Chiropractic is an ancient yet innovative medical practice that originated in the Chinese orthopedic system but involves a variety of disciplines in clinical disease. Chiropractic in China originated from the Chinese orthopedic manipulation of spinal injuries in the reset technique, and after long-term medical practice and experience, gradually formed a unique set of treatment methods, which began to be recognized in the 1990s, and gradually expanded the scope of treatment and became popular among the general public.
1.Definition
It refers to the cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, intervertebral discs and peri-vertebral soft tissues suffer damage or degeneration under certain causative conditions, the occurrence of vertebral joint misalignment, disc protrusion, ligament calcification or osteophytes, directly or indirectly to the nerve roots, vertebral artery, spinal cord, sympathetic nerves and other stimulation or compression, and cause a variety of clinical syndromes, and often caused by the plant nerve dysfunction, so that its innervated organs appear The disease, through the use of orthopedic manipulation of the spine to achieve a treatment method to relieve the disease.
2.Cause of spinal disease
Causes: excessive fatigue; poor sleeping posture, pillow, poor work or life posture, feeling wind and cold, mild trauma, endocrine disorders, etc.
Underlying causes: spinal joint misalignment, intervertebral disc degeneration, osteophytes protruding into the spinal canal, vertebral foramen, transverse foramen; ligament hypertrophy, calcification; soft tissue strain in the neck, shoulder, back and lumbar area resulting in spinal instability; congenital deformity (vertebral fusion, cervical rib, spinal stenosis).
3.Pathology
(1) degeneration or herniation (bulging) of the intervertebral disc
(2) Vertebral misalignment: altered position of articular eminence and hook eminence.
(3) peri-vertebral soft tissue changes: spastic degeneration, spastic stiffening, aseptic inflammation, atrophy, etc.
(4) osteophytes; in general, the spine is not clinically symptomatic in the unstable state, but can become subluxated and symptomatic under some triggers. If compressed or irritated, the following symptoms may also occur.
Nerve roots – pain, numbness, weakness in their innervated area.
Vertebral artery – dizziness, head swelling.
Spinal cord – depending on the degree of damage to the spinal cord, symptoms can occur in the area of innervation at and below the plane of the damaged spinal cord to varying degrees, such as paraplegia, motor deficits, sensory dullness, absence, dissociation, hypersensitivity, etc.
Sympathetic nerve fibers – the innervated viscera appear sick.
4.Diagnosis
Common types of spinal subluxation: right and left rotational subluxation, lateral bending and lateral swing subluxation, anterior and posterior slipping subluxation, tilting subluxation, and mixed subluxation.
Spinal cord and related diseases can be diagnosed by a three-step localization method.
(1) Nerve (clinical symptoms) localization diagnosis.
① limbs with numbness and pain, and make a preliminary determination of the extent of the onset spine according to the distribution of peripheral nerves.
(ii) with internal organs and organ disease, judged by sympathetic nerve segments.
③ with local symptoms of the spine, judged by the local muscle and ligament attachment relationship.
(4) If there are no 1 – 3 manifestations, the brain and spinal cord injury from the arterial blood supply will be judged.
(2) Diagnosis by palpation (examination) localization.
(1) cervical transverse process and articular process palpation; thoracolumbar spinous process palpation.
(ii) palpation of paravertebral pressure points; palpation of the supraspinal ligament.
(iii) palpation of paravertebral related soft tissue strain points and related muscles.
④If palpation is unsatisfactory, clinical examination and diagnosis according to orthopedics and neurology.
(3) Radiographic localization diagnosis.
(① exclude fracture, dislocation, tumor, tuberculosis, rheumatoid, gout, etc.
(ii) analysis of the site, type and presence of disc herniation of vertebral small joint misalignment.
③analysis of the degree of disc degeneration, the relationship between the site of osteophytes and morbidity.
④ Observe the joint inflammation, osteoporosis, ligament calcification site, for the reference of the treatment plan.
The preliminary diagnosis of the spinal pathogenesis range is made in the first step of positioning, and the second step matches with the first step to prove that the judgment is accurate, and the third step matches with the first and second steps to make the final positioning diagnosis.
5.Treatment
Clinical treatment of spine and related diseases
Main treatment method: Remove the bony compression on neurovascular damage.
(1) Orthopedic massage – correction of vertebral joint misalignment.
(2) Traction – degeneration and hyperplasia.
Complementary treatment method: eliminate sterile inflammation (nerve root edema) and relieve pain; treat spinal instability (using physical therapy such as heat therapy).
6.Clinical efficacy
Over the years, we have used chiropractic treatment in the clinical treatment of spinal diseases and spine-related diseases, and achieved better results, relieving the pain of many patients. Our department is gradually forming a series of chiropractic techniques with chiropractic as the core, expanding the scope of treatment of diseases, and we welcome patients’ inquiries and treatment.