Our Services
Testimonials
What is Chiropractic Care?
Techniques and Physical Therapy offered
Effectiveness of Chiropractic treatment
What is Chiropractic Care?
Doctors of chiropractic, called ‘chiropractors’ are spine, muscle, joint and related nervous system experts. Every chiropractor receives at least seven years of post-secondary academic and clinical education. They are trained in how to evaluate, diagnose, recommend, and deliver a treatment plan that manages issues within these systems, according to your preferences. A chiropractor’s education also includes courses in radiology, pain management, prescribed exercise, rehabilitation and physical therapy, and nutrition among others.
Based on the best available evidence, combined with their clinical expertise, your chiropractor will then work with you to determine the best treatment to relieve your pain. They will also help prevent it from returning and restore your mobility.
Some of the conditions chiropractors treat include:
Back pain
Sciatica
Disc Disorders
Neck pain
Pain between the shoulders
Carpal Tunnell syndrome
Sprains/strains
Headaches
Pain associated with arthritis
Work and sports injuries
Chiropractors use various treatments depending on their patient’s specific needs and preferences. Common treatments include:
Manual, ‘hands-on’ therapy
Soft tissue therapy
Electronic modalities, such as therapeutic ultrasound and cold laser therapy
Customized, therapeutic exercise programs
Self-management tools and techniques (like positions for relief or coping strategies for pain)
Advice and education
One of the most frequent treatments a chiropractor uses is manual manipulation of the vertebrae of your spine or other joints, which is called an ‘adjustment.’ To perform an adjustment, your chiropractor will use their hands to apply controlled force to your joint and guide it through a range of motion. This action restores your joint’s natural movement and improves its function. When applied to your spine, this treatment is called spinal manipulation therapy (SMT). Manipulation is also used on other joints, such as those in your wrist, ankle or foot, as an effective treatment.
After a first appointment to assess your condition, your chiropractor will use their clinical expertise and the best available evidence to make a diagnosis and recommend treatment options for you.
Chiropractic care is the primary method of treatment for many medical conditions, such as low back pain. For other conditions, such as pain associated with arthritis, diabetes or osteoporosis, chiropractors and other health professionals recommend an interprofessional approach. So in these situations, your chiropractor will coordinate with other health care professionals in your circle of care to support your overall treatment. Working with this team, they will provide chiropractic care to relieve your spine, muscle or joint pain.
Techniques and Physical Therapy Offered
Why should you try chiropractic medicine?
Chiropractic physicians have pioneered in the field of non-invasive care promoting science-based approaches to a variety of ailments. We use chiropractic medicine to treat individuals with neuro-musculoskeletal complaints, such as headaches, joint pain, neck pain, low back pain and sciatica. Chiropractors also treat patients with osteoarthritis, spinal disk conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, sprains, and strains.
Chiropractic Procedures Performed
Spinal Manipulation
Techniques that treat back pain, neck pain, and other musculoskeletal conditions via the application of force to the spinal joints to restore the spine’s structural integrity, reduce pain, and initiate the body’s natural healing processes. Techniques include Gonstead, Diversified, SOT Activator
Extra-Spinal Manipulation
Chiropractic manipulative treatment to the head (including temporomandibular joint or TMJ), lower extremities, upper extremities, rib cage, and/or abdomen.
Therapeutic Exercises / Activities
Active or passive movements prescribed to correct impairments, restore muscular, and skeletal function and/or maintain a state of well-being.
Acupressure
Application of pressure on specific points on the body to release stimulate the body's circulatory, lymphatic and hormonal systems to relieve stress and anxiety, improve sleep, relax your muscles and joints, regulate digestive issues, minimize headaches and migraines, and help resolve back pains and menstrual cramps.
Graston Technique
Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization that uses specially designed stainless-steel instruments to detect and treat soft tissue fibrosis (scar tissue) or chronic inflammation in muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Ultrasound
Application of sound waves to cause microscopic vibrations in deep tissue molecules to warm and increase metabolism for pain relief and to promote tissue healing.
Electrical Stimulation
Electrical muscle stimulation, interferential therapy, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) or E-Stim uses low voltage and/or electrical current to provide pain relief and stress in soft tissues.
Hot / Cold Therapy
Ice packs are used for acute injuries or pain, along with inflammation and swelling. Heat packs for muscle pain or stiffness.
Research on Chiropractic Effectiveness
Growing Evidence Offers Proof of Chiropractic Effectiveness
Some people ask, is chiropractic effective? A growing body of evidence-based research offers proof chiropractic care works. It demonstrates the value of chiropractic care in addressing conditions affecting your spine, muscles, joints, or nervous system. Some key evidence-based highlights are cited below.
Research and Outcome Highlights
Pain Relief and Management
The American College of Physicians Low Back Pain Systemic Review demonstrated that exercise is effective for reducing long-term (chronic) lower back pain, and spinal manipulation provides better short-term pain relief than other active interventions.1
Studies have shown people who receive chiropractic care are more likely to be physically able to work for a shorter duration of time.2
Reduced Medication and Opioid Use
Patients with noncancer spinal pain who received chiropractic care were 52% less likely to obtain a prescription for opioids than patients who did not receive chiropractic care (and 71% less if patients received chiropractic care within 30 days of their initial visit.)
After a course of chiropractic care at a publicly funded multidisciplinary inner-city facility, 59% of the patients no longer required opioids.
A 2019 U.S. study found that 64 percent of patients who saw a chiropractor were less likely to use opioids than people who didn’t, as reported in the journal Pain Medicine.3
83 percent of patients surveyed now rely less on medication, including opioids, to help manage their lower back pain after receiving care from a Musculoskeletal (spine, muscle, or joint) expert, such as a chiropractor, at one of Ontario’s government-funded Primary Care Low Back Pain program sites. 4
2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioid Therapy and Chronic Non-Cancer Pain recommends therapies without medication, such as spinal or joint manipulation and therapeutic exercise, for treating back pain, as well as neck pain, knee osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and severe headaches or migraines.5
Health Quality Ontario (HQO) suggests making better use of non-medical treatments to manage acute and chronic pain will reduce the number of people who use opioids for the long-term. Its Quality Standard onOpioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain also recommends spinal manipulation in conjunction with an active physical therapy or exercise program.
