What Can a Chiropractor in Clarksville TN Help With?
What can a chiropractor help with? We start with what you want to do again: sleep without back pain, turn your head while driving, enjoy a walk you've given up. Then comes what's causing it, which a list of symptoms can't answer. A history and an exam are how we look for it.
This guide covers the common questions people bring to Source Chiropractic in Clarksville, from back and neck pain, sciatica and headaches to shoulder, arm and leg pain and pregnancy discomfort. It links each to a longer page and says plainly when another kind of care belongs in the plan.
Where to start, by symptom
| What's bothering you | Where to read more |
|---|---|
| Pain in your lower or upper back | Back pain: causes, examination and care options |
| Neck pain or trouble turning your head | Neck pain |
| Pain, tingling or numbness running into a leg | Sciatica |
| Headaches that keep coming back, with or without neck pain | Headaches and migraines |
| A painful shoulder or another arm or leg complaint | Shoulder pain and arm and leg pain |
| Back or pelvic discomfort during pregnancy | Prenatal chiropractic care |
Chiropractors assess musculoskeletal concerns through a history and an exam, and may recommend hands-on care, exercise or a referral. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics describes the job and the training behind it the same way. A first appointment is for looking into what's going on. An adjustment isn't automatic, and it isn't always the answer.
Five questions to think through before a chiropractor visit
Your answers shape the history we take at a first visit:
- What changed, and when did it start?
- Which everyday things has it made harder?
- Was there an accident, an injury or a change in your training before it began?
- What have you already tried, and how did it go?
- What would real progress look like to you?
Bring your medication list and any related reports. After the exam, we'll go over what we found before we recommend anything. Here's more on what a first visit here involves.
What about constipation or ringing in the ears?
These need their own assessment. We don't present spinal adjustments as a treatment for digestive disease, high blood pressure or hearing loss.
Constipation: when it keeps going, it's one for your medical doctor. The NIH's digestive disease institute says constipation with blood in the stool, constant abdominal pain, vomiting or being unable to pass gas needs prompt medical attention.
Ringing in the ears: tinnitus can have several contributing factors, hearing problems among them. Your primary care doctor may refer you to an ear, nose and throat specialist or an audiologist, and hearing aids, sound therapy and behavioral approaches are among the ways the symptoms are managed. We don't claim adjustments bring hearing back.
Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency. Hearing that goes suddenly or over a few days needs immediate medical assessment, even if it comes with ringing or just feels like a blocked ear. Please don't wait for a routine appointment with us or anyone else: delaying assessment and treatment can reduce how well treatment works.
Benefits, risks, and when to rethink a plan
For low back pain, NICE, which writes the clinical guidelines for England's NHS, includes manual therapy as one possible part of care that also includes exercise. It recommends fitting the plan to the person instead of giving everyone the same course of visits. We agree: every plan here is customized, because every patient's condition, history and needs differ.
Manual care has risks. Short-lived soreness is possible, and serious complications have been reported. Depending on the exam, physical therapy, a medical evaluation or supported self-management may be the right alternative. We'll tell you what we find, including when it's not something we treat. If a plan isn't helping, we want to hear it. We cover the benefits, risks and alternatives to chiropractic care in more detail.
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. Not sure where your problem fits? Call us to set up an evaluation, or read the new-patient offer and its terms.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians
Adults with acute, subacute or chronic low-back pain considering noninvasive management.
What it foundThe guideline prioritizes non-drug options for chronic low-back pain, including exercise. Spinal manipulation is one of several options, supported by lower-quality evidence.
What it can't tell usA guideline pulls together existing evidence; it doesn't report a new experiment. It doesn't establish disc realignment, a cure for everyone, or superiority over all other care.
Publication details & citation
Qaseem et al. Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2017. DOI: 10.7326/M16-2367.
Read the publication recordSpinal manipulation, medication, or home exercise with advice for acute and subacute neck pain: a randomized trial
272 adults with nonspecific neck pain lasting 2 to 12 weeks.
What it foundManipulation performed better than medication at several follow-ups, but there was no important pain difference between manipulation and home exercise with advice.
What it can't tell usTreatment was unblinded. The study doesn't cover every cause of neck pain, instability after trauma, or an unexplained neurological problem.
Publication details & citation
Bronfort et al. Spinal manipulation, medication, or home exercise with advice for acute and subacute neck pain: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2012. DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-156-1-201201030-00002.
Read the publication recordA randomized controlled trial of exercise and manipulative therapy for cervicogenic headache
200 people with cervicogenic headache, assigned to manipulation, specific exercise, both, or a control group.
What it foundManipulative therapy and exercise each reduced headache frequency and intensity, with benefits reported at 12 months.
What it can't tell usParticipants weren't blinded, and the combined approach wasn't significantly superior. The findings are about headache that starts in the neck (cervicogenic headache), not migraine in general.
Publication details & citation
Jull et al. A randomized controlled trial of exercise and manipulative therapy for cervicogenic headache. Spine. 2002. DOI: 10.1097/00007632-200209010-00004.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.