The Source / A field guide to feeling better
Explore the body.
Follow the connections.
Pick a spot on the body and we’ll show you the conditions that show up there, in plain language, with the published research behind each one.
Where does it hurt?
Select a label or a point to explore
Lower Back
Back pain is a location. Sciatica is a symptom pattern. A disc is one structure that may be involved. Knowing the difference helps.
Explore lower backFollow the question
Find a condition guide
18 guides
Plain-language guides for patients, with the published sources linked for anyone who wants to go deeper.
- Condition guide
Ankle sprains
Getting it checked early, rebuilding balance and confidence, and when a rolled ankle may be a fracture.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Arm & leg pain
The difference between pain from a joint or muscle and pain traveling along a nerve.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Back pain
Common back-pain patterns, the warning signs, and what progress looks like in everyday life.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Hand tingling, median nerve compression, and why new weakness in the hand matters.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Disc injury
Disc changes, symptoms and treatment choices, and why not every disc finding on a scan explains your pain.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Elbow tendinopathy
Pain when you grip or lift, often called tennis elbow, and what the research says about the treatment choices.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Headaches & migraines
The common headache patterns, what we look for at an exam, and the symptoms that need urgent care.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Hip pain
Groin, outer-hip and buttock pain can point to different structures and different next steps.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Jaw pain & TMD
Jaw muscles, joint discomfort, and where movement, a dental exam and managing it yourself each fit in.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Knee pain
Swelling, stiffness and pain when the knee takes weight, with a closer look at nonsurgical care for osteoarthritis.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Neck pain
Stiffness, referred pain and nerve symptoms, and the questions our exam sets out to answer.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Plantar heel pain
Pain under the heel, especially with your first steps after rest, and a gradual way back to loading the foot.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Sciatica
Leg pain from an irritated nerve, what a scan can and can’t tell you, and when to get help.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Scoliosis
Spinal curves, how they’re monitored, and why managing symptoms isn’t the same as changing the curve.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Shoulder pain
Pain when you reach, lift or sleep on your side, and the common shoulder-pain patterns behind it.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Vertigo
Why the room can spin for several different reasons, and why the diagnosis comes before any treatment on the neck.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Whiplash
What to watch for after a crash or any sudden jolt to the neck, and how recovery is checked.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Work-related pain
How your job, any past injury and a practical plan for getting back to work and activity fit together.
Understand this condition
No guide matches that. Try another word, browse by body area, or tell us what's going on.
Our condition guides are listed by the name of the problem. If you already know what a treatment is called, Services lists those instead, and the new patient page covers what happens at a first visit.
Why do some of these conditions overlap?
Three of these guides look at the same territory from different directions. Sciatica names a pattern of pain, a disc injury names one structure that can produce it, and back pain covers the region they both sit in.
Arm and leg pain, carpal tunnel and neck pain overlap for a different reason. You feel pain and numbness where a nerve ends, which isn't always where it's compressed. So a nerve root irritated in the neck can cause symptoms in the hand that look like carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a compression at the wrist. Telling them apart takes an examination, and signs of an irritated nerve are one of the things ours looks for.
Which symptoms need an emergency room?
A few symptoms in these guides belong to a medical emergency, not a chiropractic visit, and that outranks everything else on this page.
Loss of bladder or bowel control along with back or leg symptoms, new difficulty passing urine, a change in the sensation of passing urine, or numbness through the saddle area can each be a sign of cauda equina syndrome, a surgical emergency. Go to an emergency room. Please don't wait for an appointment with us.
Dizziness that comes on with new neurological symptoms, such as double vision, slurred speech, trouble swallowing or weakness on one side, needs urgent medical assessment. It's also the presentation in which neck manipulation is contraindicated, meaning it shouldn't be done.
What if it's something we don't treat?
If the exam suggests your symptoms aren't coming from muscles and joints, we'll tell you and refer you for the right medical evaluation.
If we are not able to help you with your problem or are unable to reduce your pain levels, we will make sure to give you a recommendation to another experienced provider.
For patients & practitioners
How we use the research.
Every research note names the study, who was in it, and what it can’t tell us. If one raises a question about your own care, that’s a good thing to bring up at your visit. If you want the methods, the publication is linked.
A study on one condition or treatment tells us about that condition or treatment, and we don’t stretch it to cover every service we offer. In each guide you can tell which part is our explanation, which part is an option, and which part is what a specific study actually found.