Pain? Discomfort? Injury? It’s stressful when it happens, but the stress only grows once you reach the point of needing professional help – and you discover the old chiropractor vs physiotherapist debate. Both can deal with lower back pain, neck discomfort, muscle strains, and joint issues but only understanding the difference between chiropractor and physiotherapist practitioners can lead to the most ideal and optimised healing process.

Difference between chiropractor and physiotherapist

And the dilemma gets even more confusing in the case of ailments such as recurring spinal misalignments or persistent headaches, as the toss-up between the physio or chiropractor can be super-difficult to resolve. Because while both professions offer highly valuable services, one has the definite edge in addressing specific spinal and holistic health concerns.

So bearing in mind the ailment that’s troubling you, let’s dive into the difference between chiro and physio practitioners – and get you back into top shape soon!:

1. Scope of practice

The physiotherapist works primarily on restoring function and movement in individuals affected by injuries, illnesses or disabilities – although they can dive deeper into musculoskeletal problems. It’s the chiropractor, however, that really specialises in spinal health and its holistic impact on wellbeing, with a comprehensive approach that provides both immediate relief and long-term wellness.

2. Treatment techniques

Spinal adjustments or manipulations are a central aspect of the chiropractor’s treatment in the chiropractor vs physio comparison, while physiotherapists focus generally on massage, exercises, and movement training. So, too, does the chiro, but it’s the chiropractor’s highly targeted adjustments that can often offer the most rapid and long-term relief and spinal health benefits.

3. Holistic health approach

While physiotherapists normally target a specific injury or limited part of the body, chiropractors aim to improve the body’s overall functionality by ensuring optimal spinal health. In that way, chiropractic care is the more holistic approach, understanding that the spine’s health is intrinsically linked to the overall health of the body.

4. Duration of care

Physiotherapy treatments often require a more extended engagement, with multiple sessions scheduled over weeks or even months. Chiropractic adjustments, on the other hand, can regularly bring about quicker results, with many patients and clients sometimes feeling relief after just a few sessions or less.

5. Prevention focus

On the other hand, while physiotherapists usually guide patients on exercises to prevent further injuries, chiropractors – in this physiotherapy or chiropractor debate – emphasise the importance of regular adjustments, even when one feels healthy. That maintains optimal spinal health and prevents future complications.

6. Education and training

It goes without saying that both chiropractors and physiotherapists are rigorously educated and trained. In NSW, both professionals are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), and physiotherapists complete university programs. Chiropractors, meanwhile, undergo intensive chiropractic programs that can lead to a Masters of Chiropractic, and additionally must meet the standards set by the Chiropractic Board of Australia, including continuing professional development.

7. Tools & equipment

In exploring the difference between physio and chiro, you’ll find that – in a physiotherapist’s office – sophisticated ultrasound machines, hydrotherapy equipment and electrotherapy devices are common. On the other hand, chiropractors often lean towards skilled manual adjustment techniques, though they also employ precise instruments like activators for low-force adjustments, and might even utilise therapeutic ultrasound, cold laser therapy, electrical muscle stimulation and more.

8. Diagnostic abilities

In the physio vs chiropractor debate, both professionals are trained to diagnose conditions. But chiropractors are particularly skilled in spotting and rectifying subtle misalignments in the spine that might be overlooked in traditional physiotherapy assessments.

9. Postural expertise

While the experienced physio offers posture advice for injury recovery, chiropractors have a deeper understanding of the spine’s intricacies, offering expert guidance on maintaining optimal posture to prevent future issues whilst enhancing overall health.

Your journey to recovery: Physiotherapist or chiropractor?

So, what’s the verdict: physio vs chiro? While both chiropractors and physiotherapists play pivotal roles in managing musculoskeletal issues, chiropractors offer a unique, comprehensive approach to spinal health and overall wellbeing. One such dedicated chiro is Longueville Road Chiropractic Centre, situated on the scenic north shore of Sydney. We provide a blend of traditional chiropractic techniques complemented by modern tools and therapies, ensuring holistic patient care. So if you’re seeking optimal health, recovery and a journey towards enhanced wellbeing, schedule a visit with the skilled and friendly team at LRCC today.

