Myths About Chiropractic

I’m hoping that by sharing some myths about chiropractic care, it will counteract the great deal of misinformation circulating about our profession. The chiropractic profession may have been founded in 1985, but it continues to be one of the more misunderstood conservative healthcare practices.

This is a very common misconception. People believe that once you start going to the chiropractor you will have to continue to go forever. This does not have to be the case, especially if you begin seeing an evidence based chiropractor whose goal is independence from care. At Pinnacle Hill Chiropractic our goal is to diagnose your complaint, get you out of the repetitive cycle of pain and then give you the necessary exercises to keep your pain from returning! However, a number of our patients do notice that they feel better getting adjusted every 4-6 weeks, making it part of their regular wellness routine.

Chiropractors have doctorate level graduate degrees, in addition to the at least three years of undergraduate studies that must be completed in advance. Most Doctor of Chiropractic programs in North America are 3-4 years in length and consist of many of the same classes as those in medical school. Doctor of Chiropractic students actually spend more classroom time learning topics such as anatomy, diagnosis, radiology and orthopedics than medical students. However, medical students will have much more education on pharmacology and immunology.

Chiropractors can actually treat much more than just back pain. Doctors of Chiropractic specialize in the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal complaints. Those include: low back pain, midback pain, neck pain, hip pain, knee pain, ankle pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist pain, headaches, disc injuries and even TMJ pain.

This is a very outdated chiropractic practice philosophy. Radiographs are not necessary during an initial chiropractic appointment, unless there has been a recent history of trauma. If that is the case, the doctors at Pinnacle Hill Chiropractic will refer the patient out for additional imagining if necessary. X-rays will mainly show bone and any signs of degeneration. Degeneration does not have to be scary. I like to think of it as grey hair of the spine or wrinkles on the inside! X-rays will also not show a Doctor of Chiropractic where to adjust, we do that by using our hands and palpation skills.

Now you have the knowledge to understand why the above myths about chiropractic are simply not true. More and more research is being done that has shown the chiropractic field to be very beneficial and effective! If you, or a loved one, are looking for a chiropractor, please consider giving one of our doctors a try!