Dear MSM Doctors,

I have been reading on the internet about chiropractic care helping to prevent injuries. I am prone to getting strains with doing normal daily activities. Is this common and could Preventive Chiropractic Care help me?

Answer:
A day doesn’t go by in our office without patients asking questions and relating incidents like the following:”I woke up today with severe low back pain and couldn’t get out of bed.”…… “I bent over to pick up groceries out of the back of the car and felt a sharp pain in my low back.”….. This started today so I don’t think it’s anything too serious but, I thought I would have it checked out”.

Did you ever wonder why a seemingly “simple” activity could cause severe back pain and lead to a significant impairment? Nearly every day a patient will ask me “where do you think this problem came from. I didn’t fall or do anything that could have caused this”.

Often times a patient will have a fall or accident in childhood when developing joints are impressionable and vulnerable to injury. It is not uncommon for this to manifest itself in the future in the form of a degenerative “arthritic” condition even though little discomfort was experienced at the initial injury.

We can sometimes trace incidents back to minor automobile accidents, falling off a pony, to bicycle accidents. How can we practically apply this knowledge? First of all, after an injury make sure a child is examined to rule out any spinal and joint problems. Children are notorious for ignoring and compensating for muscular and joint problems that occur after an injury. Prompt attention to these may avoid future problems. Secondly, as an adult, if you develop a pain syndrome that seems to come out of nowhere, don’t assume that it is a small problem. You may have been compensating for this problem for months, years or decades, and it is just now manifesting itself in a pain syndrome that may need immediate attention.

Does this of mean that you should run to the chiropractor or your family physician for every hint of pain? Of course not, however, making sure that persistent problems are attended to promptly can avoid simple problems from turning into complicated and chronic ones. That’s where getting in for an occasional Spinal and Joint check-up can help. The goal with Maintenance, Wellness and Preventative care is to optimize mobility in joints, minimize arthritic changes, and prevent injuries, enabling individuals to live a more healthy and active lifestyle!