Alaska News Report Tackles Myth of Chiropractic Care

Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) treat an estimated 27 million Americans (adults and children) or more annually. When most people hear ‘chiropractic care’ they immediately associate it with back pain. While that is certainly one of the chiropractor services that are most consistently in demand, there are many other chiropractic benefits.

The Alaska CBS affiliate KTVA decided to try and answer this myth on one of their morning shows, Daybreak Wednesday. They brought in an expert of chiropractic care, Doctor Caleb Craig from Arctic Chiropractic, to answer this and other common questions asked to chiropractors. In short the answer was no. The segment with full video was reported by their website, KTVA.com.

“If you look at the nervous system itself, we?re trained in a lot of neurology,” Craig said. “The nervous system itself is really the master control center of the body, so we look at that as controlling anything from cancer to the common cold. And so my in office we treat migraine headaches, digestive disorders, sciatica, osteoporosis, and lots of nutritional deficiencies.”

The reason many people probably associate chiropractic care with back pain is because of the overwhelming prevalence in the public. About half of all Americans report having some kind of back pain symptoms each year, with approximately 31 million Americans experiencing low-back pain at any given time. Overall, as many as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in their lives, according to experts estimates.

Another aspect Craig touched on was the fact that many people don’t think of chiropractic care as something children should be treated with. The fact of the matter is any age can be treated by a chiropractor. While there are certainly different techniques and specialized methods that need to be adhered to when giving chiropractic care to infants, he said it can be very beneficial in some instances.

“A good age to start would be soon as your kids get into school,” he said. “When they’re getting rough and tough and thrown around on the playground.”