Is a Chiropractor good or bad for you?

Is a Chiropractor good or bad for you?

Now obviously this blog is written by a Chiropractor, you must take everything with a large pinch of salt and do your own research. See what other practitioners in this space are talking about and find out what you align with best.

I wanted to try and think about all the reasons that a Chiropractor isn’t good for you first:

1. It can take time for your body to heal, just this week I saw a client who had severe sciatica in his leg, he is a gardener and has been very physical for the past 15 years. He does a lot of lifting and always on his feet, his back has slowly degenerated with all of this and for the last 3 weeks he has had crippling sciatica in his right leg all the way to his toes. We have been seeing him for 2 weeks now and he is better, there is no denying that, but he is not 100%. He can sit for long periods, sleep for more than 5 hours now uninterrupted and is back working. But he cannot do heavy lifting yet. A disc can take anywhere from 6-12 months to fully heal, it doesn’t mean you are in pain for that long, but it does take time. The alternative is surgery, usually for a disc repair it would be a microdiscectomy, which will remove the prolapsed part of the disc. More and more research is suggesting that if you can get through that initial part of the healing the results with surgery vs non-surgery do favour the non-surgical approach. One of the theories is that surgical intervention creates issues with the rest of the spine and can lead to further load being placed upon other discs causing them to prolapse. My point being that whether it’s Chiropractic, physiotherapy or osteopathy give it time, it will benefit you in the long run.
2. It can make you stiff or achy in the short term by causing nerves to start working differently and different weight going through other parts of your body. Very similar to if you haven’t been to the gym in a while and you get the soreness 24 hours after as you have no used those muscles in a while. We are aiming to get your body using parts it hasn’t used for a while. Our aim is to get you feeling better as soon as possible. If you do feel more symptoms, please let us know we can adapt the programme and slow things down, but remember it is normal.
3. If you have an inflammatory disease such as ankylosing spondylitis or rheumatoid arthritis, you need to have an experienced Chiropractor to know when and where to adjust you. As if you are in an inflamed period this could make your symptoms worse.
4. As with number 3 if you have a complex condition then you need to ensure you have someone with experience that does a robust examination to highlight the root cause of the issue before they begin treating you.  

Is Chiropractic safe for sciatica?

Sciatica is compression of the nerve that exits the base of the spine and goes down the leg. It is characterised as shooting pain, pins and needles, hot or aching pain in the buttock and can go down the leg to the toes.

Chiropractors look to find where the compression on the nerve is coming from, it is usually a disc. Our goal is getting pressure off the disc which in turn takes pressure off the nerve and relieves symptoms.

It is important to understand how the disc has prolapsed or is bulged so that you know which adjustment to do. A lateral disc, this means the disc has prolapsed to the side, is more common and usually simpler to treat. A central disc prolapse can affect the spinal cord and much more caution is needed her. We use decompression therapy to gently relieve pressure on a disc.

Can a chiropractor refer you for an MRI UK?

A Chiropractor usually will take x-rays to diagnose what is happening with your spine, usually this is sufficient to diagnose. In some cases, an MRI is valuable especially with disc prolapses to identify exactly how severe the problem is.

Chiropractors can write a referral letter to your GP to put you on a list with the NHS, the wait time at the time of writing this is anywhere between 3-6 months which when you are in debilitating pain is not sustainable.

You can go to a private MRI clinic, there is one in the Mount Alvernia hospital in Guildford or the Runnymede Imaging centre can also take an MRI at around £300-500 depending on what you need.  

If you do know someone who wants more advice, please send them our details. You can send them this blog and they can request a free copy of our book which has posture related exercises in it as well. Click here for FREE book.