Low back pain is one of the most common reasons for seeking medical care. People often go straight to their GPs who can only offer “traditional therapies” such as medications to stop the pain or suggest expensive surgeries. Basically, spinal manipulation offers an alternative treatment for patients with back, neck, shoulder and even head pain. So why then is there this controversy underlying the administration of chiropractic spinal manipulations?
Well, people fall into two categories: those who swear by it and those who are more skeptical and believe it’s ineffective and dangerous. While there has been a lot of successful clinical evidence out there to disprove any inkling of doubt, not a lot of scientific evidence is available to support the effectiveness of manual therapies. However, spinal manipulations are no outcome of modern innovation. These healing arts date back to over 4 000 years ago and clinicians have been using the ancient technique for thousands of years. But before we delve into the benefits of this ancient practice, let’s clarify some common misconceptions.
Manipulation vs. Mobilization
First of all, manipulations are one of many tools in the chiropractor’s handy toolkit. A stand-alone adjustment is not effective for long term results and should be used in conjunction with other treatments and exercises as part of a holistic plan of care. You wouldn’t sabotage your gym routine with an unhealthy diet – to reap the full health benefits your body needs to be fuelled with proper nutrition. Likewise, in chiropractic therapy your body needs more than just a thrust to change.
In chiropractic care, manipulation is not synonymous with mobilization; these are two separate techniques. What differentiates the two is something called the “dynamic thrust”. This can be defined as a controlled force delivered with high velocity in a specific direction. It’s this type of thrust which makes a distinction between spinal manipulations and other forms of manual therapy. So when you are receiving a manipulation, you are getting a passive thrust, whereas a mobilization is a non-thrust manual.
Now that we have gone over the differences between these two separate techniques, let’s look at all those benefits.
Benefits of Chiropractic Manipulations
There is a plethora of benefits to chiropractic manipulations, particularly in regards to improved movement. For the sake of better understanding the technical side on how manipulations work, let’s pull out the old textbook.
