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Corrective Chiropractic Options For Care

Finding a chiropractor in Greenville, NC, like any city, can be a challenge. Chiropractors, unlike the medical community, often have different approaches to treatment. Treatment options for medical doctors are typically limited to a pretty standard regimen of drugs and surgery. Most medical doctors follow these specific treatment guidelines.

Talk to 10 different chiropractors and you may get 10 different treatment plans. Don’t be discouraged. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you went to an exercise trainer to help you lose weight the odds that you will get the exact same exercise routine from 10 different trainers is essentially zero. They are all attempting to help you with the exact same problem but their approaches are often different sometimes very different. Chiropractic is similar in this way. There is more than one way to get the job done. The tough part is trying to determine which chiropractor or medical doctor is using the best approach.

The first thing you have to ask yourself is what your goal is?

The type of treatment you want will determine who will be the best physician for you. I can argue all day why I think structural chiropractic care is your best option but if you only want to just get out of pain the quickest way possible, then the medical approach may be for you.

If you want to treat only symptoms but in a conservative and drug-free manner than traditional chiropractic may be your first choice. If you want comprehensive drug-free and surgery-free treatment that is dedicated to correcting the primary cause of your secondary symptoms then you should probably find a structurally focused chiropractor.

Chiropractors are often the best resource for healthcare that is natural, holistic, drug-free and surgery-free. This can include chiropractic care, physical therapy, nutrition, supplements, vitamins, exercise, weight-loss, food/supplement based detoxification.

Type Of Chiropractic Care

This type of care is generally offered with the premise that treatment is based primarily on the structure of your spine. As many patients do, you may arrive at the chiropractor’s office with a specific pain or symptom(s) like headaches, neck pain, mid back pain, low back pain, sciatica, etc.).

  • A structurally focused chiropractor will take structural radiographs (x-rays) of your entire spine not just where you have pain!
    • The goal is to get as much information about the structure and position of your spine as possible. The most efficient way to do that is to take x-rays of the neck, mid-back, and low back and pelvis from the front and from the side while in a weight bearing (standing) position to see how your spine reacts to gravity and what your current posture is.
    • Utilizing these structural radiographs, and information from your exam a treatment plan is developed with the goal of correcting or improving the structure of your spine towards the structure of a normal spine.
      • The success of this treatment is determined by comparing the original structural radiographs with the structural radiographs at the end of you recommend treatment plan which is often between a minimum of three times a week for 20-40 treatments over the course of two to four months. Additional treatment plans may be recommended if necessary depending on patient compliance and how they respond to care.
      • The improvement of your secondary symptoms (the headaches, neck pain, mid back pain, low back pain, sciatica, etc.) is also measured. The secondary symptoms often begin to improve before the structural changes occur.
    • During the treatment phase specific spinal adjustments will be performed at the beginning and then mirror image adjustments are often added or replace the segmental adjustments to help correct the abnormal global (multiple spinal segments) spinal shifts.
      • This is very different from traditional chiropractic treatment that typically focuses only on adjusting single segments to improve mobility and reduce inflammation but is not as effective at making objective changes to a patient’s structural radiograph measurements. Segmental and mirror image adjustments are combined with isometric stabilization therapies often referred to as posture exercises as well as spinal remodeling (traction). All of these treatments are heavily dependent on the patient’s abnormal spinal alignment that is measured via structural radiographs.

This is the most common type of chiropractic care offered and is available in many different forms. Some chiropractors who focus on pain based care will take full spine x-rays before treatment, some will take x-rays of only the area of complaint, and some chiropractors will take no x-rays at all.

  • I cannot stress enough the need to avoid any chiropractor, osteopath, physical therapist or anyone who will not take x-rays before attempting to manipulate your spine. Adjustments are a very low-risk treatment when done correctly with the necessary exams and imaging did prior to an adjustment. X-rays are a very low risk, quick and easy way to acquire a lot of significant and potentially life-saving information about what the primary cause of the symptoms is. NEVER allow a chiropractor or any other healthcare professional attempt to adjust you without first taking x-rays.

Types of Care Provided at Corrective Chiropractic

On your initial visit, you will receive a full chiropractic examination, including orthopedic and neurological tests, as well as, a digital postural analysis and full spine series of weight bearing digital radiographs.  This information is necessary for your chiropractor to form a diagnosis. This includes your primary and secondary conditions in order to provide you with a chiropractic care plan.