Did you know lower back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal problems in all of humanity? Studies have shown that at least 8 in 10 adults deal with it at some point in their lives – and about 10 percent chronically. And while less common, hip pain is another big deal for an awful lot of people, especially as we all inevitably age. But what about simultaneous lower back and hip pain on one side of the body only? If your search for solutions has ended up here, it’s likely you’re experiencing:

• Localised, shooting, dull, constant or intermittent lower back/hip pain on one side
• Radiating pain from the lower back or hip down a buttock, thigh or even into the leg/foot
• Stiffness, especially after sitting or lying down
• Limited range of motion, especially bending, twisting or prolonged standing
• Numbness, tingling, ‘pins and needles’ in the lower back, hip, buttock, thigh or leg
• Muscle weakness on the affected side
• Limp, or altered gait & walking pattern.

Back and hip pain deserves a diagnosis

First up, if any of this sounds like you, it’s definitely time to visit a healthcare professional for an assessment and accurate diagnosis. But before you make an appointment, bear in mind that the most likely cause of your particular issue is probably one (or more) of the following:

1. Muscle strain/sprain

With a bit of luck, you’ve just overused a couple of muscles, strained a ligament with a sudden move, or a sprain may even have been caused by poor body mechanics.

Luckily, some basic physical therapy, gentle stretching or pure-and-simple rest can help with both the pain and healing.

2. Musculoskeletal imbalances

If the muscles are imbalanced or posture is poor, uneven stresses are placed on the lower back and hip – which can result in that one-sided pain. But the great news is a comprehensive approach involving chiropractic adjustments, postural corrections and tailored lower back exercises can help hugely to promote a re-balancing and alleviation of pain.

3. Sciatica

Sciatica is a worrying and often very painful condition caused by the compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back and down the legs. Sciatica symptoms very commonly present as pain on just one side of the back, buttocks and a single leg, and can be helped by:

• Stretching/exercises
• Chiropractic adjustments & other manual therapies
• Injections or surgical intervention.

4. Herniated disc

Otherwise known as a slipped disc or bulging disc, it happens when the soft inner material of a spinal disc protrudes through the outer layer – irritating those sensitive nerves. And while surgery is necessary in severe cases, it quite often heals over time with rest, exercises and physical therapy, while therapeutic chiropractic care is known as a powerful non-surgical alternative.

5. Sacroiliac joint dysfunction

The triangular bone at the case of the spine is called the sacrum, which is connected to the hip bones via the sacroiliac joints. Dysfunction, injury or inflammation of the joints can result in lower back and hip pain on one side, and there are multiple potential treatments including:

• Specific chiropractic adjustments & mobilisation techniques
• Stabilisation exercises
• Injections & radiofrequency ablation.

6. Osteoarthritis

Ongoing wear & tear of joints including the hip and (lower back) facet joints can eventually lead to osteoarthritis, a painful degenerative disease affecting the critical protective tissues. It’s particularly common in the weight-bearing hip and lower back, and while a trip to the chiropractor isn’t going to reverse it, the pain and joint function can most definitely be helped over time.

7. Bursitis

The bursae are little fluid-filled sacs located near joints, which act like cushions between bones, tendons, muscles and other tissues. There are several of these bursae in and around the lower back and particularly the hips, and we call it bursitis when the sacs become inflamed. Joint mobilisation and various soft tissue techniques can really help to manage the pain and promote the affected bursae. The patient needs to do a lot of gentle strengthening exercises for the area of involvement.

Get back and hip pain relief at LRCC

As you can tell, low back hip pain right side only (or low back hip pain left side only!) is a complex condition with plenty of potential causes and treatments. From strained muscles to damaged discs to sciatica, osteoarthritis and beyond, there are a lot of underlying factors and causes – but there’s also a unifying factor that offers plenty of hope for relief: Longueville Road Chiropractic Centre.

Visiting a chiropractor is now widely recognised as among the safest and most effective ways to treat many conditions often without drugs, surgery or other invasive solutions. Is one-sided lower back hip pain getting you down? Why not give the local chiropractor Sydney North Shore a call right here at LRCC?

Health providers across the globe have become quite familiar with the body’s response to the new technology of the 21^st Century, and the last two years appear to have had a considerable impact on our joints and alignment in the hands, neck, shoulders, and upper backs including additional loading on the low back.

In conversations with our patients, we have noted a great deal of poor ergonomic desk setup that has occurred due to working at home requirements during the lockdowns, as well as greater demands of the companies/businesses on their employees, equating to more time in front of a computer, often with poor posture adaption.

Most students have spent more time in their rooms, particularly in the last two years. Laptop usage at school has also become commonplace. These days, most teenagers and University students lives revolve around staring at their laptops or their phones. This is not new information for everyone!

