A great many of the people who come to see us at Rice Family Chiropractic share one complaint in common: They have restricted range of motion due to some injury of the spine or related part of their body. It sounds obvious, but the repercussions can be life altering.

When we are young, we don’t often think about what life would be like without the full range of our mobility. The process of aging, through injury, mishap and everyday wear and tear, inevitably leads to a reduction in our ability to run, skip and jump. Our knees ache when we bend. Our back aches when we twist. Our neck aches when we get out of bed. Consequently, we become less and less active. We stop playing tennis. We give up water skiing. And inevitably we get a little boring.

The fact is, it doesn’t have to be that way for everyone. Regular chiropractic care can help increase both range of motion and flexibility. With improved physical ability, we are less likely to limit our activity and more likely to exercise regularly. It’s a cycle that works both ways: with chiropractic we are generally more flexible and have more mobility; this leads to greater freedom to take on physical activity. Without chiropractic, there is a oftentimes a greater incidence of persistent mobility issues—it’s no surprise that many of our clients report  rediscovering some of their more youthful activities with regular treatment.

But don’t just take it from us. Science backs up these observations. For example, a study performed in 2001 by researchers at the Phillip Chiropractic Research Centre of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics determined that chiropractic adjustments increased range of motion in all 105 patients who participated in the study.  There were three phases of this study, in which each of the participants was given no adjustments, fake adjustments or true adjustments.  In every case, the patients who were given the genuine adjustments showed a significant improvement in range of motion, which was not the case for the other two groups.

A chiropractor uses spinal adjustments and manipulations to other parts of the body to realign the bones and joints in order to restore mobility, reduce pain, and improve flexibility, coordination and balance.  Chiropractic adjustments can be performed manually, or other techniques may be used to increase circulation and improve function, such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation or trigger point therapy.  There are also many exercises that your chiropractor may recommend that will assist in increasing strength and flexibility. The idea with homework exercises is to maintain and build upon the gains from your chiropractic adjustments.

There is also a great deal of research on the importance of chiropractic training, and the safety of chiropractic treatment relative to more invasive surgical practices and medical drugs. For example, the Manga Report, which was commissioned by Ontario’s Ministry of Health in 1993, studied the available scientific literature on the most effective treatments for lower back pain. The findings were unequivocal: “There is no clinical or case-control study that demonstrates or even implies that chiropractic spinal manipulation is unsafe in the treatment of low back pain. Some medical treatments are equally safe, but others are unsafe and generate iatrogenic (doctor-induced) complications for low back pain patients. Our reading of the literature suggests that chiropractic manipulation is safer than medical management of low back pain.”

Elsewhere, the report states: “Chiropractic manipulation is safer than medical management of low back pain. Chiropractic management is greatly superior to medical management in terms of scientific validity, safety, cost-effectiveness and patient satisfaction.”

These are not isolated reports. As the scientific community evolves, it’s understanding of health care increasingly points to the efficacy and importance of holistic, non-invasive, and traditional health practices, such as chiropractic.

While many people restrict their activities due to back pain, research clearly indicates that chiropractic is safe, and more effective than other forms of treatment.

Here at Rice Family Chiropractic, we are strong proponents of holistic health care. If you have any questions about the effectiveness of chiropractic,  your mobility or flexibility, or anything else relating to your spinal health, please call us to book an appointment. You can also ask questions of any of our health care practitioners via our “Ask us!” page, here: www.ricechiropractic.ca/ask-us/