There are two big categories of pain: mechanical and visceral. Visceral means organ pain. Examples include anything from heartburn to a heart attack. Mechanical pain is pain relating to muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, and vertebral discs. By far the most common is mechanical pain.

So if the most common reason to visit a doctor is pain, and by far the most common cause of that pain is mechanical, what then causes this mechanical pain so that we can learn to treat and prevent the most common disability in the United States? And of course the answer is….IT’S COMPLICATED!

What? You thought it would be that easy?

When dealing with diagnosing mechanical pain, it’s all about determining the PAIN GENERATOR. That’s essentially my term for the tissue that is causing your pain. It can be a tight muscle, an injured ligament, or an inflamed joint. Chiropractors take ALL of those into consideration because it’s so difficult to pinpoint exactly which tissue is causing your pain. We call it the Vertebral Subluxation Complex (VSC). You’ve heard us refer to subluxations in the office. They can be in the spine or any of your extremities; wherever a joint exists.

So when we treat you for VSC, we are treating all of the potential pain generating tissues. Getting all the birds with one stone. We treat your spasming muscle, that strained ligament, and the inflamed joint. Pain is just the symptom that results from a dysfunction (problem) in any of those tissues.

So you have two options the next time (or even right now) you are in pain. Do you take a pain pill to cover up the pain without treating the PAIN GENERATOR? Or do you choose Chiropractic for a pain free lifestyle?

Dr. Andy, your Burlington NC chiropractor, specializes in providing evidence-based, conservative care for our desk workers, teachers, and Crossfit athletes. Schedule an appointment with him today via our website or call us at 336-270-3050.