Are all Chiropractors the Same?

Ask the Chiropractor- Are all Chiropractors the same?  This week on ask the chiropractors Dr Hulsebus explains the differences in chiropractors.  Why some practice one style and others do not.  Why if the style practice is the same the adjustment might be different.  #healthy815 #icachiropractor #palmerproud

www.rockforddc.com

Transcript

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- Hello and welcome to another edition of "Ask the Chiropractor." I'm Dr. Brant Hulsebus, chiropractor here at Rockford, Illinois. We started this little podcast because people often have questions about chiropractic but they don't know who to ask about it, or worse, they ask the wrong person. So if you have a question about chiropractic you should always ask a chiropractor. Now, a lot of people will check with their family doctor first before going to a chiropractor. And I'm here to tell you that majority of family doctors have no idea what chiropractors do and they're probably a bad person to ask. Just like I would never ask a chiropractor about wisdom teeth, right? I'd ask a dentist about those. So if you have a question about chiropractic or chiropractic care, always ask a chiropractor. So let's start with this week's question. It's kind of a fun question."Are all chiropractics the same?"I went to a chiropractor one time, didn't get good results."I don't think I'm gonna try a chiropractic again." Or, "I went to a chiropractor,"he did this weird thing to me."I didn't really like it."If I go to one chiropractor,"should I expect the same thing"at another chiropractic office?" And I'm here to tell you that nothing could be further than the opposite of that. Every chiropractor's very unique, every chiropractic experience is very particular on the patient, and more importantly, on the chiropractor himself. There are many different chiropractic schools, and in different schools, we're taught different things. I went to Palmer Chiropractic College and I feel that's the best school in the world. Well, one, because I went there, and two, because that's where all the chiropractic care started. All chiropractic started at Palmer College. But there's plenty of other schools that I work with too. And there's other schools that I tell people that these are chiropractors that don't practice at all like me. They focus more on PT and rehab, and other things than that, than actually chiropractic. I know a couple of chiropractors that don't even do chiropractic adjustments. They went to a different school. They have a different chain of philosophy and a different approach of what we do. Does that mean they're bad people? No, that doesn't mean they're bad people. Does that mean they're bad chiropractors? No. The whole thing is that to each their own, everyone does their own thing. Today, I went to lunch and I sat next to an ear, nose, throat doctor. Well, as an ear, nose, throat doctor, he's a medical doctor. He does not do the same thing as my family doctor. They're both medical doctors, but they have different areas of expertise and specialties. So yeah, not every chiropractic experience is the same. When I have a patient that comes here from a different chiropractor, I tell them the way I adjust, I tell them the way I take care of patients. And then before I start, I always ask them,"Am I the type of chiropractor you're looking for?"Because if you're not,"I can help you find a different chiropractor." So let's talk about the different types of chiropractors you might come across. Well, one is an upper cervical chiropractor. And upper cervical chiropractic's an amazing field. I love it. And what they're doing is they're focused on the top two bones of the neck, and all they adjust is the top two bones of the neck. And the goal there is to stimulate a lot what they call the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve kinda wanders all over, belly button up. And Dr. Palmer himself started this technique. And there's a whole idea that if you set these two bones a shock wave goes up and down the spine and neurologically things change. And these are great chiropractors. I tend to send people to upper cervical chiropractors who are dealing with some real heavily-involved nervous system stuff like, say, MS, or things like Parkinson's and stuff like that. They've done some amazing, amazing work. So, and maybe you're that type of patient who needs that, just like maybe you're the type of patient that needs a different type of medical doctor. So that's kind of their specialty. And there's other chiropractors that specialize in rehab and after an injury in working to get you back. So if you just had shoulder surgery and you want to do some rehab to get back, there's chiropractors that's pretty much all they focus on is doing the rehabilitative to get you back to where you used to be. They do majority of physical therapy. So that might be the type of chiropractor you're looking for, depending on what your case is. Majority of chiropractors, though, we spend most of the time looking at the whole spine, top to bottom, this and that. And we want to make sure the entire spine's working and functioning properly. That's kind of chiropractic to its rawest core. And that's kind of what we focus on. Now even though that might be our focus, there's so many different ways to achieving that goal. Some chiropractors use an adjusting gun called an activator where they put it on your back and it makes a clicking sound. Some chiropractors use tables that will have air in them and they pop up, the chiropractor pushes, and the table pops. Some chiropractors, like myself, we only use our hands and you're hearing a noise like when you're cracking your knuckles and you hear that going off. So there's many, many more different areas in here that chiropractors do. And they're all proven techniques. They all work, otherwise they wouldn't exist and they wouldn't be taught at the schools. So you go to see a chiropractor and the way a chiropractor picks their technique, the way they adjust you, it's really easy. Most chiropractors, we do the one that we're really good at. So, like, there's an adjustment where you sit in a chair and I come up behind you. It's called cervical chair, and we adjust your neck when you're sitting in a chair. That's an amazing adjustment. It's really good. I like to have it done to myself all the time. But for me, I broke my elbow and I can't turn my wrist that way. I can't do that one anymore. So I don't do that one because I'm no good at it because I broke my elbow. But other chiropractors, I love it when they do that adjustment. So we tend to do what we're really good at. So if a chiropractor's really good using the adjusting gun, they'll use the adjusting gun called the activator. If a chiropractor's really good using that table that pops up and down, that's a technique they're gonna probably use. And if a chiropractor's really good at pushing and getting that manual adjustment, then that's what they're really good at. Is one better than the other? They all have their different pluses and minuses. They all have their things that make them better than the other and that makes them worse than the other. The bottom line is you'll get good chiropractic care regardless of the technique. It's just the course of getting there will be different. So they're all great, they're all taught. So the main thing is when you go see a chiropractor and you get used to a technique, and let's say you pack up and move to a different town and you really liked that technique, you need to find a chiropractor that uses the same technique. That's always a question you're looking for. So we use Palmer Package here for the most part, Gonstead, stuff like that. So when I have a patient that moves, I tell them that's what the kind of questions they should ask. Look for a manual adjustment. But if I'm an activator and I love the activator and getting adjusted by that, and I was to switch chiropractors and move to a different location, I'd try to find a chiropractor that uses the activator. Again, still a great adjustment, still get great results. Those chiropractors have phenomenal stories of patients that get well. So it's all different techniques and stuff. The biggest thing you want to find out is to make sure it's a technique that's actually taught in the colleges. Some of you might recognize me from some of my TikTok or YouTube Short videos that I do here on YouTube, where they sit in these straps and they pull on people, and that's not really taught at college. So I have a lot of fun making fun of them. You see people where they sit on people trying to make adjustments, that's not chiropractic. So I have some fun making some fun videos. But I base my judgment on whether or not it's chiropractic, or whether or not it's taught at a chiropractic college, and whether it's not on our national boards. So even though I have fun with it, there's lots of different techniques, lots of different ways to go to a chiropractor. And like I said before, certain people, certain chiropractors specialize in different things. I know, myself, if I get certain diagnosis of different issues, I would go seek out special chiropractic care. I've actually referred people to different chiropractors for different, more advanced techniques, and different areas of the spine based on what they're dealing with. Even myself, when they were talking about operating on my arm, I drove the Davenport, Iowa to Palmer College and I went to the sports department, met with Dr. Pavlicek who leads a sports rehabilitation area of Palmer College and they were able to do stuff to my forearm and it allowed me not to have surgery. So there's definitely a different area of chiropractic for different specialties, for different things that are going on. So you want to seek out the chiropractic care that's best appropriate for what you have going on. Now most chiropractors should be willing to refer to somebody else. If they're not, it's definitely time to find a different chiropractor. So if you go, if you move to a new city, and you go to the chiropractor and you don't like the way they adjust you, you should just tell the chiropractor that,"Hey, I wanted to come in, give you a try."I heard good things about you."I really like this technique." Now some of my patients, I will do that technique on them because we learn them. But they all know that I'm more efficient at the other technique, otherwise I'll refer them to another chiropractor in town who uses that technique they're used to. That's okay to ask for too. So do all chiropractors do the same thing? No. Do all chiropractors come in their practice with the same intent? Not really. Some of them, like I said, want to correct the spine. Some focus on physical therapy aspects of chiropractic. We focus on the spine here, and we work with others for the PT part. But that's to each their own in the chiropractors. It doesn't make one better than the other, this and that, just different ways of practicing. Another thing we do different is we have different adjusting techniques. Again, we do the one that we're good at. Simply because somebody uses an activator and somebody else does manual adjusting does not mean that this guy has no idea what he's doing and this one has a great idea of what they're doing because it's different. It's just what you get used to. All right, so I hope I answered the question about different types of chiropractic and different kind of chiropractic adjustments you might encounter and why you might encounter these things. All right, well I'm Dr. Brad Hulsebus. I'm gonna sign off. If you guys have a question for me, leave a comment below. Remember, if you have a question about a chiropractor, always ask a chiropractor. Find out more on my website, rockforddc.com. R-O-C-K-F-O-R-D-D-C.com. And you go on there and submit your question and we'll get back to you and maybe next time you'll be the question of the week. Thanks everybody.