Patients who have problems with pain in the spine, in large and small joints, hips, knees, ankles and wrists come for physical therapy. Chiropractic is the therapy that gives the best results in disc herniation and pain in the neck and back.
We were contacted by a patient with back pain who had chiropractic and traction.
How to heal back pain
“I am Ivan, I am 19 years old, I come from town of Kotor, I am a former water polo player and swimmer. A year ago, I was in America on a student exchange and I suffered an injury during training. I was doing back exercises and I felt as if was “cut” in my lower back. I enrolled at the faculty in Belgrade now and every day I have pain that makes my daily activities difficult. I turned to many doctors for help who recommended physical therapies, I tried some of them but nothing has helped me so far. I came to Atlas and I hope to solve the pain problem. ”
Issue at L4-L5 and L5-S1 level
Before coming to physical therapy, Ivan had an examination at the Atlas General Hospital with a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, where he was diagnosed with an issue at the level of the L4-L5 and L5-S1 vertebrae. The diagnosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and the rehabilitation process is now beginning. Chiropractic and then spinal traction follow in the Atlas Physical Clinic.
“In most cases, patients have one side more affected; we have that shortening of the left side. Before the treatment, it is necessary for the patient to do some techniques in order to relax the soft tissue structures. Therefore, it is necessary to first relax the patient, perform relaxation as much as possible at a given moment, in order to do the manipulation as efficiently as possible, says Kosta Mladenović – Ackermann master chiropractor.
Chiropractic
“Now we are manipulating the thoracic spine and I will ask Ivan to take a deep breath and exhale completely. We position the patient first and foremost, and only now is he performing the manipulation on that segment that we mentioned and we marked as a problem, and the magnetic resonance confirmed it. We will do the same while the patient is on the left side. After the treatment, we see that we have achieved relaxation with Ivan and that now the segments-the legs, are the same length. We check this best by comparing the malleolus, – the ankles, which are now in an identical position on both feet,”Kosta points out.
After the manipulations on the left and right side, the length of the legs is now the same. Ivan then took a walk to see that the therapy was not something terrible, and it contributed to relieving the spinal column.
“Tell me now how do you feel about that before the treatment?” Do you feel relaxation in the lumbar and thoracic part “?
Ivan: “Corrected, it’s a great, really, really good feeling.”
Spinal traction
After the chiropractic, Ivan goes for treatment of spinal decompression that is traction. Traction is one of the modern types of mechanotherapy which achieves relief in the lumbar part of the spine.
Here we are talking about the traction of the manufacturer Chattanooga Triton DTS, which is currently the most modern device for stretching and spinal decompression. We use traction in conditions such as lumbar syndromes, which in this case is in our patient. In addition to lumbar syndromes, we also use it for stretching the cervical spine, for all cervical symptoms.
When we place the patient in the right position, we set the belts, connect the table and the device, we start adjusting the parameters that we set for each patient separately. When we set the desired program we unlock the table and stretching can begin. The whole treatment lasts approximately 20 minutes and that time can be increased or decreased depending on the patient’s condition and what the problem is. We assign the weight in relation to the patient’s build, the problem that the patient has and in relation to whether the patient is currently in the painful phase or it is an advanced chronic phase. The patient is fixed with the upper thoracic girdle, the lower girdle that crosses the pelvis. At the end, there is a rope that gently pulls the patient and we get a slight relief in that lumbar part and stretching of those segments.
The treatment is completely safe and painless; the patient is in a relaxed condition all the time.
In addition to chiropractic and traction, standard procedures are applied for the rehabilitation process until recovery in the Atlas Physical Clinic. Ultrasound therapy, laser and electrotherapy, and the best results are achieved when all types of therapies are combined.