On your second visit, the chiropractor will discuss his findings and your customized treatment plan recommendations. Most of the patients that enter into our office find that the cause of their symptoms is some form of spinal structural misalignment often referred to as a subluxation. Subluxation means any kind of abnormal spinal motion, posture or structure that deviates from the spines ideal model. Your x-ray report will show a direct comparison of the well-established Harrison Full Spine Model.

STRUCTURAL CORRECTION is our ultimate goal, we recognize that not everyone is at a point where they can commit to the corrective process.  Therefore, Corrective Chiropractic offers two treatment options for new patients. Allowing you to meet your personal goals of either, Structural Spinal Correction or Acute Symptom Relief, and additional Follow-Up plans for established patients that have completed a Correction or Acute plan.

Initial Treatment Plans

This plan is offered to new patients or established patients that are looking toward gaining structural correction of an abnormal spine. This phase of care will include a set number of full spine adjustments, determined by your exam and structural digital x-rays. Along with in-office therapies including mirror-image exercises and spinal remodeling traction, Orthopedic equipment (if necessary), and a full re-examination with follow-up radiographs. Generally, treatments are three or four times per week in-office, with additional care to be performed at home once instructed.

This first phase of care is the minimum amount of care necessary to see objective changes on x-ray. Your initial structural correction phase of chiropractic care is usually 20-40 visits and typically lasts 2-3 months. Depending on the severity of the spinal abnormalities and patient compliance, additional phases of care may be needed or recommended.

After completion, a re-examination, and comparative structural x-rays will be performed. Dr. Wickstrom will assess the changes and make recommendations for future care based on the results.

Structural Spinal Correction is more advanced and thorough than traditional or acute symptom chiropractic care. Research has shown Structural Correction Chiropractic Care to be more stable and provide superior long-term results. As such, it is always the first recommendation at Corrective Chiropractic.

The Acute Symptom Relief plan is short term symptom based care. This plan is offered to both, new patients and established patients that may be unable to commit to the corrective plan, or are only interested in symptom relief.  Acute Symptom Relief is very similar to traditional chiropractic. This plan will follow the three to five times per week treatment guideline. Reexams will be performed every 10-12 visits or 4 weeks.  The patient will be re-evaluated, minus the follow-up comparative radiographs, for symptom resolution only. Recommendations for future care are made based on the results.  Patients treat for a maximum of two phases of Acute Symptom Relief if symptoms are not improving satisfactorily. At such point, your chiropractor will likely recommend Structural Spinal Care again or refer you out.

The request to place an Acute Symptom Relief plan on hold to pursue a Structural Correction plan can be accommodated.

*It is important to understand that both options are very successful in reducing and eliminating acute and chronic pain. However, the Structural Correction Chiropractic Care is more successful at eliminating symptoms and keeping the patient pain free because it is addressing the cause of the problem. This type of chiropractic care addresses abnormal weight distribution that results in excessive stress on the joints, bones, muscle, ligaments and tendons. This abnormal stress is often caused by many musculoskeletal symptoms. Symptoms like low back pain, neck pain, mid back pain, sciatica, disc bulge, disc herniation, headaches, migraines, hip pain, numbness, tingling etc. Acute Symptom Relief Chiropractic Care does not address these postural or structural components. Thus the symptoms are more likely to return or not improve significantly.

Follow-up Treatment Plans

Stabilization care includes treatment geared toward stabilizing and maintaining the spine and the improvements that were gained during the Corrective phase. Research suggests that undergoing this phase of care will allow for the improvements gained during the initial phase of care to become long-lasting with much less probability of relapse and degeneration.

Treatment includes a full spine adjustment plus recommended therapies (mirror-image exercises & spinal remodeling traction, etc.) at a frequency determined by the doctor based on your primary diagnosis. Generally, these visits will range from a frequency of 1 time per week, 1 time per 2 weeks, or 1 time per month and may not be considered by health insurance plans.

Stabilization Chiropractic Care plans are typically 12 months long. This plan includes follow-up re-exams and full spine x-rays to determine any necessary changes in chiropractic treatment or therapy.

Membership Plan consists of chiropractic care typically rendered on a regular basis. This is to help maintain optimal spinal mobility in order to support a healthy lifestyle and spinal health. This phase of care consists of a full spine chiropractic adjustment. Therapies or spinal remodeling traction is not included and is not usually considered by health insurance plans.

This chiropractic membership care plan is offered as a membership and a pay per visit basis.

