Spinal Injury Specialist - Treatment in Huntersville

WHAT TREATMENT CAN YOU EXPECT AT YOUR FIRST APPOINTMENT?

Treatment at CLEAR Life Scoliosis Reduction & Chiropractic begins with a complete physical examination, a review of the patient’s history and a series of x-rays. When a spinal injury has been reported to Dr. Justin, an assessment for spinal instability is conducted which utilizes up-to-date evidence-based subluxation identification and management.

HOW DO WE DETERMINE WHAT INJURY WAS SUSTAINED?

Spinal injuries result from compressive and shear forces placed against the spine, regardless of how or when this force occurred (auto collision, lifting at work, slip and fall, sports collision, etc.) These injuries can be imaged/x rayed as they all have imaging biomarkers that can determine a diagnosis.

Spinal injury assessments are very easy to perform as there are only three imaging biomarkers. They are

1. Fractures – which can be seen on CT or Xray
2. Disc Bulge/Herniation – which can be seen on MRI or CT
3. Excessive Motion – which is measured utilizing up-to-date evidence-based subluxation identification and management tools. Excessive motion cannot be properly assessed on MRI and is usually the most problematic spinal injury a patient can have. A standard accurate assessment must have both the imaging and examination findings correlated. These imaging findings can also support the provider with proper placement in care guidelines such as the ICA (International Chiropractic Association) Best Practice Guidelines, the Croft Treatment Guidelines, ,etc. Proper placement in guidelines such as these means less unnecessary “care cutoffs” due to incomplete or less than optimal documentation of the injury and its location and severity.

CLINICAL CORRELATION

Spinal injuries are derangements of the body parts that cause deformity, pain and/or neurological dysfunction. The patient’s pain or symptoms can be mapped to the most common area of injury.

We can also correlate the motor or sensory dysfunction that is related to the injuries, as these findings tell us the nerve involved and in turn the correlating motor unit.

TREATMENT

After the patient’s assessment is conducted and clinical correlation obtained, the patient’s treatment plan is developed. Here, at CLEAR Life Scoliosis Reduction & Chiropractic, we use Corrective Chiropractic Care.

It’s important here, to differentiate between the Traditional and Corrective Care Models/Methods of Care:

Traditional Chiropractic Care focuses primarily on helping address the patient’s acute pain. This is done through chiropractic adjustments, as well as possible additional treatments that are intended to address acute pain or other symptoms. Once the acute symptoms have subsided, the patient is generally released from care until there is a recurrence. Traditional Chiropractic Care may be seen as symptom-based care. It generally will provide temporary relief, but may not address underlying issues that are causing the pain.

Corrective Chiropractic Care focuses primarily on the structure and function of the spine. Only 10% of the nerves in the body can sense pain. The other 90% of the nerves control the function of everything in the body. In addition to the proper position and motion of each spinal bone, corrective chiropractic care focuses on the curvature of the spine.

When examining the spine from the side, there should be three curves; forward in the neck, backward in the mid back, and forward in the low back. If there is deviation of these curves from normal, it can create abnormal tension on the brainstem and spinal cord, which can create dysfunction of the nervous system, resulting in neck or back pain, headaches, sciatica and many other symptoms as well as disrupting nerve signals to different organs within the body and affecting overall health.

Analyzing the structure and function of the spine requires specific radiographs and assessments to view the curvature of the spine and the function of each bone in relation to the ones above and below. This provides the information necessary to determine the proper treatment plan to provide the most correction possible and eliminate/decrease chronic pain from injury rather than merely chasing acute symptoms.