Perhaps one of the best benefits you can experience from regular chiropractic care is the functional piece to your activities of daily living. The functional piece can look very different from patient to patient. Your level of functionality is based on time and health. One of the goals we strive to set for is to best give you the tools to reach your own goals. We’ve found that a great deal of these goals are related to one’s ability to function properly in their own daily life.
Functioning correctly can be fun. At Salt and Spine, we offer a functional analysis for all of our patients. How you move today can be directly correlated to how you will move in the future. It is important to have awareness to your own movements, and how they may be limited based on your current health status. So what does this mean? It could go as deep as simply getting out of bed, or even just your seated posture, to as complex as your biomechanics during a workout. Your body is your best communicator to you and your chiropractor.
The functional analysis piece of it comes from our physicians knowledge toward the body’s biomechanics, and the way yours could be improved. Your functional analysis exam is slightly different than your chiropractic exam. It typically starts the moment you walk in the door, and changes based on where you are in your treatment plan. A good indicator of functional analysis comes from your exam into maintenance/elective care. A few pieces of functional analysis we examine at Salt and Spine include gait analysis, lower and upper body strength motion, spinal involvement, foot function, postural analysis, correction exercise, and more. If there are certain activities that are observed to be posing a deficit to general function, we can best address them with our take from your assessment. This exam has a great impact when you are being seen for preventative care, and is a great snapshot for how you move when you are not in aggravating pain.
This is when we add the “fun” piece! When we can discover how to improve your functional biomechanics, you could potentially move better! Then you can do the activities you want, better! All around, this step can be used to prevent future problems with your musculoskeletal system. A healthier musculoskeletal system for the long term, would mean you can have more fun in the future! Ask one of our providers about your own functional screening to see how you can get your body on track.
