Can You Get Adjusted While Getting Physical Therapy?

If this happens to be your first time here at BelvidereChiropractic.com, my loyal readers can tell you that back in January, I started an on going Frequently Asked Questions series. And after a short break from it in February, so I could post a short instructional video of a presentation that I give quite often as community service at local healthcare facilities such as The Chelsea of Brookfield on: How to Lift Properly to Reduce Back injuries and to announce our Special Valentine’s Day Gift of Good Heath.

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Back in January I mentioned that as my staff and I get a lot of questions from either our existing patients or people calling or e-mailing us through our contact page and we are happy to answer them for you. However, since many of you have the same or similar questions I have decided to write some posts on some of the more common questions we frequently get on a day to day basis about Chiropractic Care in general and the services we provide here at Belvidere Chiropractic Center and here’s a really good one…

Can You Get Adjusted While Getting Physical Therapy?

This frequently asked question we usually get from those of you with a back or neck problem who first went to their medical doctor (M.D.) or doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) before coming to see us. Your M.D. or D.O. probably treated your symptoms with an anti-inflammatory (usually ibuprofen such as Advil), a muscle relaxer, and an analgesic pain killer. This of course only covers up your problem, so in addition, they usually prescribe physical therapy.
Now while I believe physical therapy is great for treating the soft-tissues, (muscles, tendons, and ligaments et cetera) since, I use it in my practice in conjunction with Chiropractic! However, when used alone, it only treats the soft-tissues and while this may make your problem ‘feel’ better it won’t correct the underlying cause of the problem of the misalignments of your bones and the fixations in your joints. Which will then continue to put abnormal pressure and stress on your joints and can then effect the delicate nerves in the area. Which will cause continued deterioration and eventually develops into a chronic problem, with more and more frequent flare-ups of pain that tend to get worse in intensity and duration, and eventually, if not corrected, will lead to degenerative disc disease and arthritis requiring possible surgery.

So of course you can adjusted while getting physical therapy! Since many Chiropractors, including myself here at Belvidere Chiropractic Center, perform both chiropractic adjustments in conjunction with physical therapy and modalities.
If you are already happen to be going somewhere else to get physical therapy, just let me know when we sit down together during your initial consultation when I listen to you to understand your problem and how it is affecting your life and get your complete health history. Then once I examine you to determine whether or not what’s causing your problem is, in fact, a chiropractic one, I will then perform only chiropractic adjustments on you as part of your treatment plan here at Belvidere Chiropractic Center so you can still also continue to go to get your physical therapy.

On a side note: if your M.D., D.O., or therapist, suggests you stop getting adjusted using the faulty logic,“How will we know what is working” you might want to rethink this, since, what do think will happen if you don’t correct what is causing your problem and just continue to temporarily cover it up?
You guessed it, it will eventually only get worse and you will then have to keep on returning for more and more medications and further treatments as it will continue to flare up over and over, again and again, until eventually it gets to the point when you’ll have no choice but to then get things such as: cortisone shots, pain injections and nerve blocks, and then, more then likely, eventually even a possible surgery.
Remember, since a M.D. or D.O. isn’t a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.), just like your Dentist (D.D.S.) isn’t a Podiatrist (D.P.M.), and since you probably have enough common sense and wouldn’t bother asking a Dentist’s opinion (or your friend’s opinion for that matter) about a foot problem and vice-versa, why would you ask someone other then a Chiropractor about a chiropractic problem?
Only a Chiropractor can tell you if yours even is a chiropractic problem or not. And since therapists (physical, occupational, massage, et cetera) aren’t doctors and aren’t trained to differentially diagnose or allowed to order or perform any diagnostic tests and are only trained to evaluate whether or not their treatment is effective or ineffective and then report their findings to the attending physician managing your case. In other words, their opinions should only be related to an attending physician (M.D., D.O., or D.C.) that is managing your case and not put any additional stress and pressure on you, the patient, as a go-between health care professionals, since you should only be concerned with getting your problem corrected and getting your health and life back.

I hope you enjoy this continual FAQ series and would love it if you could suggest any other future FAQ’s simply by either, leaving a comment below, sending an e-mail via this site’s contact page, or by contacting me through Twitter.