Thank you for joining me again this evening for our nightly podcasts. I perform these podcasts in the hopes that you will be able to education yourself on the topics discussed so you can make better informed medical decisions regarding your health in the future. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Previously we discussed the mechanics of adjusting along with important aspects chiropractors must consider when adjusting a patient. Tonight we will be discussing some of the red flags which would prevent a chiropractic manipulation from being performed.
The red flags, or the conditions, symptoms, or behaviors which would prevent a chiropractic manipulation from being performed become ingrained in sugar land chiropractors as they learn in school. These red flags become habits after graduating and progressing to treating patients of our own out in the world. I mentioned last time the doctors advice towards what we learn in school and I still hold that with me to this day.
The fact of the matter is adjusting itself is a skill which can be taught to anyone who is willing to learn. The act of performing an adjustment is not a strenuous endeavor. What separates people from simply adjusting other individuals to be sugar land chiropractors is knowing when to not adjust the patient. Knowing the red flags that would indicate when someone is not fit for an adjustment is something which is not optional when being a chiropractor. We took the hypocritic oath just as other doctors to first do no harm. I personally hold that oath in very high regard so everything I do is to the best benefit of my patients and I expect the same from any other doctor I come across, sugar and chiropractors or not.
To that extent let us start with the most prominent red flag for adjusting the cervical spine. High blood pressure in a patient is a red flag to do further investigation into their vascular health. What I mean by vascular health is the health of their arteries, the health of their blood, and the health of their blood flow. At first glance most people will say those are the same things. There are distinct differences, however. As sugar land chiropractors know having high blood pressure increases the risk of a person having heart disease or strokes. This is extremely relevant when adjusting the neck or cervical spine because of the vertebral arteries in the neck.
Should high blood pressure weaken the artery an extension with rotation can lead to a stroke from what is called a vertebral artery dissection. This particular motion of extension places tension on the artery, therefore someone who is at risk for this occurring could in fact have a problem while having their hair washed at a salon. Simultaneously someone who is in the early stages of this condition could suffer a stroke when a cervical chiropractic adjustment is performed. The American Medical Association has tried to blame sugar land chiropractors for this in the past. The truth is biologically an adjustment is incapable of tearing or dissecting these arteries in a healthy individual. Unless there is a precipitating factor such as a weakened arterial wall due to high blood pressure a cervical adjustment is perfectly safe.
A second red flag is a patient being intoxicated. This intoxication can be from drugs or alcohol, or any other condition which would impair judgement. Consent to treat is required for any medical procedure to be performed. This applies to a chiropractic adjustment just as it applied to a surgery being performed in the operating room.
A person who is intoxicated and can not make a rational decision is rendered unable to provide consent for a treatment. Unless they are able to comprehend the decision they are making the decision being made is not valid. Therefore, an individual who is intoxicated can not be adjusted by the chiropractor.
A third red flag is pain which has no traumatic mechanism of injury was is sever in nature. What I mean by this is severe low back pain where no injury predates the onset of symptoms. For instance, if you go to any sugar land chiropractors office and say you have excruciating low back pain, but there is no injury from bending or twisting which would indicate a potential disc injury. If you state you were not performing anything strenuous the pain would be considered an insidious onset. More questions would be asked such as problems with using the restroom, blood in the stool, have you undergone any unplanned changes in weight, fatigue, etcetera. What the doctor is looking at is a potential cancer problem. For men prostate cancer causes blood in the stool n some cases, low back pain, weight loss, liver problems, and back pain.
The reason for this is metastasis or the cancer travels. The primary road for cancer to travel is the lymph system or the vascular system. For cancer near the intestines the cancer will follow the blood vessels of the gut and liver is where those vessels go. This is why the first place for metastasis in the liver for these cancers. Additionally the lumbar spine and sacrum are close at hand and the cancer can leach into the bones. This weakens the bones and in some cases the vertebrae has been known to collapse under body weight because of the invasion of the cancer.
We are out of time but we will continue this discussion in a future podcast for those interested.
Thank you for joining me again this evening for another great podcast. I hope you enjoyed the discussion on red flags. As always should you or someone you know require a sugar land chiropractors services or simply have more questions on what was discussed please call Restoration Health today. We would love to schedule you an appointment and get you on the path to better health today. Thank you once again for joining us. Have a good night.