​How Your Chiropractor Knows You Are Out of Wack

How Your Chiropractor Knows You Are Out of Wack

12/5/2017

by Dr. Masoud Shamaeizadeh, DC

Like any other doctor, chiropractors need to make observations. The most obvious way to know if you are out of alignment or out of wack is by your chiropractor observing your posture. But what is a chiropractor looking for when they observe or touch your back? That's the question on everyone's mind when they come to my office. I often get asked this question in my practice at Soft Touch Chiropractic in Porter Ranch.

The first thing we are looking for is whether the vertebra is out of alignment. We compare the vertebrae to each other and to the overall spinal position. If one segment is out of position, we consider it misaligned. We also call this a sublaxation. The second thing we look for is for mobility of the joints. When a chiropractor touches a segment and it lacks mobility then the doctor know it is under stress. When a vertebra is misaligned, it pulls on the muscle that attaches to that vertebra, which creates a muscle spasm or stiffness in the muscle. So, the third thing a chiropractor looks for is muscle tone. If the muscle is hard or tight, it needs help. Last but not least, we look for pain because all of the conditions above cause pain. As each vertebra is being examined, a chiropractor looks for the response of the patient to find out if there is pain or not.

Pain is not necessarily a bad thing. When you clearly have a misaligned spine, which is locked or fixated and the muscles are stiff and there is no pain when chiropractor presses on it, it is alarming because it means that that particular segment has been locked for a long period of time. Two possibilities are 1) the segment adapted to the bad position or 2) the disc in the segment has degenerated to the point that it has no sensation left. If this is the case, that means the misalignment existed and was neglected for a long period of years.

All of the above conditions interfere with the transmission of information from your brain to your body and from your body to your brain. All control and coordination of your body is affected by misalignment, joint immobility and muscle stress. Even if you don't have pain, see your chiropractor today and have a thorough exam. One exam could make all the difference in your current and future lifestyle. It may mean the difference between being in a wheelchair or riding your bike in the countryside without pain well into your senior years.

Watch the video below produced by Dr. Masoud Shamaeizadeh, DC.