Why Chiropractic Care After Surgery May Be a Helpful Option

Staff Writer

There’s a presumption out there that once someone has surgery, chiropractic care may no longer be an option. Although a surgical history may change what someone can receive regarding treatment options or techniques, a skilled doctor of chiropractic can still assess if chiropractic care is an option. According to research, up to 12% of patients in chiropractic offices are postsurgical.

Chiropractic Assessment and Treatment for Surgical Patients

Because the chiropractic care philosophy is all about optimizing health over one’s lifetime, a chiropractor can be a helpful addition to your healthcare team. Count on a doctor of chiropractic to perform a thorough exam and get an extensive history with specific details about your surgery.

Here are some guidelines to help you know what chiropractic care can safely accomplish for those who’ve undergone surgery.

• • Decrease pain
    A simple reason many people look for chiropractic care post-surgery is the reduction of pain that is still present. Depending on the personal history and type of surgery, manual adjustments may help reduce ongoing pain. According to one study (Kruse et al.), involving 32 cases of postsurgical care from pretreatment to post-treatment, mean pain scores decreased from 6.4 to 2.3 – a reduction of 4.1 on a scale of 10.

• • Improved motion
    While surgery may restrict the amount of normal biomechanical motion remaining in those regions, the goal of chiropractic assessment and care is to maintain as much proper motion in the spine as possible.Even in spinal fusion surgery cases, the injury area may still be manipulated to maintain proper intersegmental motion. Although fused segments cannot be manipulated, areas above or below the surgical site often lack mobility, and expertly manipulating those areas may be helpful.

• • Improved stability around the site of surgery
    Especially after surgical interventions, the spine needs to continue supporting and maintaining stability around the site of surgery. If the surgery has reduced motion to a specific area, the areas around the surgical areas may undergo more stress to make up this difference. Chiropractic care seeks to improve this stability, allowing as close to normal biomechanical function as possible.

• • Use of light-force techniques
    Again, depending on the type and extent of surgical intervention, a variety of other light-force chiropractic techniques can treat areas of the body. One example of this care treatment is using an Activator Adjusting instrument, a spring-loaded, hand-held mechanical tool which allows chiropractors to provide a quick, low-force impulse at specific points.

A Doctor of Chiropractic is Your Partner in Better Health

Chiropractors excel in the conservative management of spinal conditions. According to the Kruse study, there was “improvement for patients with low back pain after lumbar spine surgery who were managed with chiropractic care.”

If you’ve had surgery in the past and want to see if chiropractic could help you feel and move better, an assessment by a doctor of chiropractic is worth considering.

CUKC Chiropractic Health Center

Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC), founded in 1922, is a private, nonprofit, chiropractic and health science-focused university in Overland Park, Kansas. The CUKC on-campus Chiropractic Health Center is open to the public and treats patients from Kansas City’s 15-county metro area. Our goal is to provide care and solutions for a better, more productive life for our patients.