How Chiropractic Care Can Help Your Spinal Surgery Recovery
Chiropractic offers drug-free pain management so you can heal without worry
Are you scheduled for spinal surgery? Are you concerned about the long and painful recovery time? While it’s true that rehabilitation after spinal surgery is a difficult process, the chiropractors at Midwest Chiropractic Center LLC in Worthington can serve as a vital part of your recovery team.
There are several different types of spinal surgery, and nearly all require intense rehabilitation after the fact. What’s often concerning to patients, however, isn’t the rehabilitation itself but the pain that comes with it–pain so intense that many doctors will prescribe powerful pain drugs to combat it. Unfortunately, those drugs come with a high risk of dependence and abuse.
Fortunately, chiropractic care at Midwest Chiropractic Center LLC in Worthington offers drug-free pain management options that can help minimize the use of pain medications. To learn more about your pain relief options after spinal surgery, request an appointment with us today!
Why recovering from spinal surgery can be so difficult
The two main reasons spinal surgery recovery is so difficult are the time it takes and the high prevalence of pain. Your specific recovery time will vary based on several factors, including the type of surgery you had, your age, and your overall health and fitness levels. You can expect to be on the mend anywhere from a month to a year.
However, for many people, the long recovery is accompanied by fairly intense pain. Because of this, many doctors will prescribe a limited dose of opioids immediately following release from the hospital.
Opioids are a serious drug. While they do successfully manage pain, they can also be highly addictive, offering feelings of euphoria in addition to pain relief. You also risk building up a tolerance for them, and some patients report experiencing withdrawal symptoms when they attempt to stop taking the medication.
Spinal surgery carries a particularly high risk of developing opioid dependence, as it can take longer than people expect for their post-surgical pain to subside. While using opioids prior to surgery is a primary risk factor for continuing them afterward, it’s still risky: one study found that 9% of people who did not use opioids before surgery were continuing them three months after their operation, mainly due to their continued pain.
Fortunately, you have other pain relief options in the months after your spinal surgery. Chiropractic care is dedicated to allowing the body to heal itself rather than through drugs. At Midwest Chiropractic Center LLC, our team of experts offers a variety of drug-free approaches to post-surgical pain management.
The chiropractic approach to managing pain
Our chiropractors offer several hands-on treatments for managing post-surgical pain while at the same time helping to restore your body’s function and mobility. One of the most significant benefits of chiropractic care over pain medications is that our treatments will help your body relearn how to move after surgery, promoting overall healing.
There are several hands-on, proactive treatment solutions our chiropractors can take to in your recovery after spinal surgery, including the following:
- Soft-tissue manipulation
- Gentle back stretches
- Gentle strengthening exercises, which can rebuild the muscles that support your spine, helping to reduce pain
- Mobility exercises, which will help you learn how to move again
- Light aerobic exercises, which play an important role in healing
- Posture corrections, which will ensure your spine is healing without impairments
- Education in proper body mechanics, which will help you build strength and heal properly
If you’re several months out from surgery and still experiencing pain, we might perform spinal adjustments (also called spinal manipulations) or spinal mobilization. Both methods aim to restore overall spinal function, which can reduce painful muscle spasms.
During a spinal adjustment, our chiropractor will briefly thrust your spinal joint through its range of motion. If a spinal adjustment is too intense, we can perform a spinal mobilization: rather than thrusting the spinal joint through its range of motion, our chiropractor will gently guide it instead.
What to expect during your appointment
We’ll start with a complete medical history, focusing on learning more about your surgery and the pain you’ve experienced afterward. From there, we’ll be able to develop a customized treatment plan.
While the plan will vary from patient to patient, it will likely include hands-on treatments, such as posture corrections or soft-tissue manipulation. We’ll also work with you to develop a long-term treatment plan, including strength, mobility, and aerobic exercises you can do at home.
Request an appointment at our Worthington chiropractic clinic today!
At Midwest Chiropractic Center LLC, we want to help make your spinal surgery rehabilitation as pain-free as possible. With a few simple hands-on techniques, we’ll reduce your pain so you can focus on getting better.
If you’re struggling with pain after spinal surgery, we can help. Schedule an appointment with us today!