How to Find a Good Chiropractor – Part I

Before I cover part one I think it is in the best interest of all concerned to quickly address a few misconceptions.

1. A good Chiropractor is a one who will adjust me and get me out of pain and I will let him know when I need him. Not true! A good Chiropractor will educate you about how your body works, heals and maintains itself. Pain in a poor indicator of when to see a Chiropractor.
2. Chiropractors are great but you have to keep going.  Whether you value your health or not is up to each individual to decide. Continuing Chiropractic care is a decision based upon your understanding of the bodyís true abilities to heal. Your Chiropractor should be a coach in that pursuit.
3. New Chiropractors are the best or the best Chiropractors have been in the field for years. Both sound reasonable but after being a Chiropractor and a patient for nearly thirty years I see no correlation. Read picking a Chiropractor parts one and two and watch to videos for an insiderís guide.

The number one thing when picking a Chiropractor is to understand what you need and to look for a Chiropractor who fits those needs. If you have a headache, neck pain, rib pain, or low back pain you are the most common type of person who seeks Chiropractic care. This is Chiropractic 101 and virtually all Chiropractors will be able to address your needs. Local faulty biomechanics are usually simple to address with any of a variety of approaches. By that I mean you have a local segmental issue, a subluxations, or to put it in simpler terms you have a bone out of place causing localized pain etc. Whether it has been there five minutes or ten years it will need to be realigned and Chiropractors are well trained to take care of such problems. If this is where you find yourself and you have no Chiropractic experience about which technique or D.C. is suitable in your area, my best advise is to ask around. Word of mouth referrals are pretty safe. If you do have Chiropractic experience and are in a new area looking for a DC who does a particular technique call the local or state Chiropractic Association ñ They usually will have a list of which Doctors do certain techniques.

If you have more significant issues such as chronic states of disease, progressive postural or multiple health challenges you should be looking for a Chiropractor who does regional work. I my experience regional/postural work has a profound systemic effect on the entire nervous system. Having a practical neurologist of your side can give you the power to heal from virtually any type of health challenge. If this is where you find yourself, you are like me and you will want to look for a certain type of DC. In my case I suffered from 14 auto accidents, a broken neck in two places, and an avulsed disc in my low back. If the repeated traumas werenít enough my problems were compounding by scoliosis and decades before my first Chiropractic adjustment. I only realized temporary relief with segmental work for years. I felt was beyond repair. I found the care I needed with regional work. It gave me back my health, my freedom from pain, stress and a quality of life I thought was forever gone. Regional work is based on normalizing the spinal curves and correcting to gravity. This has a systemic effect through out the body. The most common types of regional work are CBP (Chiropractic biophysics), Pettibon, and ABC (Advanced Biostructural Correction).

There are many other considerations besides segmental or regional. Please read How to Find a Good Chiropractor – Part II.
I can be reached at 360-254-4040.

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