4 Myths About Chiropractic Care Deconstructed

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to explore some of the myths related to Chiropractic care! Hopefully, this will help shed some light on some of the questions you may have about Chiropractic. Let’s get into it!

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Myth 1: If I go to a Chiropractor, I will have to go for the rest of my life.

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The most important thing to remember is that you need healthy movement in the spine and other joints to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Otherwise, years of wear and tear due to poor mechanics will lead to increased degeneration or even injury, without a fall or other trauma! Chiropractic adjustments are one of the absolute best ways to improve on the function of a joint complex in order to keep things moving in a healthy way. I don’t put pressure on any patients to return or continue care under maintenance once they have received treatment. 

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I do recommend a maintenance routine for Chiropractic adjusting, but I always tell my patients that maintenance is different for everyone and it’s up to you! Depending on how well you take care of yourself, you may not need to check in as often. I have had patients that like to come in once a week all the way to once a year! It varies, and if you do well to stretch, exercise, practice good posture, and eat healthy, odds are you will need to be seen much less. 

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As always, the choice is yours. We are here to provide quality care in a friendly and professional atmosphere to help you reach your health goals.

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Myth 2: Chiropractor Physicians are not “real” doctors. 

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Let’s take a look at some facts to see what a Chiropractor will go through in order to obtain their degree. Chiropractors are required to go through a 4 year doctorate program. They are required to complete at least 4,200 hours of education, labs, and clinical time in order to obtain their doctorate degree. There have been multiple studies done on the subject, but the general consensus is that both Chiropractors and Medical Doctors will complete roughly 4,600-4,800 hours of education in their core curriculum average when comparing multiple schools across the disciplines. 

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Although the topics of study are almost identical for both programs, they differ in hours of study for individual subjects within their respective degrees. For instance, Chiropractors typically spend more time on anatomy, diagnosis, and neurology. Whereas a Medical Doctor will spend more time on pathology, physiology, and psychiatry.  There are of course other topics included in the curriculum for each degree, but this is an example of how the hours are allocated.

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The bottom line is that a Chiropractic Physician goes through extensive training and education, much like a Medical Doctor, in order to provide safe and effective healthcare for a variety of different conditions within their respective field of study. 

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Myth 3: Chiropractic adjustments are dangerous.

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Early on in my career, I had the pleasure of working with a Chiropractor who was 70 years old and still manually adjusting patients. I asked him once if he had anyone respond adversely to one of his adjustments. He told me that as long as you do a thorough history, examination, and X-rays (when not contraindicated), that you should never have any trouble treating patients. Well, I am now in my tenth year in practice and must say that I would have to agree with him!

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There are risks to Chiropractic manipulation, but that is why it is incredibly important to identify situations in which a practitioner should not be adjusting the patient. Studies show that in general there are roughly one in a million significant adverse reactions to a manual adjustment. Truth be told, patients are at far more risk with an increased likelihood of side effects taking common medication like NSAIDS for their pain. 

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When you do see a Chiropractor, make sure that the practitioner is taking their time to properly evaluate you. For the most part, the only adverse reaction you should have to a Chiropractic adjustment is a little soreness much like you would have if you worked out. So be sure to drink plenty of water!

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Myth 4: Chiropractic care is only for adults, not for kids. 

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I often hear this question in practice, “do you treat kids too?”, and the answer is yes! Chiropractic care can help kids in a lot of ways, and the adjustments should be comfortable and very gentle. 

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Some common reasons I see kids include: neck and back aches, constipation, digestive issues, headache, growing pains, and ear infections. Chiropractic care for pediatrics has also been found to help out with sleep, bed wetting, and even colic or reflux for babies. I have parents that will bring their kids in after they’ve had a fall or after they get more involved with sports. It’s important to have them evaluated if you have any concerns. 

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Chiropractic care is very safe and effective for kids, and as always, I will refer kids and/or any other patients to another doctor when what they have does not fall under my scope of practice. 

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Thanks for taking the time to read about the 4 myths I most commonly see about Chiropractic Care!

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-Brian Chinn, DC