Dr. Mark Chiungos, Chiropractor in Chelmsford Ma., Explains: What Is Chiropractic?

The Chiropractic Office of Dr. Mark J. Chiungos of Chelmsford, Ma., is pleased to release the most recent article and video by Dr. Chiungos on Chiropractic Treatment. He explains in lay person language exactly what chiropractors do and clarifies the chiropractic approach to pain treatment and educates as to the benefits and limits of care.

Hi Dr. Mark Chiungos here. Today I’d like to talk about what a chiropractor does. What do we treat? Often times people from Chelmsford, Lowell and surrounding Merrimack Valley communities come to me and other chiropractors to get relief from pain? They tell their friends, word-of-mouth spreads. Chiropractic has survived over 100 years because of this. But often times I find that even my long term patients do not understand exactly what it is I treat.

Medicare and The State of Massachusetts Define Chiropractic Treatment in a Similar Way

Please let me take a moment to read something from Medicare as they define what a chiropractor treats. A chiropractor treats a motion segment in which alignment, movement integrity and or physiological function of the spine are altered although contact between joint surfaces remains intact. This is the Medicare definition of subluxation. In fact it is very similar to what my State (Mass. General Laws 4.01) allows me to detect and treat in patients. But what does this all mean?  What is a motion segment. Lets take any joint where two bones meet and cartilage intervenes, we have a motion segment. Subluxation is found in any motion segment or joint in which alignment has shifted because of a fracture or degenerative change. Some times we clearly see movement integrity when I order films where I have the patient bend forward or bend backward we’ve seen see where these motions have been altered -it is visible on the film. It is a great way to demonstrate it. Physiological function of the spine. We know that the spine should move in certain patterns. The neck moves slightly different than the mid back. The mid-back moves slightly different than the low back. There are known bio-mechanical patterns of movement.

What Is Subluxation and Why Is It Important ?

As we start to look back at what subluxation is we now know that it is a joint problem. In this case a spinal problem because of mis-alignment due to trauma such as a motor vehicle accident, slip and fall injury or repetitive motion such as sitting at a computer with head forward and using a mouse all day, these all can cause damage. Once damage has occurred, the alignment and movement pattern is altered. The body compensates for that and long term there are adaptations. There is a study going on in Chicago showing that blood pressure and body temperature and regulation of these physiological functions not just locally, but globally, can be affected.

How Do Chiropractors Diagnose Subluxation ?

So the question is how do chiropractors know that this subluxation exists?  One very simple way is an x-ray. Often times I’ll take an x-ray to see if there is evidence of this mis-alignment. We can have motion studies done where the head is flexing or the back is flexing and we will see if any of the spine has improper motion. On a physical exam we will look at range of motion. Can the patient turn their head all the way or from side to side? Does it hurt when moved backward? Pain, asymmetry, misalignment, range of motion abnormalities, tissue and tone changes. We will see if any area of these areas has improper motion. A physical exam will also look at range of motion. Perhaps you’ve seen a person and part of their back is swollen or enlarged and the other side is normalized or weakened. These are the things we look for when trying to detect chiropractic subluxation or subluxation as Medicare defines it. I could go on but in the interest of time I will talk about corrective action in my next post. Thank you for time, please see my video or visit my website where I talk about this important chiropractic subject.