Chiropractic vs Physiotherapy

Chiropractic and physiotherapy have many of the same qualities, but each has its advantages. Similar to physiotherapy, chiropractic treatments are widely used to correct and treat a variety of physical ailments, from joint and back pain to migraines. However, chiropractic care requires ongoing support, while physiotherapy is aimed at preventing your problems from recurring. While there are several philosophical approaches to caring for the muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems, we will attempt to offer the most common chiropractic and physiotherapy approaches.

Physiotherapy Care Approach

• Physiotherapists are experts in improving movement and mobility. Pain-free exercise is critical to your quality of life, your ability to make a living, your ability to do your favorite leisure activities, and more.
• To restore proper movement, physiotherapists treat restricted mobility, misalignment of joints, muscle imbalance and weakness, posture problems, and incorrect movement patterns. This often includes treatment for the nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems.
• Physiotherapists treat a wide range of people, including athletes, children, adults, and the elderly.
• Patients are assessed, a list of problems is drawn up, patients are informed of the results, and a care plan is drawn up.
• Treatment of nervous and musculoskeletal disorders usually takes 1 to 3 months. It is common for patients to undergo physiotherapy 1 to 3 times a week, with each treatment session lasting between 30 and 60 minutes.
• Patients are typically empowered with home and educational programs and are encouraged to be self-sufficient at home to help speed the recovery process.
• Treatment may include hands-on soft tissue therapy techniques, joint manipulation or mobilization, and therapeutic exercise, including neuromuscular rehabilitation.
• For some patients, treatment may include the use of cold or hot compresses, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation. These treatments are sparingly used because patients can be trained to use ice or heat at home, and recent clinical research casts doubt on the use of ultrasound.
• In general, the relationship between a physiotherapist and his or her patient is to educate and train the patient to avoid a future recurrence of problems.

Chiropractic Care Approach

• Chiropractic care is an alternative treatment method that focuses on disorders of the nervous and musculoskeletal system, as well as the impact of these conditions on your general health.
• Chiropractic is most often used to treat neuro-musculoskeletal conditions including neck pain, back pain, pain in the joints of the legs or arms, headaches, and many more.
• The focus of chiropractic practice is chiropractic subluxation. Traditional chiropractic care assumes that spinal subluxations or problems with the spinal joints affect bodily function as well as its innate intelligence.
• The goal of chiropractic care is to relieve pain and correct subluxations (misalignments) in the spine.
• X-rays are sometimes used to identify misalignments or subluxations of the spine. However, there is no clinical evidence that subluxations can be detected by X-ray.
• Chiropractors believe that nerve pressure and misalignment can cause problems not only in the spine area but also in organs some distance from the spinal cord.
• Some chiropractors claim to offer “physiotherapy”. Chiropractic physiotherapy generally includes hot or cold compresses, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation.
• While chiropractors can treat other conditions besides low back and neck problems, treatments for shoulder, hip, knee, or ankle conditions often include spinal adjustments as well.
• Treatments usually last 10 to 20 minutes. Chiropractic patients are often asked to plan treatment for months or a year to help maintain spinal alignment and nervous system health.
• The philosophy of treatment, while conservative, requires relying on the chiropractor to maintain spinal alignment. Patients are encouraged to return to the chiropractor when the pain returns.

Chiropractic vs Physiotherapy

Both chiropractic and physiotherapy treat musculoskeletal conditions to improve joints and muscle movement, ease pain, and enhance the quality of life. However, the primary difference between the two treatment methods is that chiropractic care involves working with the spinal cord, vertebra, and nerves, whereas, physiotherapy involves working with the muscles and soft tissue.

At Performance Chiropractic + Physiotherapy, we offer both chiropractic and physiotherapy as they complement each other well. We employ a comprehensive approach to treat pains and disorders in order to improve your quality of life.