The Rise of Technology and Strain on the Body

The rise of technology accessibility and overuse, plus the consequence of lockdowns, have caused a great increase in complaints such as back pain, neck pain, headaches, shoulder pain and repetitive type strain injuries.

Tendinitis in the fingers, thumbs, wrists, elbows and all the way up the arm to the neck can result from tapping away on mobile phones. We are using our muscles and joints in ways that strain them. Wrists are flexed for long periods, holding too much weight, with fingers moving repeatedly across a very short range of motion. The head is often flexed forward changing the load onto joints and muscles. Over time, these actions can cause inflammation and pain. For example, studies have been done linking De Quervains tenosynovitis (tenosynovitis of the thumb) to mobile phone usage. The pinkie finger is often used to hold the weight of the phone also leading to problems.

Text Neck

From a clinical perspective, the greatest issue with mobile phone usage is headaches, neck pain and upper back pain, as the fulcrum of the head and neck tends to load up the joints and muscles in the upper back and lower neck causing strain here, as well as under the base of the skull from the muscle pull. Text neck or forward head carriage can load the neck muscles and cervical spine by a factor of 4 to 5! 10cm of forward head carriage (the ear forward of the tip of the shoulder) adds 4.5 kilograms on to the top of the shoulders. Ouch! Be aware of that word document or zoom call where you are leaning into your screen.

Very frequent phone usage can also affect the nerve at the elbow, the ulnar nerve. The symptomatic picture of this is numbness and weakness in the pinkie finger and ring fingers. However, loading the discs and nerves in the lower neck and upper back can also induce these symptoms. Anytime there is inflammation, there is also swelling. This can cause a squeeze on the nerves that run through them. Imagine standing on a hose.

Wear Tear and Pain

It is always important to remember that postural alterations could also exacerbate pre-existing nerve and joint issues. Our body, in a correct postural stance, free of any injury that has not caused a change in any of our normal curves of our spine, has a center of gravity that enables even weight distribution on the joints and a relative relaxation of muscle tissue and ligaments.  A simple analogy is a wheel alignment in a car. If you hit a curve badly, or are involved in a collision, the wheels and often the body of the car can be very altered. The tyres start to wear. The same applies to the spine. Imagine the implications of a building foundation that was not stable. Once areas of the spine or joints in the body take a greater load, then wear and tear will develop.

Sleep Issues

Blue light from our screens can also disrupt our circadian rhythms and therefore our sleep. Blue light affects the production of melatonin in our bodies reducing both the quality and quantity of sleep. Blue light glasses can help to block some of this light. Many companies will have different shapes and sizes to choose from as well as provide magnification if that is also required for reading.

Solutions

We’ve seen an ever increasing frequency of such issues at our Lane Cove chiro clinic. The good news is that much can be done to improve these issues with new technology. It is never too late to implement some change. Most of the lack of good joint movement and therefore the development of pain we see in practice is from poor loading patterns. The muscles are like cables and will adapt to what the structure is doing (think the Leaning Tower of Pisa). Simple chiropractic adjustments and adoption of healthy postural control can remedy many symptoms. There are also numerous devices on the market than can help restore normal spinal curves. Postural muscle strengthening is also key. Accelerated disc degeneration can result in any changes, so if you catch things early, they don’t tend to become chronic.

What You Can Do:

• Microbreaks – Take regular breaks to unload. Recommended 30 seconds every hour. Neck retraction, arms by your side, turning your thumbs out and holding your shoulders back for a 30 second hold can prevent repetitive strain on joints, ligaments and muscles. Also find time in the day where you think about how you are holding your body and fix it. Hopefully, with enough practice, it will become subconscious.
• Invest in a large foam roller – Lie on it vertically, head resting, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, dropping the arms back, opening the chest. This is also brilliant to calm the nervous system and can be helpful before bed to rest the mind.
• Learn to strengthen your shoulder blade stabilisers – Ideally starting with a theraband. It is important to keep these muscles switched on when working on a computer. This can prevent many shoulder injuries, including rotator cuff.
• Mobilise – Broomstick rotations, wall angels, knee to chest pull ups, hip rolls, neck rotations.
• Improve the home office setup – Standing workstations relieve the pressure on the low back tremendously. It is very important to have your eyes looking straight ahead so improving screen height is essential and this includes laptops. Improve the keyboard so your elbows remain at 90degrees and are not extended out (this causes rounding of the shoulders) and adopt the use of a better mouse or wrist support.
• Voice to text option for mobile phones and hold the phone up! – Use phone grips.
• Tone Up with Pilates or Gym or do some Yoga – Without the concrete pillars in a building, what’s going to hold it up?
• Regular Chiropractic adjustments – Free joint movement, balancing the body’s biomechanics, unloading discs and nerves will also relax the muscles, keeping yourself tuned. Here, unlike dental work or your car mechanic, we can’t replace the parts, so get tuned up!

