This is certainly a phrase I’ve heard many times in the community. Usually someone stating that there is nothing that chiropractic can do to help them because they’ve already had surgery.
Obviously, seeing a chiropractor BEFORE the surgery in the hopes of avoiding the surgery altogether is the preferred method, but should you miss that opportunity, fret not. Somehow, when patients unfamiliar with chiropractic care envision a treatment session in a patient who has had surgery or maybe has osteoporosis, it involves the chiropractor jumping off from the desk to deliver a ninja-like adjustment.
I know that in our office, with the heavy soft tissue approach, we have been able to provide significant relief to those patients who have had surgery and who thought that there was nothing that could be done to help with their pain levels.
While this study is a case series and involved lumbar surgeries (the best response being those with the more invasive surgeries), we have seen both neck, ankle, wrist, shoulder, knee and low back surgeries that did not resolve the complaint but responded well to care in our office.
So, next time you hear someone say that they can’t see a chiropractor because they’ve had surgery, point out this study.