Here’s something you may not already know: it is estimated that 90 percent of all world-class athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and improve their performance. Just take it from Tom Brady. Even if you aren’t a New England Patriots fan, you can’t deny he knows a thing or two about health and fitness.
Brady, who is still living his best life (and has 6 Super Bowl rings to prove it) at 42 years young said, “Chiropractic just makes you feel so much better. When I walk out of the clinic, I feel like I’m about three inches taller and everything’s in place. As long as I see the chiropractor, I feel like I’m one step ahead of the game.”
If the sheer realization that Tom Brady has a chiropractor wasn’t enough for you, take it from me: chiropractic care was a no brainer as it helped me avoid surgery, getting cortisone shots, and taking pain medications with potential nasty side effects. And chances are, it can help you too. Not sure how to get started? Here is how I navigated the process of finding the right chiropractor for me:
Ask for Referrals
Talk to friends, family, and acquaintances who you trust. In general, if multiple people recommend the same chiropractor, chances are good that the chiropractor is reliable. Online reviews can also be helpful, but they don’t always tell the full story.
For example, many people don’t have the will, determination, and patience to succeed in chiropractic care, and abandon it after just one or two visits if they don’t feel better instantly (and then will complain about it on Yelp to boot).
They also get pissed off if the chiropractor keeps asking them to come back, and they complain they feel “scammed” by this concept. This never fails to blow my mind. Changing your posture, structure, and your spine’s ability to move takes time. Months in fact. Trust the process.
Don’t Be Afraid to “Shop” Around
Experience matters when you’re facing the complexities of a back injury—often times it’s not just our backs that our the problem, and it’s important to find a practitioner who has the experience to treat the root cause of your issue. Obviously, the more experience a chiropractor has with a particular condition, the better your results are likely to be. Case in point: my chiropractor has been in business for over 50 years, and is 70 years old. TRUTH.
He’s done quite well for himself, doesn’t have to work, and could be sitting on a yacht right now (retired) and sipping a margarita. But instead, he chooses to help people like me, to get (and stay) healthy and strong, every day, because he truly loves what he does. Find a chiropractor who doesn’t do it for the money. You won’t regret it.
Have an Initial Consultation
You don’t know how many times I’ve heard from someone that their chiropractor didn’t take an x-ray and/or perform any type of physical consultation before they manipulated them. That is actually a terrifying prospect. How on earth can the chiropractor fix an issue, if they don’t even know with certainty what that issue is?
Also, fun fact: the Western world criticizes chiropractors who don’t send patients for MRIs. You know what I say? MRI, SHREM MER I. The truth is, a good chiropractor can usually look at an X-ray and know exactly what is going on. Take the case of a herniated disc. A standard X-ray can’t actually show if you have a herniated disc, but it can show your doctor the outline of your spine, and rule out whether your pain is caused by something else.
Based on what the pain isn’t caused from (and your symptoms, which should be clearly manifest during your in-depth physical consultation that we talked about earlier!), it’s pretty easy to connect the dots as to what the pain is caused from.
Trust Your Gut
Your know what your Mom always told you about if something doesn’t feel right, than it probably isn’t? Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Clue in to what your mind and heart are telling you after you meet your prospective chiropractor for the first time, and you won’t have trouble making a decision from there.
Finding a chiropractor is not a “one size fits all” process. But it’s a process that needs to start somewhere. So, what are you waiting for? Ready, set, go! Remember: if a chiropractor can’t touch, you, they certainly can’t change you.
You’ve got this, and I’ve got your back (no pun intended)!
Xo,
Christa D.