Basic Differences Between Physio & Chiropractic Care

Both physical therapy and chiropractic care are used to treat and manage body pains. These treatment techniques can be used by authorized and trained medical professionals to alleviate pain. Therefore, whether you’re looking for a chiropractor or a physiotherapist, checking their license is very important.

Despite being similar to each other, both these treatment techniques have different treatment strategies and approaches. And today we’re going to discuss some of the major differences between these two treatment techniques and how to know which one is better for you.

On this note, let’s take a brief overview of these two treatment options:

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy or physiotherapy (PT) focuses on improving your ability to move and function properly without having any pain. This, in turn, will improve your overall quality of life. The main goal of physiotherapy is to make the patient achieve the highest level of movement possible for their day-to-day activities. This treatment may include:

• Evaluation of your flexibility, movement and pain.
• Exercise, stretching and manipulation through hands.
• Posture education.
• Heat or cold therapy.
• Wellness plan to improve your overall health.

In short, you need to see a PT when you’re having difficulty in doing your routine tasks. Similarly, in the case of musculoskeletal problems, you need to see a PT as it’s what they do best.

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Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care also caters to the problems pertaining to bodily pains. They use the techniques of manipulation to treat these issues. The philosophy behind this treatment technique is the belief that the body can heal itself. Therefore, chiropractors perform interventions or manipulations to treat their patients.

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Chiropractic care doesn’t involve the use of medicines or undergoing any form of surgery. So, you should try this treatment before opting for any invasive one. Chiropractic care can treat any issues or problems that involve musculoskeletal or nervous systems.

Some of the treatments it can provide include but aren’t limited to:

• Evaluation of symptoms on the basis of physical exam and tests.
• Treating back pain.
• Adjustment of different areas of the body.
• Use of spinal manipulation.
• Treating joint pains.
• Recommendation of home-based exercises.

Main Difference between Physiotherapy and Chiropractic Care

The basic differences between both these treatment techniques are:

Physiotherapy

• The main purpose of PT is to ensure pain-free movement.
• PTs help to stretch and exercise that will improve your mobility.
• Physical therapists can treat their patients in almost every kind of environment they are in, they don’t require patients to come to their clinics.

Chiropractic Care

• The basic goal of chiropractic care is to treat and adjust the misalignment of the spine.
• Chiropractors focus on treating problems related to back pain, neck and joint pains as well as pain in arms or legs and even headaches.
• Chiropractors use manipulations and muscular adjustments to help your body in self-healing.
• Chiropractors can’t treat their patients anywhere. They need specialised spaces to treat their patients as they require special equipment to perform adjustments and manipulations.

Which Is Better for You?

The bottom line is that both physiotherapy and chiropractic care focus on the pain management of their patients. But which one you should go to for a check-up depends on the type of pain you’re suffering from. So, choose your treatment as per your needs.