This is a transcript from Dr. Echols’ what chiropractic does video:
Today I want to talk to you a little bit about what chiropractic is maybe a little about what it’s not. And a lot of people think of chiropractic when, when they think of going to a chiropractor, they think of back pain, neck pain or something like that. Maybe even headaches. But a lot of what chiropractors treat is other things with organs problems, such has heart burn, reflux, indigestion, thyroid issues, constipation. Those types of things. And today, I am going to take you through a step by step procedure that will show you what it would be like if you go to a chiropractor. And some of the procedures we might use.
One of the first things we would do when you come to the chiropractic office, is we take a detailed history. This is very important because it is important for the doctor to know what your health issues have been up to this point. If you fell off the roof when you were six years old on your head that’s going to be significant for the chiropractor to know about these things. We also want to know how well your body is functioning overall. So in addition to you telling the doctor about your back pain he may want to know about your digestive health, your heart, any heart issues, your cholesterol and those kind of things. So we can get a total picture of your health.
One of first things that’s going to happen when you come to the chiropractor your going to get a full exam. Now is my office we do a full physical, orthopedic, neurological and a chiropractic exam. Now this is very important because the doctor needs to gather all the information that he possibly can in order to treat you in the best possible manner. So the first thing we would do is some of the obvious tests, like blood pressure, pulse rate, huh. We would check your reflexes, biceps, triceps, the patellar and the Achilles reflexes. We would also check, do a pin wheel check across your hands to check see if the nerves are active.
We would also do a whole host of different orthopedic tests that I’ll show you later in the video. These help us find out if there is any damage to the spine or spinal nerves. We also palpate or feel of all the different muscles to find out if theres are any spasms in those areas. That will help us to tell what’s going on in that area as well. We follow it up usually with x-rays. These are very, very important because they help the doctor find out what kind of shape the spine is in. Is there a lot of arthritis in the spine? Is there some degenerative problems going on that the doctor needs to know about? Is the spine twisted or contorted in some strange fashion that would lead to this problem? Or is there something even more serious, some tumor or cancer that need to be identified before any treatment is done.
After the examination we are going to take all the information we gathered and we are going to sit down and come up with a solution to the problem. After we reviewed the x-rays and reviewed all the results of the examination we actually have you come back to the office and sit down and discuss your case with you in detail. We will actually show your x-rays as well. So, you can see with your own eyes what the problem is and then the doctor can explain to you how we are going to go about taking care of your particular problem. Each problem is different and each treatment program is different depending upon what we found in the examination.
“You will also notice in this part of your spine it looks pretty straight through here but when we get up this area is very, very crooked. So again you are having some problems in that upper part of your back and that’s why you are getting knots and problems up in the shoulder area. If you notice the spine from the front it’s suppose to be straight, alright. But from the side the spine has these curves in here. And again that’s what gives your spine the ability to absorb shock or stress. You got 24 of these moveable bones called vertebra, here, and 33 pairs of spinal nerves that come out from the spine. Now in your spine, if you notice were this nerve comes out there is a big hole there, an opening so the nerve can come out. But in your spine the vertebra actually shifted out of place and is putting pressure on that nerve.
Take your little bitty finger for me, stick it in that hole. Pretend that’s the nerve that’s in your spine. See how that moves out of place, sorry, I hope I didn’t hurt your finger, but that’s what’s happening in your spine. That’s what we call a subluxation. When a person has a subluxation, its going to interfere with that ability of that nerve to conduct the proper information across that nerve. What I am going to be doing through the course of my treatment is moving that vertebra off that nerve and restoring that normal nerve flow so that stomach problem you had been having should be getting some relief in short order. Also that neck and back problem you have been having, that again that should be helped dramatically by this.
After we have gone through all of the different findings from your examination its time to begin the treatment. The main treatment of a chiropractor is what we call the adjustment. The adjustments actually feel very pleasant. Unless there is an area of severe pain, in which there can be a little unpleasant, but usually the doctor will no put the patient through any kind of unnecessary pain that the patient can not handle. The adjustments usually consist of relieving pressure from the spine. When the spinal bones get contorted or out of place, they can generally put pressure on the spinal nerves which can go onto cause muscle spasms, pain and swelling in that area. So the job of a chiropractor is to gently move the vertebra off that nerve. When that happens often times the patient will here a clicking noise and often times that clicking noise is accompanied by a great relief.
Once the pressure is off the nerve the body can start to heal. The swelling can start to go down. The pain will start to diminish and the person will start to return to health. Sometimes this procedure needs to be repeated several times in order to get the nerve completely in the proper place.
One of the other tools that the chiropractor normally uses is physical therapy. And this is of a great benefit to the patient because it provides a lot of relief from the pain they are experiencing. We use thing like ice, heat and electrical muscle stimulation which helps to stimulate the muscles to reduce the spasms in that area. It also helps to bring blood flow to that area which helps to move all the damage tissue out of that area and bring a faster and a more rapid healing response. The chiropractor often times uses a roller table also. That roller table goes up and down the spine providing the patient with a lot of relief and actually feels very, very pleasant as well.
Many of my patients are often very, very surprised, and pleasantly so that chiropractic can treat such a wide variety of things besides just back pain. And the reason that is, is because chiropractic actually works with your nervous system to improve it, take pressure off of it, to restore it to its normal function. And your nervous system is what controls every single cell, organ and tissue of your body. So by restoring that we can often times improve the function of the stomach so that the digestion is better. Improve the function of heart so the heart is working better. Improve the function of the whole body. A person can get a great deal of relief and be very surprised at the results.
For your chiropractic questions or concerns, call Dr. Echols at 512-447-2422, or schedule an appointment online here:
