- February 22, 2023
Spine injuries may represent only a small percentage of traumatic injuries, but they have a significant impact. On the mild end, a spinal injury could mean back pain and discomfort. At the severe end, it could mean disability or paralysis for life. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCSC) roughly 17,730 new cases of spinal cord injury occur every year in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that between 250,000 and 500,000 people suffer from spinal cord injuries around the world.
If you’re one of them, you can receive Pembroke Pines spine injury treatment at Specific Care Chiropractic. Injuries of the spine affect other areas of your physical body, mind, and life, but with expert chiropractic care and physiotherapy, it is possible to gain your life back and reclaim your future. During your initial examination, we can discuss our treatment plan options for spine injuries in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Our Pembroke Pines Spine Injury Treatment Aims for Whole Body Health
Our chiropractic services are focused on holistic health. We want to deal with the underlying problem, not just treat or mask the symptoms. Our practitioners know that the spine is the support system for your entire physical structure, and it provides essential protection for the central nervous system.
Any spinal fracture, misalignment, or damage to the spinal cord disrupts your brain’s ability to communicate with the other parts of your body and prevents your body from healing itself. If we can improve even a small portion of this, we can give you back control of your life and manage your symptoms.
Chiropractic Methods of Spine Injury Treatment
Our location serving Pembroke Pines provides both chiropractic and physiotherapy services. Your spine injury treatment plan could include a combination of both. Our practitioners perform careful spinal adjustments that could improve your condition following a spinal column injury. Depending on your injury and symptoms, we may recommend:
- Activator Adjustments
- Diversified chiropractic technique
- Seated diversified technique
- Extremity manipulation
- Sacral-Occipital Technique (SOT)
- Toggle recoil (Hole-in-One)
- Thompson Drop-Table Technique
- Side posture
A member of our friendly staff can explain in detail how each treatment works.
Physiotherapy Options for Spine Injury Treatment
Physiotherapy involves manual treatment of injuries to build strength, improve flexibility, reduce pain, and ultimately restore a patient’s movement and function of body parts. Per Spinal Cord magazine, physiotherapy can improve the strength of spinal cord injury patients.
Our physiotherapy treatments include:
- Massage therapy- Manual stimulation of soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons, skin) to reduce tension, pain, stress, and increase blood flow, relaxation and immune response.
- Rehabilitation therapy- The use of targeted physical exercise to build strength and increase movement and get you back into the routine of performing certain tasks.
- Ultrasound therapy- Sound waves used to restore damaged tissue.
- Electrical muscle stimulation- Electrical pulses sent to the muscle to help repair damaged tissue.
- Stretching and Strengthening exercise- Stretching and strengthening exercises performed over time improve pain from various types of injuries and health conditions. They also promote healing.
How Do Spine Injuries Happen?
Spine injuries most often arise out of traumatic events, such as motor vehicle accidents and dangerous falls. Our Pembroke Pines spine treatment can help regardless of how your injury occurred. We can help if you suffered injuries due to:
- A car accident
- Slip and falls
- Workplace accidents
- Sports and recreation activities
- Illness, such as cancer or osteoporosis
- Other debilitating health conditions
Our chiropractic and physiotherapy services can benefit you regardless of your age, but are especially useful to older patients who suffer from decreased spinal stability.
Two Types of Spinal Injury
Spine injuries are categorized broadly as either spinal column injuries or spinal cord injuries.
Spinal Column Injuries
These injuries occur in the spinal column or the physical bones (vertebrae) that make up the spine. The spinal column, also known as the vertebral column, primarily functions to protect the spinal cord. It also provides structural support for the rest of the body and connects to muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other bones, such as the rib cage and sternum.
Spinal column injuries include:
- Compression fractures– Bone collapses on itself
- Burst fractures– Bone bursts into surrounding tissue, such as the nerves or spinal cord
- Herniated disks– The jelly-like fluid contained in the rubbery disks between the vertebrae leaks out into the surrounding area of the spine due to damage.
- Vertebral or other spinal Dislocations– The vertebrae are moved out of place due to overstretched or ruptured ligaments that held them together.
- Chance fractures (flexion-distraction injury)- The thoracic and lumbar spine are fractured due to abdominal trauma caused by lap seat belts.
- Ligamentous spinal injuries– The ligaments holding the spine in place become over-stretched, torn, or damaged in some way causing pain and inflammation
Spinal Cord Injuries
The spinal cord is the long column of bundled cells and nerve tissue running from the base of the skull down the center of the back. It is an essential part of the body’s command center. Its role is threefold: send motor signals from the brain to the body, send sensory information from the body to the brain, and control reflexes. Damage to the spinal cord can result in loss of movement, feeling, and bodily functions below the site of the injury.
- Complete spinal cord injury: If all sensation and function below the site is lost, you have a complete spinal cord injury. Paralysis, such as quadriplegia and paraplegia are complete spinal cord injuries.
- Incomplete spinal cord injury: If you lose only part of your feeling or function below the site of injury, your injury is incomplete.
Understanding the type of spine injury you have will help determine the best spinal treatment options for you and set your expectations. Our chiropractic team will carefully assess your condition and review your medical history to determine the best care plan for you. Your treatment could involve restoring function to parts of the body, reducing pain, improving mobility, or increasing strength, for instance.
Get the Spine Injury Treatment You Need at Our Location Serving Pembroke Pines
At Specific Care Chiropractic, we provide the very best in Pembroke Pines spine injury treatment. Our highly-trained and versatile staff will make sure you’re well-taken care of from the initial consultation to your final evaluation. Call us right now to set up your first appointment.
