Personalised Care

Each patient has different goals when receiving chiropractic care. Some solely want to be rid of their pain, while others are looking to increase their overall function and optimise performance. Your treatment plan will reflect both your diagnosis and, importantly, what you wish to achieve from care.

At Canberra Chiropractic, we work on the continuum of pain-movement-stability-performance.

Pain

It is important to understand what pain is - an “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.”

Pain largely acts as a preventative measure, an alarm before tissue damage occurs.  It can tighten or inhibit muscles, which leads to faulty movement patterns, and eventually changes the way the brain perceives movement.  For this reason, reduction of pain is  particularly important in the initial phase of care. In the clinic, pain is monitored both subjectively, and objectively – using pain and disability scales, questionnaires etc. In some cases it may be necessary to use other forms of pain control, and we will happily liaise with your GP and pharmacist if any analgaesics are required.

If a tissue has actually been  damaged, the brain lowers its pain threshold to protect the injured area so you don't move it too much or load it too heavily and do more damage. While recovering from injury, it is important to load the tissue appropriately so that the brain resets the pain-free capacity of the area.

In our clinic, we monitor pain both subjectively, by seeing how you feel and what changes you notice, and objectively, using pain and disability scales, questionnaires etc.  In some cases, it may be necessary to use other forms of pain control, and we will readily liaise with your GP and pharmacist if analgesics are required.