You’ve had that nagging back, shoulder, or neck pain for some time. So far, none of the over the counter remedies you have tried seem to have helped. Ice, heat, or muscle rubs don’t alleviate your pain. You saw your regular doctor or a specialist, who gave you a prescription for pain medication that didn’t work. Somewhere along the way, a friend or family member may have given you the name and phone number of a chiropractor who they swore worked miracles for their pain, but you are still apprehensive because you read an article online warning of the dangers of getting your spine “cracked.” On the other hand, nothing else seems to have worked, so maybe it is finally time to make that phone call to set up an appointment.

Dr. Horst understands how difficult it can be to work up the courage to make that first appointment to see him. You may be seeking out his help as your treatment of last resort. Furthermore, you may be apprehensive because you may not fully understand the benefits chiropractic care can provide. Here are four good reasons why you should pick up your phone and call Dr. Horst to make your first appointment.

Pain

Obviously, pain can be one of the most important reasons to make that first chiropractic appointment. In fact, it is the most common reason why first-time patients show up to see Dr. Horst. Chiropractic care relieves pain by mainly focusing on the spine and relieving pressure that the individual vertebrae place on the nerves running in and out of the spinal column. In doing so, signals that the nerves send to and from the brain to register pain can be reduced, thereby lowering your sensation of pain. However, chiropractic care can involve the entire musculoskeletal system, including all the joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles in the body.

Ongoing Wellness Care

Once Dr. Horst has helped you get rid of the pain that initially brought you into his office, you will want to find a way to reduce your chances of having the pain reoccur. With standard Western medicine, there often is not much of a way to do that. However, one of the benefits of chiropractic care is that you can go on a wellness care schedule, in which you get regular chiropractic care that can help protect your body against having another flare up of the same pain issues. Dr. Horst usually recommends that patients come see him once a month for ongoing care, but it may depend upon the nature of your initial problem, as well as the condition of your musculoskeletal system in general.

Posture

You probably had your parents constantly nagging you about your posture while you were growing up. Although it was probably embarrassing to constantly be told to stand up straight or not slump in your chair, your parents really had your best intentions in mind. Poor posture during childhood, particularly during the adolescent growth spurt, can lead to neck, shoulder, and back pain in adulthood. Add on too much time sitting hunched over a keyboard and staring at a computer screen, and you end up with a recipe for chronic posture problems.

Fortunately, chiropractic care can help fix what that constant nagging from your parents was probably unable to accomplish – improving your posture. It accomplishes this by shifting the vertebrae in your spine back into alignment, which improves your posture and relieves pressure on the nerves leading in and out of your spinal column.

Performance

Whether you are an elite athlete or just a weekend warrior, you probably know well the frustration that can come from being sidelined due to a sports injury. You may find yourself out of commission for anywhere from a few days to months, depending upon the severity of the injury, before having to ramp back up to your previous level of participation. Of course, there is also the continual worry of a re-injury that could once again take you out of the game.

Chiropractic care can be an athlete’s best friend in this regard. There are a number of chiropractic techniques that are specifically designed for the wear and tear that athletes often put on their joints, tendons, muscles, and ligaments. One such technique that Dr. Horst often uses for his athletic patients is called Active Release Techniques, or ART. It is a massage technique specifically designed to treat overuse injuries of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that are common among athletes. Such injuries can create excess scar tissue that causes the joints to tighten up, restricting free movement. ART helps to break up this scar tissue, helping the joints move more freely.

Dr. Horst understands that ongoing pain that does not respond to various treatment attempts can be both frustrating and frightening. Although hearing about the benefits of chiropractic care may at first just seem like just another promise that will fail to deliver benefits, there is a substantial body of research that shows that chiropractic can produce effective, safe relief from musculoskeletal pain that has not responded to standard treatment. Isn’t that worth it to make the initial call to make an appointment?