Are Neck & Back Injuries Permanent?
Clear Lake Chiropractor Comments: One of the most common questions I get from patients after an injury is “Will I always have pain in the future”? Another common statement is to relate all current complaints to a previous accident or injury. This can be back pain from jumping off a roof when they were 15 or an auto accident that they had when they were in college. People are surprised when they are shown to have no degeneration from prior injuries or signs of prior trauma.
Most accidents or prior injuries do not cause permanent pain or impairments. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that impairment is “any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function”. Another way of saying it would be “a condition that interferes with an individual’s activities of daily living. The impairment becomes permanent when it has become static and stable and unlikely to change with further care.
Most accidents and injuries cause a mild to moderate sprain / strain injury or a soft tissue contusion (bruise). These injuries typically resolve in 8 weeks or less. With the proper treatment and therapy there is no permanent impairment or pain. The key to getting the problem resolved is to understand what happened to the body and providing the correct chiropractic adjustments to the joints, doing the proper therapy to minimize tissue inflammation and getting the patient to begin the necessary stretches and exercises as soon as possible. After the injury is resolved, the patient should be given a home based exercise and stretching program. These typically only take a few minutes to perform so it is easy to include in your daily routine, similar to brushing and flossing your teeth.
There are times when these injuries take longer, such as when a bone has been broken, ligaments or tendons ruptured or when surgery has been required. This is typically where permanent pain or discomfort can occur. Luckily that does not happen often.
Unfortunately some patients are told that they will always be in pain or that they can never do a particular activity again because of the injury. With a mild to moderate sprain / strain injury (this includes a small disc herniation) or contusion, you will not be limited with what you do if you are regularly doing the correct exercises and stretches. If you have not been given a home based exercise and stretching program by your previous doctor or therapist, ask your current chiropractor for a program that you can do on your own. He or she should be able to formulate a plan to get you out of pain and back to enjoying your activities of daily living. If they don’t give you a home care program, feel free to contact us for information.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at www.BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Are Chiropractors Real Doctors?
Clear Lake Chiropractor Comments: It continues to amaze me that I get asked this question several times a year. Sometimes it is from people trying to be negative and sometimes from people that honestly just don’t know. Even though chiropractic has been around for 125 years and approximately 15% of the population goes to a chiropractor they still don’t know the answer.
The word “doctor” can be used as a noun or a verb. According to Merriam–Webster, as a noun, it means “a learned or authoritative teacher” and as a verb, it means “to return to good condition”. These are both definitions that relate well to chiropractors.
Now some people will see of the word “doctor” and only think of medical doctors. This is a very narrow viewpoint because it eliminates the majority of the people with a doctorate. This eliminates doctors of osteopathy (DO), doctors of dentistry (DDS), doctors of optometry (OD), doctors of theology (DTh) and all of the doctors of philosophy (PhD).
Sometimes people will assume that to be a real doctor you have to perform surgery. This eliminates even the majority of medical doctors such as pediatricians, neurologists, physiatrists, internists, cardiologists and many more.
Sometimes the person has no idea of the educational requirements to become a chiropractor. To become a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) it takes 3 1/3 to 4 years of education after receiving your undergraduate education. The typical chiropractic curriculum has approximately 2000 hours of clinical sciences, 1500 hours of clinical clerkship plus electives to equal 4200 hours of instruction. In addition the doctor of chiropractic has annual educational hours required to maintain their license.
Hopefully this explains why the answer to the question “Are chiropractors real doctors?”, is YES. They just treat patients in a different way that doesn’t require drugs, medication or surgery.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at www.BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
