When managing and treating chronic pain or an injury, it’s important to seek professional treatment. With so many treatment options and approaches, it can be difficult to know which healthcare professional to see.
What Is Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care is the therapy that treats the nervous system, brain and spinal column, as well as the musculoskeletal system, bones, cartilage, joints, muscles, nerves and tendons. When an injury, deformity, accident or illness occurs, a chiropractor can adjust or realign the spine with their hands and other instruments to provide pain relief by removing pressure off spinal nerves.
Chiropractors use several techniques to find degenerative changes, disc injuries and subluxations in the spine, which are misalignments of the spinal column causing nerve irritation.
Physical Therapy vs Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors can prescribe and perform neurological tests like an EMG, perform X-rays and MRIs, and tailor a suitable care plan. It may include spinal adjustments, traction decompression, cold laser therapy, physical therapy modalities like heat, ice, trigger point therapy, electric stim, stretches and exercises.
Sports chiropractors have additional training and adjust other joints like knees, elbows, feet, shoulders, wrists, hands, fingers.
What Is Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy, also called physical therapy, is a broad term used to describe any kind of therapy that encourages the body to increase strength and mobility. Physical therapists focus on the study of soft tissue, muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Some physiotherapists can perform some of what the chiropractor does, such as spinal manipulation and muscle release techniques, although their training in spinal manipulation is much less than a chiropractor’s.
If an illness or an injury has impacted a patient’s balance, mobility or strength, a physical therapist works to restore their health gradually through different treatment techniques.
Physical therapists may use modalities like ultrasound, cold laser therapy, electric stimulation, trigger point therapy, Graston technique and other techniques that stretch muscle tissue, including exercises for pre and post-surgical rehab.
Physical therapists cannot tape or order X-rays, MRIs or CT scans, and they require a referral from a primary care doctor after ten visits.
Both physical therapy and chiropractic care are considered complementary treatments, non-invasive and not requiring pharmaceutical or surgical intervention.
Benefits of Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care provides relief for a variety of conditions and benefits people with nervous system, nerve, and musculoskeletal problems. The philosophy is that everybody is different and requires tailored treatments. It’s non-invasive and safe, meaning there’s a lower risk of complications compared to invasive treatments like injections, medications and surgeries.
Patients who see chiropractors report almost immediate relief from chronic pain. Adjustments can immediately improve mobility, coordination, and function, reducing the need for surgery and medication. Many physicians refer their patients to chiropractors or physiotherapists before administering conventional medical treatment.
Benefits of Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy focuses on the support and restoration of joints, muscles, tendons and mobility. For patients who have suffered an injury or illness, physiotherapy can be an effective, personalized way to rehab the body and recover faster. There’s injury prevention too, since physical therapy focuses on strengthening and rehabbing the body, resulting in a stronger patient with increased ability to prevent further injury.
Historical Differences Between the Two
Chiropractors were traditionally more known for their hands-on therapies, spinal manipulations or adjustments of the spine, massage, myofascial release techniques, and stretching, wanting to limber and loosen people up.
Physical therapists, on the other hand, would focus on strengthening, finding areas of instability or weakness, wanting to exercise those areas and strengthen the support system.
These days, chiropractors who keep up with research are doing more physical therapy-type work, showing people how to do correct exercises. Physical therapists who keep up with research are learning how to do spinal manipulations as part of their approach to therapy.
Treatment Technique Differences
For chiropractors, the most common technique is joint manipulation: taking a joint to a certain position and manipulating it, usually producing audible popping or cracking sounds. Physical therapists typically mobilize joints instead of manipulating them, a similar technique but not quite the same thing, using techniques like strain counter strain or different types of friction massage.
Physical therapists spend a lot of time treating sore muscles with hands-on techniques, deep tissue massage, trigger point massage, and myofascial type techniques. Chiropractors, depending on how much time they have with a patient, may not focus on muscles as much, though some use devices like an activator device or Active Release techniques.
Choosing Between the Two
Not all PTs are created equally, and not all chiropractors are created equally, so it’s important to find a good fit, one who understands what a patient is trying to accomplish.
A good PT and a good chiropractor really aren’t that different in their desire to help people get rid of pain and improve function. In many cases, PTs and chiropractors work quite well together, and there’s a good likelihood that working with both leads to getting better faster.