Physical Therapy or Chiropractic

This question comes up very frequently and if you have ever experienced musculoskeletal pain you have probably considered both options. In general, the research of current times has shown that manual therapy, which includes any type of “hands-on” technique provided by a physical therapist or a chiropractor, can be beneficial for many conditions. Manual therapy, however, has its limitations and must be accompanied by an individually tailored exercise program in order for progress to be maintained and to prevent symptoms from reoccurring. Numerous studies have shown that if an exercise program addressing movement dysfunction is not implemented the patient will often come to rely on the practitioner for continuous treatment and never fully achieve complete symptom resolution.

It has been my observation that physical therapy practices tend to implement manual therapy and exercise together more often, whereas, many chiropractic offices rely mainly on manual therapy. In a situation in which exercise is not used, the patient will many times need to continually receive treatment in order to be symptom free. By no means does this observation apply to all practices, but I would definitely encourage anyone in pain to seek out a practitioner that communicates openly and implements both manual therapy and exercise interventions together.

I hope this helps!