How chiropractors play a part in preventative healthcare for their patients

In this article, BCA Member and Chiropractor, Marc Sanders, highlights the role of chiropractors in preventative healthcare. Chiropractors can help patients by identifying and addressing potential health issues early on, providing manual therapy, and offering advice on lifestyle and exercise. By taking a proactive approach, chiropractors can contribute to the overall wellbeing of their patients and help them prevent future problems.

What is preventative healthcare?

Preventative healthcare involves identifying diseases in their early stages and adding healthcare measures to address these concerns into a patient’s treatment plan. Within chiropractic clinics, chiropractors can play a key role in the three different types of prevention for their patients. These are primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, as defined below:

  • Primary: This initial stage allows us to intervene before any health effects manifest and develop. The focus here is to identify those at risk of developing pain and take steps to reduce the chance of them developing it.
  • Secondary: This stage is crucial for prevention and is where we conduct screenings for spinal conditions like scoliosis at an early stage. This is also the stage where we can make a positive impact in terms of working collaboratively with other healthcare professionals. Chiropractors can play a significant role in public health, by identifying potential future diseases in the early stages, positioning us to provide effective assistance.
  • Tertiary: Tertiary prevention involves managing a disease once it’s diagnosed, with the aim of preventing its progression or slowing it down. This stage focuses on treating the identified issues and managing them with the patient. We continue to monitor progress throughout the course of their care, especially if the patient opts for maintenance care, which is more long-term.

How can chiropractors play a part in preventative healthcare for their patients?

Whilst chiropractors are sometimes seen as providing a mono-intervention to patients, in other words, only manual therapy or spinal manipulation, in reality, much more takes place within a chiropractic appointment. The conversations between chiropractors and their patients can be a great opportunity to impart knowledge and advice on how to manage musculoskeletal (MSK) problems in the short- and long-term, empowering patients to take control of their health through education and understanding.

One of the threads of these consultation conversations is teaching a patient how to prevent or reduce the chance of poorer MSK health in their future. As well as manual therapy to reduce a patient’s pain and improve their mobility, chiropractors provide a multicomponent package of care that helps to improve their function, also known as “function-promoting therapies”;

  • Advising patients on nutrition: for good overall health, pain reduction, joint health, muscle mass, and bone density.
  • Assessing balance and stability of their patients: assessing then teaching them exercises to improve their balance.
  • Assessing a patient’s neurological and muscle strength weaknesses and imbalances: assessing and then teaching patients how to address this through exercise programmes.
  • Educating patients about the positives: reinforcing the positives and what is possible for their MSK health through empowering and inspiring “cognitive and behavioural” strategies, weaved into conversations with their patients.

The outlook can be pessimistic, but the solutions are beneficial

If we follow the epidemiological research findings regarding the MSK health of individuals throughout their lifetime, we can see that, for the majority of society, MSK health tends to decline as we age. It paints a rather negative picture of ageing – loss of bone density, loss of muscle strength, loss of muscle mass, poorer cardiovascular health, loss of mobility, and an increased risk of falls leading to serious and often fatal injuries.

However, whilst we all inescapably age, a rapid decline in musculoskeletal health is not an inevitable process as we get older. Chiropractors play a part in educating their patients about the different trajectories we all can take regarding our MSK health throughout our lifetime, particular with a more positive focus on healthy aging. Rather than focusing on the negatives that the statistics highlight, chiropractors can show patients how to improve their MSK health through making choices that help to reduce the chance of having poorer health as they get older. This includes reducing their risk of falls and enhancing their physical function to allow patients to continue to be physically active.

It is never too late to start or to start again

We can make improvements to our MSK health at all ages, despite the societal beliefs that influence what we think life should look like and what we can and can’t do into our older years. A recent study, conducted in Australia, took approximately 30 apparently healthy older adults (average age of 68, oldest age 79) who were insufficiently physically active through a 12-week high-intensity strength training programme using kettlebell weights. All that participated showed a positive change in function during and after the study.1

During the study, by week 3, more than half of the group were able to lift a 68kg kettlebell and a few (men and women) were able to lift an 80kg kettlebell. One participant, with osteoporosis, was able to significantly improve her bone density. Functional improvements included increases in grip strength, cardiovascular capacity, lean muscle mass, lower limb strength and endurance, walking speed, ability to climb stairs, and ability and speed to get up from the floor. With the right education based on recent research, support, and follow-ups over time, this can create a space for chiropractic patients to improve their MSK health across their lifetime and at any age, and help to dispel unhelpful myths that hold our patients back.

 

References:
  1. Meigh, N.J., Keogh, J.W., Schram, B., Hing, W. and Rathbone, E.N., 2022. Effects of supervised high-intensity hardstyle kettlebell training on grip strength and health-related physical fitness in insufficiently active older adults: the BELL pragmatic controlled trial. BMC geriatrics, 22(1), p.354.