input on your treatment plan. Our treatment plans will include whatever combination of techniques we feel is most appropriate for you and your body.
If time permits and we have no significant concerns, such as needing an x-ray to rule out pathology, we try to treat each patient on their first visit. It is important to us that you get some relief as soon as possible.
What should I wear to my appointment?
Comfortable and flexible clothes are best. We need to be able to assess full range of motion, so something you might wear to the gym is ideal. Stretchy clothes that can be rolled up if we are treating elbows, shoulders, knees, or ankles. However, we can work around just about anything, and have some (not so pretty) things we can lend you to wear for your appointment.
I’m pretty nervous; do I have to get my neck adjusted?
We see many people in our practices who are apprehensive about adjustments for their neck. That’s why we’d like to start by saying that neck adjustments are actually quite safe for the majority of people. We are well trained in determining who is a candidate for this chiropractic adjustments, and we will recommend another course of action if we don’t feel that it is a good option for you.
We also take patient preference into account. While we recognize that chiropractic manipulation (adjustments) can be very beneficial and have a low incidence of associated adverse events, we will not push someone to receive any treatment that they are not comfortable with. We have a variety of other techniques at our disposal to treat you. These include using the Activator (a tool which lets us deliver an adjustment with low force and no “cracking” sound), providing mobilizations rather than adjustments, or sticking to soft tissue techniques like ART.
Can you treat my…..?
If it’s part of your movement system, we can treat it! This means that if something is giving you pain, from your head to your toes, it is always worth getting it checked by a chiropractor. If it’s not something we can help, we will let you know.
Do you direct bill?
Yes, we can direct bill for most benefits plans. If you are unsure, please don’t hesitate to contact us about it.
How often and for how long will I need to be treated?
Each patient’s treatment plan is individualized to their needs, so the easiest answer to this question is: as long as it takes to get you better. The average treatment plan at our clinic starts with 1-2 visits per week, then shifts toward less frequent visits. This can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Some patients will opt to come in for regular maintenance visits to make sure their body is moving at its best. We highly encourage this, but we also know that it’s not for everyone.
Our goal as chiropractors is to give you the tools you need to not depend on us as often in order to feel your best.
