Pain is usually the final straw for patients who come to see a chiropractor—it’s the most common reason we get new patients, and with good reason. Chiropractors are extremely helpful in relieving neck pain, back pain, and pain in many other joints, but there are other, less obvious reasons why scheduling a visit with the chiropractor could be in your best interest.
Watch for these 10 signs and start considering how your life could improve if you see a chiropractor:
1. Stiffness or Smaller Range (or Lack) of Motion
If you can’t move as far as you used to, or if you feel like it takes longer to move than it used to, your joints (or joint) may be restricted. This should be addressed in good time because the lack of motion over time may worsen, and could begin to affect other areas of your body. If you’re struggling with lack of motion, it may be something relatively simple like joint stiffness, or it could be a result of an injury or a condition like arthritis.
How chiropractic helps stiffness: Adjustments can help restore motion to your body by getting joints to move more and reduce muscle tension.
2. Muscle tightness
You had one job, muscles. One job. And that’s to move the body. But when muscles are tight, they can feel like they’re pulling on your body and they can cause pain. It’s common to find tight muscles in the upper back (the trapezius muscles) and in the hamstrings on the back of the upper legs.
How chiropractic helps muscle tightness: A chiropractic adjustment involves a quick stretch of the muscle, and proper alignment takes that pressure off of your muscles. Therapeutic massage helps with muscle tightness, too.
Headaches can signify any number of conditions, including dehydration, low blood sugar, high blood pressure, eye strain, neck problems, hormonal changes, and plenty of other no-good things.
How chiropractic helps headaches: Adjustments can be helpful in reducing headache severity and frequency, especially as it relates to posture and headaches that come from “text-neck” or tension headaches. Your chiropractor may also make suggestions for ergonomics, sleep or diet changes to help with headaches.
4. Posture changes
Suddenly you can’t stand up straight, you’re hunching forward, or your shoulders are uneven in height—you might have a posture problem. These can often occur due to muscle imbalances, dis injury, scoliosis, leg length discrepancy (legs are uneven lengths) or other injuries.
How chiropractic helps posture: Changes in your ergonomics, or using posture supports like Kinesio Tape, heel lifts, or sacroiliac belts (provides correction and compression around the pelvis and helps). The chiropractor can also teach you exercises that are helpful for stability and adjustments can help the muscles and joints, renewing motion.
5. Walking Differently
Are you walking more heavily? Are you putting more weight on one leg? Are your feet getting more tired? It’s likely time to see the chiropractor and find out the cause. It could be originating from your feet, your knees, your hips or your back. Some of these causes might be simple biomechanical problems like uneven leg lengths, fallen arches, but they can also be due to sciatica, disc injury, neuropathy, scoliosis, muscle spasms, arthritis, hip or knee conditions, or plantar fasciitis. Neuropathy patients often feel like they can walk more easily after adjustments.
How chiropractic can help with walking: The chiropractor can evaluate your biomechanics, take x-rays to look for arthritis or other bony changes and look at your leg lengths, and assess your feet for arch changes or other foot conditions. Adjustments of the feet, strengthening or stretching exercises, custom orthotics or heel lifts may be some of the ways to help you walk better.
6. Sleep and Energy
If you’re not sleeping well, feeling tired and fatigued, have restlessness, trouble falling asleep, and your energy levels are lowered, every part of your life can be affected: your mental, emotional, and physical health are dependent on your body’s ability to rest regularly. Sleep problems can be caused by a variety of things, including medications, caffeine consumption, stress, pain and more. Sleep problems may also indicate that it’s time to be adjusted at the chiropractor.
How chiropractic helps with sleep: Chiropractic can help ease bodily discomfort and improve sleep. Your chiropractor may also give you tips on sleep positions that are better for your body or other tips to help you catch some Zzzz’s.
7. Numbness and Tingling
This is a telltale sign of nerve compression. Numbness and tingling from nerve compression can stem from disc herniation, bone spurs, stenosis, or a muscle that’s compressing the nerves. A common nerve compression complaint is sciatica.
How chiropractic helps with numbness and tingling: Chiropractic adjustments help with restoring motion and helping decrease inflammation. If the cause is from a disc injury, chiropractic adjustments can help decrease pain and inflammation. If a muscle is compressing on a nerve, then your doctor will likely work on relaxing those muscles with massage, give you home exercises and adjust the joint around the affected muscle.
8. Daily Activity Interruption
When your daily, regular activities are slower, require more concentration, or cannot be done anymore, that’s an interruption worth paying attention to. For example, if you have to grab your coffee cup with both hands (instead of one) so you don’t spill, or you stop using your dominant hand to brush your teeth, you need help getting dressed, or you take the stairs slowly, one leg at a time, these are signs that you shouldn’t ignore. These subtle clues are telling you to make an appointment and bring your concerns to the chiropractor.
How chiropractic can help with daily activities: Your chiropractor will determine the cause of these issues and make a plan and treatment to help get you back to doing things the way you are used to doing them.
9. Decreased Physical Activity
Have you stopped doing something you loved because it’s not fun anymore—because it hurts? Perhaps you no longer play catch with your kids, or you don’t run anymore, or you keep skipping leg, arm, core, and cardio day at the gym. You’ve stopped doing the fun, physical activities you used to enjoy, because it’s not easy, or it’s not comfortable anymore.
How chiropractic can help you resume physical activity: Motion is lotion and chiropractic care’s number one goal is to restore motion. By increasing motion to joints, you can move better, with less pain and with more confidence.
10. Wellness
Staying healthy takes work. Wellness is when you actively do things and take steps to keep you healthy. Wellness includes physical (exercise, diet, sleep, chiropractic), emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental. Chiropractic care can help with physical wellness and help you reduce the likelihood of illness or injury.
How chiropractic can help with whole-body wellness: Chiropractic care addresses pain management, but it also helps keep your body in good working order. By seeing the chiropractor regularly, you’ll be able to identify small issues and keep them from becoming big issues. Kind of like a tune-up for your car—but this is for your body.
Make an appointment with us before your pain becomes the #1 reason you want to come in.
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