  • The membership plan is a 12-month commitment.
    • A $35/month automatic draft fee, and a $26/visit fee at the time of visit.
  • The pay per visit plan can be used at patient discretion for wellness purposes.
  • Is under NO circumstances considered chiropractic treatment for any symptom or musculoskeletal condition or disease.

Wellness chiropractic patients may come in for treatment a maximum of once per day. Additional services are subject to additional costs i.e. extremity adjustments (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, ankle etc.), exams, etc.

Additional services are subject to additional costs.

Please be assured that any questions you may have will be answered by a member of the Corrective Chiropractic team.

Whole Food Supplements (holistic) VS. (reductionist) Nutraceutical Supplements & Drug Therapy

This is the most common form of nutritional therapy and typically what people think of when they say they are taking supplements. Nutraceutical supplements are concentrated doses of vitamins or minerals in pill or powder. These vitamins are available in many different forms. There is very little regulation on them so it is not uncommon to find products being sold with concentrations of vitamins and minerals that are highly inaccurate from the claims made on the bottles.

  • Many companies use filler ingredients that are cheap and inert to make their products so that you get less of what you think you are paying for. This is why it is imperative that regardless of what supplements you buy you get them from a reputable source.
    • (HINT: If you don’t notice any differences and you’re not sure if they’re working, they probably aren’t and you’re probably wasting your money.)
  • Most people are unaware that most nutraceutical vitamins are not only not ideal but can have potential long-term side effects. Your body is not designed to digest or absorb vitamins and minerals in an isolated form in extremely high doses the way you will find them in nutraceutical vitamin supplements. The sources of many of these vitamins are often not food sources e.g. coal tar and petroleum. Others may be taken from foods but use highly toxic compounds to chemically separate it into concentrated doses of vitamins and minerals. Essentially all nutraceutical vitamins and minerals are chemically derived or synthetic and are not only not good for you but often harmful. Sometimes they can help to alleviate symptoms but ultimately there is a long term cost to pay for this instead of giving your body what it needs to function optimally.
  • To understand these types of supplements let’s look at “vitamin C”.
    • Vitamin C as you know is not really Vitamin C. When you look at the nutritional information on nutraceutical supplements the Vitamin C that is being measured is strictly in the form of Ascorbic Acid.
    • In reality, ascorbic acid is merely the protective covering that surrounds the entire Vitamin C compound.
    • In food, ascorbic acid is always found with other compounds e.g. rutin, flavonoids, amino acids, ascorbate oxidase and tyrosinase.
  • “The reductionist view of vitamin C is that oranges are good for us because they contain ascorbic acid. So ascorbic acid is good for us even when extracted and isolated from an orange or synthesized in a lab and placed in a pill or used to ‘fortify’ a refined nonfood. But there is no evidence that this is the case.” Judith DeCava

  • Whole food supplements recognized that the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts. Most of us can agree on the benefits of eating fresh whole foods.

    • For those who disagree, feel free to keep relying on your Ensure™ and Centrum™ to supplement the array of drugs and surgeries you rely on to keep you alive. I’m sure that’s working out great for you (extreme sarcasm).
    • Foods that have been grown in healthy soils free of pesticides and fertilizers are going to be the gold standard for what is necessary for optimal nutritional health. Healthy soils lead to highly nutritional foods. Sadly our agricultural community has fallen into the reductionist model, in that they utilize primarily three (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, & Potassium) major fertilizers to supplement and grow bigger crops even though they are ultimately not more nutritious or healthier. Like humans, plants are healthier when they have optimal plant food in the way of healthy soil, the way God intended not via highly concentrated chemical substitutes.
    • As a result, it’s even more difficult to fulfill your nutritional needs by relying on your local the produce isle. Of course, it’s not impossible but it’s very difficult to have optimal nutrition when even our whole foods are lacking. Because of this reality, it’s often necessary to turn to quality whole food supplements.
    • At Corrective Chiropractic, our goal is never to eliminate or treat disease.
      • Treatment that focuses on eliminating symptoms and not correcting imbalances or fixing the cause of the symptom is the business of medicine.
      • Optimizing health is what we do at Corrective Chiropractic and proper nutrition is key to optimal health. We don’t claim to cure any disease however, it is not uncommon to see our patient’s overall health improve drastically despite being diagnosed with conditions like fibromyalgia, heart murmurs, uterine fibroids, depression, anxiety, ADHD, receding gums, toothaches (cavities), appendicitis, diabetes etc.
    • Again, it’s important to understand I cannot legally and I do not claim to treat or cure any of these or any other “diseases”. That is the role of medicine. The medical community focuses on and treats the symptoms that result from specific label diseases and conditions.
      • If your goal is, as is common with many of our patients, to stop taking medication, then it will be important for you to work with your medical doctor to achieve this goal. During this transition, we will work to identify any nutritional needs that you may have in order to help support your body’s overall function. It’s important to remember that you were typically prescribed these medications for a reason.
        • Even if it is only a symptomatic reason, that symptom should tell you that something is wrong. Simply removing any medication means that you’re likely to experience that symptom again. The primary condition that caused the symptom to appear in the first place has not been addressed if your lifestyle has not changed.
    • Whole food supplement therapy is about identified needs for nutritional support and supplying them with whole food supplements. This is why Standard Process supplements are categorized as food products and not supplements.

