The Best of Both: Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Care

A chiropractor and physical therapist working together? That’s weird.

Sadly this is an all too common response from people. The health and wellness field is definitely an interesting field to be in. We have chiropractors COMPETING with physical therapists. Physical therapists COMPETING with personal trainers. Massage therapists cCOMPETING with all the above and so on and so forth.

At Shift Physical Therapy and Wellness, we just DON’T GET IT! Why do we need to compete? I mean afterall, we are all here for YOU. We are all working towards helping you reach your goals, feel your best, and THRIVE! So instead of focusing on competition, we VALUE COLLABORATION!

With that said, it can be confusing to know WHO and WHAT type of care is best for you.

A commonly asked question is “Should I see a physical therapist or a chiropractor?” The answer: the choice is YOURS, and sometimes you can have the best results with BOTH working in collaboration.

What do Physical Therapists do?

A physical therapist is a healthcare professional who specializes in understanding how the human body moves and functions. They assess how bones/joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves are working (or not working) to create movement. Physical therapists use a variety of techniques to restore normal movement patterns, ranging from manual therapy (hands on care), stretching and strengthening exercises, patient education, and more to decrease pain and restore normal movement and function of the body.

What do Chiropractors do?

A chiropractor is a healthcare professional who specializes in performing manual adjustments of the musculoskeletal system in order to maximize the function of the central nervous system. The nervous system helps control many functions of the body and providing adjustments to the body can restore optimal function of both voluntary and involuntary functions of the body.

As you can see, each professional has a different focus or approach. We don’t need to COMPETE!

Ultimately, each provider performs a full evaluation of the whole person and their needs to create a unique treatment plan tailored to the individual in front of them. Both physical therapists and chiropractors work with patients to reduce the need for medications, decrease pain, improve function, and avoid unnecessary medical procedures. Patients seeking those same goals may choose to see one, or both of these healthcare professionals.

And GUESS WHAT?! Here at Shift Physical Therapy and Wellness we have BOTH a physical therapist and a chiropractor! That’s right! TrueNorth Chiropractic is here for you as well!

At Shift Physical Therapy, we have a lot of success stories from our patients. At TrueNorth Chiropractic, they have a lot of success stories from their patients. Patients who choose to see both a chiropractor and a physical therapist concurrently have a lot of success stories! At the end of the day, YOU are what we all have in common and your success is the most important thing.

We are very excited to have a like-minded chiropractor sharing space in our clinic each Tuesday/Thursday. Not every patient feels that physical therapy can help, and not every patient feels that chiropractic care can help….and we want to have the right provider(s) for YOU in one place. And for the people that wish to take their health and wellness to the next level, they may choose to see BOTH a physical therapist and a chiropractor. We’ve got you covered at Shift Physical Therapy - whether it’s Shift Physical Therapy or TrueNorth Chiropractic or both.

Let’s not forget that maybe the “right provider” is neither! GASP! At Shift Physical Therapy it is important to us that we have all the resources to find that provider for you. We’re not the right fit for everyone, and that’s OK! We will take the time to help you find the right resources, even if that isn’t us. Ultimately it’s all about YOUR CHOICE. Chiropractor, physical therapist, or any other healthcare professional, reach out to us at Shift Physical Therapy and we will help guide you to making the best choice for YOU.

Written by: Renee Hancock, and Jackie Giese