Who are chiropractors?
Chiropractors are medical professionals who rely on the body's ability to heal itself. They tend to cause problems with the musculoskeletal system, which is composed of bones, ligaments, nerves, tendons, and muscles. They help manage neck and back pain using a combination of spinal adjustments and manipulations, exercise, and nutrition.
Chiropractic care specializes in the realignment of joints to enhance the performance of the musculoskeletal system. This subsequently has an overall positive effect on general health and well-being. Chiropractors do not prescribe pain medications; instead, they use their hands or instruments to apply controlled force on a joint to move it back into place or in a specific direction to improve alignment.
They can also provide hot and cold therapy, relaxation, stimulation, exercise, dieting, weight-loss counseling, etc. A chiropractor can also use braces, shoe inserts, massage therapy, etc., to reduce pain.
Educational qualifications of a chiropractor
Chiropractors generally hold a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree. To become a DC, one must complete at least eight years of education and training, including four years of an undergraduate degree and four years of professional education.
The first two years of DC training comprise learning about basic sciences and taking the National Board Exams Part 1. The last two years include clinical sciences proficiency, followed by National Board Exams, Part 2. Lastly, one must complete at least a year of internship at a college clinic. Chiropractors can also specialize in orthopedics, radiology, neurology, family practice, rehabilitation, pediatrics, sports medicine, etc.
When should you see a chiropractor?
You can visit any of the top-rated chiropractors near you for the following reasons:
- Headaches: Headaches can stem from various factors, including spine or neck misalignments. A chiropractor can address this issue by enhancing blood flow, which results in increased oxygen levels in your brain, offering relief from headaches.
- Chronic back pain: If left untreated, chronic back pain might require surgical interventions. To avoid this, consulting a chiropractor is advisable. They can conduct spinal manipulations and adjustments to target the source of pain, reduce inflammation, and improve your range of motion. In addition, they can provide manual therapies and recommend exercises to help manage recurring back pain.
- Joint or muscle pain: Musculoskeletal misalignment is a common reason for joint and muscle pain. Your chiropractor can perform spinal manipulations to improve blood flow and neural connectivity to affected joints or muscles, alleviating pain and ensuring your body functions optimally.
- Sharp, shooting pain: If you experience sharp, shooting pain, often accompanied by tingling, weakness, or numbness in your legs, you might have a pinched nerve. Your chiropractor can diagnose its cause and perform necessary adjustments to reduce the pressure on your nerves, preventing pain and other symptoms.
- Sedentary lifestyle: If your job requires you to spend long hours seated in one place, you might end up with poor posture, which exerts excessive pressure on your neck, shoulders, and upper back. This pressure can cause the bones to move from their place, resulting in a slipped or herniated disk. A chiropractor can help you prevent this by ensuring that your spine is correctly aligned. They can also advise you on correcting your posture and suggest lifestyle modifications.
What are the benefits of chiropractic treatment?
Chiropractic adjustments can ease neck pain, back pain, osteoarthritis, headache, and scoliosis symptoms. Interestingly, recommendations from the American College of Physicians encourage those with chronic lower back pain to first go the non-medication treatment route. Apart from chiropractics, this includes yoga, acupuncture, meditation, exercise, tai chi, etc. Chiropractic care can also correct poor posture, mainly if it results from too much sitting.
Seeing a chiropractor can also reduce your dependence on opioid pain relievers. It is also a much more affordable option than conventional therapies. The duration of treatment also gets shortened. Chiropractic adjustments can improve athletic abilities and performance by enhancing joint mobility and reducing pain and tissue restriction.
What are the potential side effects of chiropractic treatment?
After a session with your chiropractor, it is possible to experience temporary fatigue and soreness, along with the occasional headache. These minor side effects generally subside within a couple of days. However, in some rare cases, you might experience more severe side effects, such as herniated disks and cauda equina syndrome (a pinched nerve in the lower spine).
Two studies conducted in 2017 have found that, in rare instances, chiropractic adjustments can lead to spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, quadriplegia, and cervical arterial stroke (when one or more of the arteries in the neck gets dissected).
Can a chiropractor safely help with arthritis?
If you have osteoarthritis that results in pain in the neck or back, chiropractic care is one of the safest options to explore. However, if your condition is inflammatory, such as psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, you must exercise caution. Chiropractic therapy should be avoided if your inflammation is active at present, i.e., if it is flared up.
Other reasons to steer clear of chiropractors include a fused spine or osteoporosis in the spine or neck. Generally, while not touching inflamed joints, chiropractors may adjust the ones surrounding them. This can significantly reduce overall pain by addressing secondary pain syndrome.
To help you in such cases, chiropractors can administer some adjunctive therapies. These include:
- Electrotherapy: In this kind of treatment, a chiropractor uses non-painful electrical pulses to treat soft tissue injuries through nerve and muscle stimulation.
- Ultrasound: Apart from being an imaging test, this procedure can also help relieve pain. Its sound waves can massage painful soft tissues and joints, reducing swelling and stiffness.
- Low-level laser: Also called cold laser, this therapy includes a non-heat-producing beam of laser or light that penetrates the site of pain, often decreasing inflammation.
- Infrared sauna: This technique involves a hot compress that warms up the joints internally with the help of controlled amounts of heat. Its possible benefits include pain relief and increased circulation.
Carelessness while opting for chiropractic care or just side effects of the procedure can result in various conditions, such as herniated disks, stroke, and pinched nerves in the lower spine. However, mild headaches, tiredness, or soreness after a session are not a cause for worry. Thus, it is advisable to do your due diligence before going to a chiropractor's office. It will be helpful to do so only in consultation with your regular medical practitioner and after checking whether they are licensed and registered professionals.
Finding top-rated chiropractors near you in Kansas City, Missouri
Pains in the neck, spine or other joints of the body can take a toll on one's quality of life and ability to carry out daily activities. Thus, seeking timely care to regain comfort and a pain-free life becomes essential. However, this isn't easy, considering the sea of chiropractors. To help you find the most suitable one for you amongst them all, you can rely on Zocdoc.
To start your search, you can use Zocdoc's easy-to-navigate and user-friendly interface to enter the details of your area or symptoms. Once you do that, a list of practitioners in your vicinity will appear. By browsing their profile, you can become familiar with their educational qualifications, areas of expertise, experience, and licensure. Zocdoc also lets you know their ratings, awards, accreditations, languages, whether or not they treat children, insurance plans they accept, etc.
After you have browsed to your satisfaction and shortlisted a few chiropractors near you, you can take your final pick by reviewing previous patients' reviews. These are continually verified by Zocdoc and are thus reliable. Once you have decided on a practitioner of your choice, you can book an in-person or virtual appointment directly, securely, and at no additional cost.
Chiropractic statistics in Kansas City, Missouri
Findings from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that as of May 2021, there were around 890 active chiropractors in Missouri. Out of 1,000 employed people in the state, about 0.32 were in chiropractic practice.
America's Health Rankings 2022 Annual Report details that in 2021, nearly 29.1% of all adults in Missouri had arthritis. This is much higher than the national rate of about 25.8%. Between the ages of 18 and 44, around 10.8% of Missourian adults experienced arthritis. An estimated 37.9% of those between 45 and 64 and 52% of the state's residents who were 65 and above had arthritis. Amongst the men and women of Missouri, the rate of arthritis was about 25.6% and 32.5%, respectively.
Sources
Arthritis Foundation
Spine-Health
WebMD
Healthline
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
America's Health Rankings
Cleveland Clinic
Gifford Health Care
Verywell Health
