For all of those people out there that do not truly know the differences between chiropractic and medical interventions for treating musculoskeletal conditions, allow me to give a brief explanation or call our chiropractic office in Elizabeth PA (Popovich Chiropractic) if you’re in the area. Chiropractic is founded on principles and evidenced based science that supports the concept of how proper structure and function of the neuromusculoskeletal system can influence the preservation and restoration of health without the use of drugs and surgery. Chiropractors look to ultimately determine the actual cause of a patient’s condition and objectively correct the cause with manual therapy techniques to influence proper neuromuscular movement patterns. Chiropractors carefully asses the postural muscular imbalances that afflict much of the population through a battery of assessment tools to determine the appropriate regions that are in need of corrective joint manipulation/adjustments. After restoring normal joint function and addressing the acute pain symptomatology, chiropractors will focus on strengthening adaptively weakened muscles, lengthening adaptively shortened muscles or “tight muscles”. This requires the use of therapeutic exercises that are performed in office and eventually at home. Contrary to the chiropractic model is the medical paradigm. The medical approach is an allopathic model that treats the presenting symptoms to create a different effect to counter the symptoms of a condition with the use of pharmaceutical agents or surgical interventions. The allopathic model strives to quiet symptoms so the patient can experience relief with these masking agents. However, there are distinct repercussions with this healthcare model as it currently stands. Any foreign substance (i.e. drug/medicine) we consume not only has numerous side effects but alters the body’s homeostasis. Homeostasis is the body’s normal physiological cell function. Once we have altered or imposed outside persuasions to our delicate cell physiology the body will now have to recalibrate its homeostasis to a new set point which can produce abnormal biochemical changes to take place. This may lead to toxicity and possibly nutrient deficiency. My intention is not to insult the medical approach to healthcare but to educate my patients so they are armed with the best information to make an intelligent decision. Medicine does play a very pivotal role in many crisis situations that cannot be understated. Both models while different in their approaches, can be complementary when each discipline works together to improve the quality of life of their patients.
Popovich Chiropractic, a Chiropractor in Elizabeth (Lincoln Boro), PA is available by appointment and can be reached at (412)673-0990.