When it comes to a chiropractor in Livingston you might think that they focus on ONLY spinal adjustments. I mean, that’s what a Chiropractor is after all isn’t it? But, in this modern day and age, more and more Chiropractors are starting to offer other things besides just an adjustment and for good reason. While an adjustment is a very beneficial service given to you by your chiropractor, we all have different needs and different issues. Instead of being a specialized chiropractor, most choose to offer a variety of options which benefits them – more clients, and it benefits you because you don’t need to be running around to 4 different places looking for 4 different treatments. If you want to know about more of the popular and very beneficial services that some chiropractors have started to offer, continue to read below for more information.
If you deal with a lot of back, spine or even neck pain, a chiropractor may actually alternate between hot and cold therapy. This is mainly used in the same way you can do it at home, but at home you can’t get a nice adjustment afterward by smart-hands that know what they are doing. The doctor may use heating pads and ice packs as a way of restoring blood flow to the area – blood flow to a specific area can promote and will promote faster self-healing, an amazing function that almost everyone possesses. Ice pads are usually placed on the area where the pain is for about 10-15 minutes to numb the back and then heating pads will be placed on the area for inflammation. The Chiropractor may even wrap your entire back area in heating pads or ice pads to really help increase blood flow.
Believe it or not, your chiropractor doesn’t like seeing you in pain. Sure, they benefit when you come in. But, any really good doctor wants to see your back or neck fixed. They want to see you in less pain and having less discomfort, so it should really be no big surprise that some will also help you figure out some exercises to do in order to increase stretching and of course strengthening of the back. There may be 1 exercise or up to 5 that they may suggest that you can do on your own in the privacy of your own home. They may even suggest a link to their website where he or she shows you how to do the exercises correctly.
Sure, you can see a message therapist, but no one knows your history of back pain and issues more than your chiropractor. Some Chiropractors DO offer massage therapy as a way to massage the soft tissue surrounding your spine and back. The massage is a great and very relaxing way to help improve circulation and blood flow, but it can also help in getting rid of inflammation in your tendons, muscles and soft tissue, and this will in turn ease away things like back pain and back aches. As mentioned above, blood flow and circulation to a specific area is also a great way to promote self-healing so you can heal quicker in a more natural way without medication.
Beyond just hot and cold packs, a chiropractor can also use an ultrasound which helps create things like sound waves and deep heat for a heat therapy. This also helps with soft tissues, joints and muscles. Along with the other services, this one also helps the healing process, helps create better circulation and blood flow, and yes, it also helps to get rid of aches, pains, muscle stiffness, etc. The sound waves basically help create these little patches of micro massaging on the area where you are having issues. It’s a very ingenious yet basic way of getting rid of any discomfort you may be having.
A lot of the time when you have issues with your back, it’s because of a pinched nerve in between the spine and the vertebrae. Because of this, you can feel a sort of “pinching” pain near your spine. It might hurt sometimes – such as when bending over or working or it might hurt all the time. Either way, this can be a really painful issue. Thankfully, TENS or Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators can help fix it. Essentially it’s a form of electrical stimuli. The unit of the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators has pads connected to the unit. The pads are then placed over the areas which are causing you pain and electrodes within the pains are centralized to the area of the pain. The user, aka the chiropractor, can choose the intensity of the electrodes. The Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators are believed to block the transmission of pain signals where the nerves in your back are. The Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators also help to release your body’s natural painkiller – endorphins.