Wilmington Chiropractor – How Does a Chiropractor Find the Cause of Your Pain?
On a daily basis in our office we see pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, burning, overuse injuries, trauma – you name it, but did you know that most cases are not pathological and do not usually require invasive intervention? Though cases that present with numbness or tingling are more likely to be the result of a disease process like disc or joint degeneration, for most of these, an exam and closely monitored treatment by a chiropractor can resolve many of these issues before they go any further. What you need to know is that there are ways to quickly narrow down each case to determine the likelihood of pathological processes.
As a chiropractor, we often don’t order or perform the same types of tests as MD’s because we are A) Looking for neuromusculoskeletal causes in addition to pathology B) Mainly trying to decide if the patient is a good candidate for conservative care or whether they need a referral to another specialist.
Here are a few of the tools that we use to determine a diagnosis:
1) Active and passive range of motion: The first thing to establish is whether or not range of motion is intact. If pain is present either on active (patient moves the joint through a range of motion) or passive (doctor moves patients joint through a range of motion) it can be an indicator of strain/sprain or capsular injury. These types of problems usually respond very well to short term conservative care with manipulation and soft tissue modalities.
2) Orthopedic testing: Individual orthopedic tests are used to help localize pain to a specific structure in order help gather information about the problem and help rule in or out particular structures. These tests are not all-inclusive, but they can get the doctor headed in the right direction.
3) Muscle/reflex and sensation: These tests provide basic neurological information. For instance, a nerve root compression injury will most likely result in a loss of varying degree to all three whereas irritation to nerve tissue usually causes tingling and sharp shooting pain.
4) X-Rays: X-rays are used frequently by many chiropractors to view boney alignment as well as degenerative changes. However, in most cases, conservative treatment can begin on a trial basis without the need for films.
These are the basic tests, though most practitioners have their own protocols that lead them to a diagnosis and treatment plan. The most important thing to determine is if the patient is a good candidate for conservative care. If the patient can be helped conservatively, the provider will put together a plan of action to address the patient’s concerns in the shortest time frame available. If the patient isn’t a good candidate, then the provider will most likely have a referral and further testing in mind to help.
There you have it! If you have questions about chiropractic practice, please feel free to write or call the office.








As a chiropractor and ART (Active Release Technique) provider in a Golf town like Wilmington, I often see golfers with injuries as a result of repetitive stress. Most of the patients that I see with injuries related to this particular sport has to do with the shoulder or lower back. This is pretty easy to understand given that most golfers swing in singular direction, such as a right handed golfer that swings from right to left, for example.