I have been getting a lot of questions lately about what chiropractic is and what chiropractors do. Don’t they just crack your back?! There’s so much more to it than that.
Because of all the myths and misconceptions; I wanted to share what I feel my role as your chiropractor means to you.
There are a ton of different styles of chiropractic out there, and each chiropractor has their own finesse when it comes to adjusting, so I want to make it clear that this is my personal opinion of being a chiropractor and treating patients.
The way I see it, my main focus as a chiropractor is to get you feeling better. Bottom line. If I at least do that, I am doing my job. But how can I be better? This is the question I ask myself every day. One way I can be better is to sit down with you on your first appointment and set treatment goals for us to hit together. Whether that is playing your favorite sport, picking up your kids or grandchildren, or starting your health journey and needing some guidance.
After your goals are set, it’s time to get you there. My goal is to get you there as fast as possible. For me, this means using all my knowledge and background from chiropractic school, continuing education, and tips picked up from internships and along the way to treat you.
This means going beyond the simple adjustments. It means working the muscles, ligaments, blood flow, motor control, and corrective exercise individually designed to get you to your specific goals. For example, if you come in with shoulder pain and your goal is to pick up your kids from the ground, I am going to teach you how to lift weights from the ground to a standing position properly, not work your shoulders in an overhead position.
The second way I can be better is to enlist trust. Trust is what breaks the psychological barrier of pain. The way I gain that trust from you is by completing a detailed assessment on the first day, so we understand why you have pain. We work together during your visits to understand what treatments we are doing, why we are doing them, and explain how it all helps with reducing your pain. A big goal is to create an environment of open communication so that you do not feel forced to do a certain treatment or exercise that you feel uncomfortable with. You should feel that you can ask any questions to ensure you leave your visit with no uncertainty as to the direction we’re going to go.
But trust works both ways! I need to trust you, that you will do the exercises I give you to do at home outside of the clinic. I am not going to install lasting change in a 30 min appointment once every week or so. The only way this will happen is if it is done regularly. Trust is the foundation of a good relationship. If there is no trust from the patient to the doctor or the doctor to the patient, the relationship or treatments won’t work!
My view of being your chiropractor goes far beyond just a simple crack. There are a lot of moving parts to moving and feeling better and we work on all that together.
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