 

 

If you suspect you may be experiencing sciatica symptoms, you’re probably not wrong. That’s because the sensations and pain – ranging from mild to severe, sporadic or constant, acute or dull – are highly unique. In this analysis, we’re going to take a closer look at the most striking sciatica pain symptoms to watch out for – and what you can do next to get back to the life you love!

What does sciatica feel like?

• Shooting, searing or dull pain deep in the buttock?
• Similar pain radiating down the back of your leg?
• Numbness, tingling, burning, electric-like sensation along the sciatic nerve?

Many people refer to the feeling as electricity-like, which is no surprise given that it’s got everything to do with the sciatic nerve. The trouble usually starts in the lower back due to the pinching, touching or irritation of any of a series of nerve roots that can radiate their messages down the sciatic nerve, through your buttocks, your legs and even all the way to your toes. And if you’re feeling it predominantly on just one side of your body, such as pain shooting down a leg, it’s almost certain sciatica pain.

What causes sciatica symptoms?

As mentioned above, sciatica pain originates in the series of nerves in the lower back – most commonly with a lower back injury such as a herniated or bulging spinal disc. These rubbery discs are filled with gel-like fluid that makes our spine so effortlessly flexible, but other potential causes are spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine), bone spurs, and other conditions such as facet joint osteoarthritis, lumbar degenerative disc disease and spondylolisthesis.

What are the other sciatica symptoms?

In addition to our description of the sciatica pain symptoms outlined above, we believe just about all cases of those suffering from this problem can be covered by the following 8 basic categories of symptoms:

1. Lower back pain

Those experiencing sciatica usually report that the trouble began with lower back pain, which is no surprise given that 9 in 10 cases are caused by a herniated spinal disc. The good news is that many such disc problems resolve.

2. Shooting pain

People often describe sciatica pain as ‘shooting’ and triggered by moving, lifting, standing, sitting or twisting in certain ways. It’s referred to as ‘shooting’ because it can ‘shoot’ from the lower back all the way to the toes.

3. Rear leg pain

Another widely reported symptom is pain in the back of the thigh, which again is caused by affected lumbar nerves. The sensation is often sharp and worse when you move, but it can also be duller and more sporadic.

4. Hip pain

Sciatic nerve problems can sometimes cause inflammation around the affected area, resulting in discomfort or pain in the hip. In many cases, gentle exercises can greatly help relieve the symptoms over time.

5. Pins & needles

This symptom can resemble the feeling of a ‘dead leg’ and resulting pins & needles, and it will usually recede with a period of rest.

6. Leg weakness

Sometimes, the symptoms can progress to the point at which leg weakness makes even walking difficult. However, continuing to move during these flare-ups can help, although surgery for nerve damage may be necessary. Often, your health specialist will help to diagnose sciatica and its causes by asking you to lay down and raise your straightened leg, and if this is particularly difficult or results in pain below the knees, that’s a red flag for sciatica and its causes.

7. Backside pain

Sciatica can be a real pain in the backside – literally! We’re talking about the gluteal muscles, which can also feel weak or numb depending on the extent of the affected nerve.

8. Urge to go to toilet

While most common only in more extreme cases, the frequent urge to either urinate or empty the bowels can be associated with sciatica – and can be extremely painful as well. In these cases, the pressure on the sciatic nerve is so great that permanent bladder and bowel damage can result, making urgent medical attention a must.

Your chiropractor can help with sciatica

Did you know your local North Shore chiropractor can help resolve your sciatica symptoms? They do this through a combination of:

• Spinal adjustment techniques like chiropractic instrument adjusting
• Hot & cold therapy
• Chiropractic exercises
• Initiating more healthy habits

Drop the LRCC team a message today!

At Longueville Road Chiropractic Centre, we understand how difficult sciatic pain can make your life. Our team can help with acute diagnosis and personalised Sydney chiropractic care so you can get back to doing all the things you love. If you’re ready to tackle your sciatica pain symptoms, get in touch with the team at LRCC today.