What Is Spinal Manipulation?
Spinal manipulation is a modern technique derived from traditional medicine. It involves making adjustments to the back to prevent pain, remove pressure on joints, treat inflammation, and increase nerve function.
What to Expect from the Treatment
When you receive spinal manipulation, the practitioner will do much more than crack your back. Treatment is often comprehensive and may involve moving different joints, massage, exercises, and other types of physical therapy. Depending on your injuries or back strain, you may also receive ice and heat treatment, electrical stimulation, or laser. The practitioner may teach you stretches or use manual traction to stretch your spine.
What Does Spinal Manipulation Treat?
Spinal manipulation is effective at relieving chronic and acute lower back pain, particularly when a joint or muscle is affected.
The main target of the treatment is the facet joint, which is closely related to the exiting spinal nerve. The treatment can also manipulate the intervertebral segment of the cervical spine to target the U joint, the three joints of the thoracic spine, and the sacroiliac joint, especially for pregnant and postpartum patients. If you have any abnormal stiffness of the mid back leading to symptoms in the neck, arms, or lower back, you may benefit from spinal manipulation of the lumbar spine.
Spinal Manipulation vs. Spinal Mobilization
Similar to spinal manipulation is a technique called spinal mobilization, but there are some key differences between the two treatment types. In spinal manipulation, physiotherapists apply force to joints using their hands — you may hear the joint pop. Spinal mobilization can be more gentle and based more on stretching to apply force to a particular vertebra. Both types of treatment can help with mobility problems, pain relief, and loss of function.
Are There Any Risks?
When a licensed professional administers a spinal adjustment, the treatment is safe. However, since this type of therapy is unsuitable for some people, you’ll receive an assessment beforehand to confirm that it’s right for you.
In all cases, you should only receive spinal manipulation treatment and other types of lower back physiotherapy from a qualified physiotherapist. The team at Global Physiotherapy has received extensive training as part of their continuing education and is aware of the necessary safety precautions, such as examining the stability of joints and checking nerve and artery function before offering spinal manipulation to a patient. Contact us to book an assessment.