How Chiropractic Care Can Benefit Construction Workers

Many professions can benefit from chiropractic care, construction workers especially. This is due to the very nature of their work: bending, climbing, lifting, and carrying heavy objects. They also need to rely on their balance, particularly those workers that work on high rise construction. To do this, it helps if the spine is aligned properly since it denotes proper balance. This is accomplished through chiropractic care.

What does a chiropractor do?

A chiropractor adjusts the spinal column by manipulating the vertebrae using short, quick thrusts to the vertebral joints. The goal is to make sure that each vertebra is properly aligned. Once it is, it allows the body to naturally heal other conditions directly related to the spinal alignment. It also helps take care of conditions construction workers often experience - conditions such as back pain and strain.

What techniques treat back injuries? 

Back strain is a particularly prevalent problem among construction workers because they do so much lifting and use a lot of repetitive motions such as twisting. Treatment techniques for these injuries include active release technique, cold laser, a spinal decompression flexion table, and massage treatment. Some chiropractic clinics also include onsite medical doctors in case a prescription for pain relief is required.

To give a better idea of what these treatments are, exactly, an active release technique is a non-invasive treatment that treats such conditions caused by stress, repetitive motion, or general overuse of a joint. It works on the nerve, muscle, and other connective tissues around a painful area to separate adhesions from the area, leaving the tissue properly functioning once again.

Likewise, a cold laser treatment or light treatment helps painful areas work properly again by penetrating up to two inches below the skin's surface to increase cellular metabolism. It works because it is able to remove the adhesions that form in between the soft tissues, often blocking full movement and causing pain.

Massage treatment pretty much speaks for itself. So lastly, spinal decompression basically utilizes the inverted force of your own body to create a negative pressure between each vertebra which, in turn, causes any discs that may be misaligned to literally get sucked back into place. Spinal decompression is used to treat back conditions that include bulging/herniated discs, lumbar strains, arthritis of the spine, sciatica, and degenerative discs and joints. When inverted, the weight of the head is enough to create just the right amount of pull on the cervical spine and the combined weight of your head, neck, chest, shoulders, and arms creates the perfect amount of force on the thoracic vertebrae. Finally, the weight of the entire body is perfect for the lumbar spine. The force of the weight makes the spine decompress and the negative pressure between the discs pulls each misaligned vertebra back into place.

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Dr.Heath Gallentine is a Chiropractor in Lexington, KY, owner of Lexington Family Chiropractic. If you would like additional information on how chiropractic can help relieve neck pain, back pain, headaches, sciatica, whiplash, fibromyalgia, and a variety of other conditions, visit our website and join our "members-only" section at http://www.lexfamilychiro.com