Chiropractic Care: 3 Therapeutic Services You Might Not Know About

Many people associate chiropractic care with advanced treatments, such as spinal adjustments and chiropractic mobilization. However, chiropractic care also involves a number of other therapeutic services you might not associate with the field, including cold therapy, heat therapy, and exercise therapy. Learn more about three unique chiropractic services and how they can benefit you below.

1. Cold Therapy Treatment

Your back contains three groups of muscles called the paraspinal muscles, or erector spinae. The paraspinal muscles allow you to twist, move, or bend your upper body in various directions throughout your lifetime. In some people, the paraspinal muscles can become weak, sore, and fatigued over time. The individuals may benefit from cold therapy treatment. 

Cold therapy treatment minimizes blood flow to inflamed muscle tissue. When tissues become inflamed, they become swollen and sore. The tissues can also become fatigued or exhausted. Chiropractors use cold compresses and other methods to ease the pressure and tenderness in your muscles. 

Along with cold therapy, chiropractors may use heat therapy to soothe your symptoms.

2. Heat Therapy Treatment

Heat has the opposite effect on inflamed muscle tissues. Instead of reducing blood circulation to your muscles, heat therapy increases it. Blood relaxes and loosens up the paraspinal muscles in your back. 

Some chiropractors and doctors alternate heat and cold therapy during their patients' treatment. The combined treatments encourage the muscles in the back and along the spine to heal and improve. Depending on the severity of inflammation in your muscles, the treatments may take some time to make you feel better. A chiropractor will most likely estimate your recovery time before you begin heat and cold therapy treatment.

The final therapeutic treatment a chiropractor may use to treat you is exercise therapy.

3. Exercise Therapy Treatment

Exercise therapy increases the healing properties of heat and cold therapy in several ways. Exercise therapy does the following:

• encourages blood to enter the inflamed tissues in your back
• relaxes the bones and joints supporting your back muscles
• strengthens, stretches, and mobilizes the muscles in your back

Your exercise therapy involves a number of things, including riding an exercise bike, walking on a treadmill, or lifting light hand weights. A chiropractic clinic or specialist may use other methods during your exercise therapy sessions.

If cold, heat, or exercise therapy doesn't yield effective results for you, spinal adjustments and chiropractic mobilization treatment may be necessary for you. As with treatments above, a chiropractor or clinic will evaluate your situation and choose the best course of action for your back.

Learn more about chiropractic therapeutic services and whether or not they're right for you by contacting a chiropractic clinic like Natural Healthcare Services today.