  • There are three options for whole food supplements:

    • GOOD: typically 2-3 common whole food supplements are recommended to patients based on their history and symptoms.
    • BETTER: the patient is asked to answer an exhaustive System Survey Questionnaire (SSQ) to help identify specifics organs systems that appear to be functioning at less than optimal. Combined with the patient’s history and current complaints he/she is then prescribed whole food supplements according to this.
    • BEST: The patient’s SSQ, history and areas of concern (i.e. reduce blood pressure or diabetes medication, heartburn, fibromyalgia, etc.) and used to determine the primary organs systems needing support. A neuro-lingual nutritional exam is performed.
      • Neuro-Lingual (brain/taste) Nutritional Exam: this type of exam can be better understood when you first look at referred pain. Pain in the left arm and shoulder are common symptoms of a heart attack. Despite the fact that the damage being done is in your heart you have pain in a separate area of the body. This type of referred pain is common with other organs as well like. In the same way that your body has numerous different points on your body that will be painful when pressed on an organ that correlates with that point is weak, diseased or malnourished. Numerous different points on the patient will be tested and your chiropractor will document the severity of discomfort based on the patients numerical rating 0-5 (0 = no pain/discomfort, 5 = the most severe)
      • When a point is found to be tender, your chiropractor will give you a sample of a whole food supplement for you to TASTE. Your chiropractor will make this determination based on the exam, SSQ, patient history, clinical experience, etc.
        • After tasting the recommended whole food supplement, the same referral point will be tested immediately. At this point, the patient is asked to again rate any pain or discomfort from 0-5. Because of a neuro-lingual reflex (brain/taste reflex), if your BRAIN recognizes the whole food supplement that you TASTED as something that is nutritionally beneficial for the organ related to the point tested… then there will be a decrease in pain or tenderness.
      • I know this sounds hokey and witch-doctor like. I’m sure those of you skeptical about this will be quick to say that there’s not enough “research” on this type of testing like there is for drugs and surgery. My response is this. Consider your alternative. There is a ton of research supporting drugs to treat symptoms. Yet, there are frequent recalls after that research failed to point of significant dangers. Alternatively, it is, or at least should be, common sense that whole foods or whole food supplements that have the most nutrition in them are going to be the most beneficial for your body’s nutritional needs.
        • You don’t have a nutritional need for Aspirin or cholesterol drugs.
  • The best part about this type of testing is that all the whole food supplements are high-quality whole food nutrition. There is very low risk taking these whole food supplements because you are essentially just eating healthy food that your body can easily digest and absorb. We are not utilizing potentially dangerous synthetic drugs or chemicals in an attempt to reduce specific symptoms. Typically the worse result you will get from taking whole food supplements is that they don’t work that great. Usually, this is due to one of the following:
    • SSQ answers were not entirely accurate due to changes from medications.
    • The patient did not take the prescribed whole food supplements consistently.
    • The patient refused to take all the recommended whole food supplements.
    • The patient refused the neuro-lingual testing.
  • All patients who select the BEST NUTRITION option will have regular nutritional consult/exam follow-ups.
    • Typically a nutrition re-exam is once a month and last 15 minutes.
    • Some neuro-lingual testing may be done.
    • A System Survey Questionnaire is always filled out.
    • The whole food supplement prescription may be updated to add, remove or increase or decrease dosages of whole food supplements.
  • If there are positive changes in the patients’ nutritional questionnaire and neuro-lingual testing then re-exams may be extended to quarterly, biannually, or annually.

*Available at Corrective Chiropractic

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