The human body is made of 206 bones. In addition, each person has a different structure from others. That is why the guessing game in treating patients does not work in chiropractic care, as it could be a direct threat to a patient’s health and life.
Whenever you go for chiropractic treatment, you may often find your chiropractor delaying the session and requiring an X-ray first. This is because X-ray gives the chiropractor, like a chiropractor in Mesa, AZ from LifeCare Chiropractic, an idea about the exact condition of your bone alignment and a closer view of your injured area.
If you have any accident or medical operation history, then a good chiropractor will never commence any treatment until he sees your X-ray report. After checking your X-ray report, the chiropractor will understand in which angle your muscle has stiffened or how your bone got displaced.
Keeping all of these subtle details in mind, the chiropractor gives you the perfect chiropractic solutions. He may also map out every session and tell you exactly how many sessions you need to be adequately treated. Basically, these are the major reasons why an x-ray examination is important in chiropractic care:
X-ray for Your Own Safety
You may be thinking about the adverse effects of x-ray. The answer to your concern is, yes, X-ray has its harmful effects. It may lead to cancer or other diseases. But when we talk about simple chest or body X-rays, then it is likely to be 100% safe because it exposes around 0.01 mSv, which your body consumes every day from the natural environment.
Chiropractic x-ray is safe as much as an airport x-ray scanning machine. Moreover, the FDA has suggested the patients never miss an x-ray in chiropractic care so as to ensure that their health conditions are correctly identified.
X-ray and MR Image
When an X-ray is not enough to get a view of your spine or any specific muscle joint, then your chiropractor may ask you to do an MR image test. MR image is stronger than X-ray; it makes every scar on the bones visible. Even after multiple chiropractic sessions, your body may not fully recover if it has something do with a soft bone situated far deeper than your spine. This is where the MR image helps.
Let us give you an example: if you see a picture on a black and white screen, you will not be able to find out every detail of the image. But if you get to see the same picture on a colorful screen, you will find way more information to treat your patient. However, X-ray and MR image both are considered to be safe.
Bottom Line
At times, your chiropractor may not acknowledge the importance of x-ray for chiropractic care, and that is totally okay. But if you have had an accident or medical operation in the past, then you should ask to be prescribed with an X-ray exam yourself. As FDA suggests, X-ray is for your own safety. So, you should be concerned about your own health more than anyone else.
