Chiropractic versus Massage

If your neck is bothering you with periodic, or even chronic pain, what are you supposed to do? You may have been suffering with this for a long time and you just might be losing hope with eliminating the pain. There are many ways in which you can eliminate the pain, but which will eliminate the problem. The two that are the most common that is “safer” and not focused on taking medication are Massage and Chiropractic. So which is the better form of care for you? There are many who will champion the chiropractic approach because they have had phenomenal results. And there are those that without giving it a second thought will shout out “Massage”.

They go hand in hand.

My feelings are that chiropractic and massage should be done in conjunction with each other. An easy way to look at this is, our spine cannot move without an outside force being applied to it. Period! This means that muscles are included in this category. I’ve talked about viscous cycles in the past, and here is another one. Our spine is out of place because a muscle is too tight, and our muscles are too tight, because our spine is out of place. And round and round we go yet again. If you want to stop the cycle, we have to put the bone back into the proper place. By doing so, the body will naturally stop causing the muscles that are tight to calm down. Harmony abounds and the body will love you for it.

So if a patient were to come into my office with ANY type of pain, I will invariably suggest massage to complement their recovery. One small caveat to this is the type of massage and who to get it from. There is a big difference between “Spa” massage and “Therapeutic” massage. Unfortunately, all massage is not created the same, and just because the therapist digs deep into a muscle does not mean that they are doing the proper technique. To correct the muscle tension, a properly trained massage therapist needs to know how to assist the body with the release of developed trigger points and spasm.
As with massage, not all chiropractic is the same. Before going to chiropractic school, I had no idea that there were almost as many different techniques within the chiropractic profession as there as there are shades of color. I chose to practice Upper Cervical chiropractic because of the complexity and power of the neck. Atlas Orthogonal chiropractic, in my opinion, provides the most accurate and precise adjustment out there. Because it utilizes an instrument that can be brought within a millimeter of angle, and the force can be reproduced every single time, I can provide for my patients the same adjustment without the “human factor” errors.
Chiropractic and Massage, together, can provide some of the most powerful healing possible. To have one without the other is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, without the bread.