With all the hype and speculation surrounding chiropractic care, as well as most alternative forms of healthcare, it is common to have misconceptions and myths arise. Just like most areas of treatment, chiropractic draws its own fair share of followers and critics. So, we would like to take this opportunity to help you better understand chiropractic, as well as dispel a few of the myths about it. If you do not find the answers you’re looking for here, please feel free to contact. Our doctors and staff are more than willing to answer any of your questions about chiropractic care, and what we do specifically for those who trust their health to it.
MYTH: Once You Begin Chiropractic, it’s a Lifetime Commitment
FACT: This is a trick myth. Chiropractic is great for pain relief, but if applied with muscle balancing and core strength, you can get the muscles to hold the spine in a corrected position providing you with good posture and pain-free living. After this, it is not necessary to be seen by a chiropractor for frequent care. However, it is up to you to do your home exercises to maintain the spinal balance necessary to keep that level of health once achieved through chiropractic. Much like brushing and flossing your teeth keep you out of your dentist office, home exercises and care will keep you from needing constant chiropractic care. Then, periodic checkups can keep you out of serious trouble just like your dental checkups do.
MYTH: Chiropractic Care is Addictive and Causes Dependency
FACT: While it is true that feeling great and having your body working properly can be addicting, it is our purpose that, while fixing your problem, we strengthen your muscular system to support and maintain the corrections that we have made. We are not just a treatment facility but also a training facility. We teach the exercises that a patient can do for the rest of their life to maintain a healthy spine and prevent breakdown and injury.
MYTH: Chiropractic Care is Expensive
FACT: It is true that overall healthcare costs are rising while insurance coverage is decreasing. We believe the answer to ridiculous healthcare cost is preventative care. Chiropractic has proven a very inexpensive treatment of choice to fix problems such as headaches, back pain, shoulder, foot, Knee, elbow and wrist pain, but also issues like digestive disorders, sinus and allergy problems, trouble falling and staying asleep along, and many childhood problems like ear infections, colic, and reflux. With preventative care, highly expensive intensive care becomes a rarity. At this time, insurance does cover a lot of what chiropractors do, and, for anything that it doesn't cover, we offer affordable payment options.
MYTH: Chiropractic Care Can Hurt You or Even Cause a Stroke
FACT: Here at Integrated Wellness we make sure to do all the necessary pre-tests to diagnose whether you actually have a chiropractic-treatable problem before we ever treat anyone. If we feel your issue is not a Chiropractic problem, we will not waste your time or money in treating you; but refer you to the best healthcare provider to take care of you. With regards to chiropractic care causing strokes, this has only been the case when the patient has been a person with a high risk of stroke, either because of family history, high blood pressure, high drug use, etc. We perform many screening tests to rule out any risks that may be involved. Also, in the case studies on chiropractic-related strokes, the chiropractic treatment used was a heavy rotational adjustment. At Integrated Wellness, we refuse to use any rotational techniques that would put even our healthiest patients at risk. Safety is our top priority.
MYTH: Chiropractors Lack the Education That Medical Doctor's Have
FACT: The training and education endured by chiropractors is extremely thorough and demanding, similar to that of medical doctors with the exception of pharmacology and surgery.
Prior to entering Chiropractic College, an aspiring chiropractor requires two-four years (depending on the college attended and the state one wishes to practice in) of pre-med undergraduate studies. Once completed, the student must then complete four-five academic years of studies at a chiropractic college. This includes extensive training in anatomy, physiology, pathology, neurology, radiology, differential diagnosis, chiropractic adjustive techniques, biomechanics, and other health-related studies.
In addition to this extensive training, prior to graduation, each student must successfully complete several hundred clinical hours of real-time patient management in a clinical setting under professional supervision. Most chiropractic colleges also require students to partake in clinical externship programs which place them in actual chiropractic offices, further enhancing their clinical practice skills.
Near or soon after graduation, the new doctors of chiropractic must successfully complete rigorous national and state board examinations prior to obtaining a license to practice. Once licensed, most states require that chiropractors receive annual continuing education to ensure that a high level of competency is maintained.
At Integrated Wellness, we take training and education very seriously. While most chiropractors complete the necessary annual continuing education, the doctors and staff at Integrated Wellness have consistently completed much more. In an effort to bring only the latest and best technology to our practice, team members maintain a rigorous training schedule—hundreds of hours more than required—in an effort to better serve our patients. This is what sets Integrated Wellness apart from most chiropractic offices—as well as medical doctors.
MYTH: Chiropractic is Not Scientific
FACT: Chiropractors have always sought to provide the safest and most-effective healing methods for their patients. In order to achieve this, the chiropractic profession has been dedicated to conducting scientific studies to improve their diagnostic methods and treatment techniques. In the last 20 years, chiropractic healthcare has established an impressive array of scientific research that demonstrates the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic care. There are many further studies currently underway, and several have been performed by medical doctors and government researchers in both the U.S. and a number of other countries.
In fact, the chiropractic profession has accumulated a greater number of scientific trials on their methods than the medical profession has accumulated for many of the treatments rendered by medical doctors. According to David M. Edy, M.D., Ph.D., professor of health policy and management at Duke University, North Carolina, only 15 percent of all medical interventions are supported by solid scientific evidence. Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., M.P.H., of the RAND Corporation made the following statement on ABC's 20/20: "There are considerably more randomized controlled trials which show benefit of this (chiropractic care) than there are for many, many other things which physicians and neurosurgeons do all the time."
MYTH: Chiropractors Only Treat Backs
FACT: Chiropractors provide effective treatment for all types of soft tissue disorders and not just back and neck ailments. This includes conditions of the joints of the extremities like the ankle, knee and shoulder.
What you may not be aware of is chiropractic's success in treating a number of non-soft-tissue conditions such as dysmenorrhea (painful menses), ulcers, migraine headaches, and ear infections in children. While we cannot claim to cure these conditions, we believe that many of these problems can be mimicked, aggravated and sometimes caused by disruptions in the nervous system as a result of spinal abnormalities. By correcting these spinal abnormalities such as the vertebral subluxation, chiropractic has helped thousands of individuals overcome these conditions and regain control of their lives.
A number of studies have also supported these findings. In one such study, spinal manipulative therapy was compared with standard medical treatments in the treatment of duodenal ulcers. The researchers Pikalov, MD, and Kharin, MD, found those subjects receiving spinal manipulations took an average of 16 days to heal vs. 26 days to heal in the standard medical treatment group.
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