Monday, January 18, 2010

Chiropractic Treatment - Providing Effective, Drug-Free Relief For Chronic Pain

By Stephen Daniels

Those who are afflicted by chronic pain often feel that they must take prescription drugs just to make it through the day. Medications can certainly provide temporary relief, but they serve only to block the pain while the real issue goes ignored. However, chiropractic treatment can treat the problem that is actually causing the pain while providing drug-free pain alleviation for many conditions.

Utilization of drugs for pain relief often has unwanted side effects. It may also result in an unhealthy addiction to pain pills. Over-the-counter options, too, have problems: when taken too frequently or in higher doses, they could cause serious damage to the liver or kidneys. Simply blocking out the ache of an injury or other problem with medication may result in causing further damage, as you may not feel additional strain you are putting on your body. Also, many drugs stop working as well over time as your body builds up tolerance to them. This can eventually leave a patient with few ways to obtain pain relief. Chiropractic care can be used instead of drugs in many cases to provide a safer and sometimes even more effective way to solve the problem in both the short and long term.

Chiropractic manipulation is the practice of properly aligning the spinal vertebrae through manual adjustment. This practice has been used for centuries to treat many different kinds of medical issues and pain, with its earliest uses being documented in ancient Egypt and Greece. Today, chiropractors undergo special training and are licensed by the state. Many feature facilities with advanced technology such as x-rays for prompt diagnosis of vertebral alignment and other problems. Most procedures are now covered under both Medicare and private insurance.

Chiropractic treatment is based on the idea that the body is very good at regulating and healing itself. Any disruption in the flow of nerve impulses, however, impedes the body's ability to detect and address problems. These disruptions can be caused by spinal misalignment, muscle tightness, or slipped or herniated discs. A spinal manipulation aims to improve or correct the subluxation, or alignment, of vertebral joints, thus restoring the flow of impulses. This type of adjustment often provides immediate relief of pain without drugs. It can also decrease stress and muscle tension while increasing muscle strength and range of motion.

Recent developments in chiropractic treatment have made spinal manipulation more effective, more comfortable and even safer than ever before. Depending on the diagnosis, a practitioner may choose to manually adjust the vertebral column as well as hip and shoulder joints. Treatments may involve manipulations done with the aid of tables, weights, and other instruments. Active Release Techniques use a type of massage therapy to treat issues with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Modern chiropractors may employ hundreds of different methods.

Encompassing far more than just spinal adjustment, many chiropractic physicians offer a variety of holistic, drug-free treatments that work together to promote good health. These methods not only relieve pain, but prevent it in the future. Massage therapy, acupuncture, foot orthotics, and flexion-distraction techniques for issues with discs between vertebrae are just a few of the on-site treatments that some chiropractors offer.

Even more importantly, chiropractors can often help you to identify the sources of your chronic pain. They frequently recommend corrective exercises that can be performed at home to counteract these problems and prevent pain going forward. Many offer lifestyle and nutritional advice to help enhance your body's ability to heal itself.

If you're about to take yet another pill to dull that ache, perhaps it's time to consider chiropractic treatment. Chiropractors can help you find the source of the problem. They offer alleviation of pain in the short term as well as long term options for reducing and even eliminating pain, enhancing overall health and life quality for years to come. - 14130

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