Back Talk: The Continuum of Health

KARL SCHWARTZ, D.C.

hen a new patient comes into my office, I need to decipher a few extremely important facts. First, what type W of injury is the patient experiencing? These generally fall into three categories: acute, chronic, or wellness.

Acute care deals with recent injuries or major or minor traumas. Major injuries have the most obvious causes, such as a fall, sporting injury, or car accident. All patients who have experienced a major injury can easily articulate the facts of the trauma and the symptoms that quickly followed with an immediate onset. The trickier cases are chronic injuries, often repetitive in nature and usually with very mild trauma. These injuries are a bit harder to decipher in their cause, duration of cause, and extent of direct injury. We usually will perform x-rays to help determine the degree of the injury and how long the injury has been present. In general, the longer the problem has been present, the longer it takes to fix it. We also have to look at the lifestyle and the repetition of the cause so we can find alternative ways to perform actions that are less destructive to this patient. The last category is wellness. These are the patients who are active, have been actively staying healthy, and doing many things to stay healthy. These patients usually have a lower-level severity and the problems are newer. These patients are the easiest with whom to work because “an ouch of prevention is worth a pound of cure!”

Regardless of whether this is an acute or chronic patient, age really matters. A healthy adolescent or teen with a problem has the benefit of age. In general, their problems are more recent and are easier to fix. The younger a person is, the quicker they heal. Older patients often have longer-standing problems, more spinal degeneration, and therefore are more unstable. Older patients also have a tendency to have co-morbidities, such as high blood pressure, increased weight or obesity, or diabetes. These are all conditions that can slow down the healing process.

Where do you live in the health spectrum? If you are younger and have minimal injuries, your body is in the healthy region and wellness care is appropriate for you. If you have chronic issues that have been present for a long time, along with multiple surgeries and multiple medications, then you are closer to the region of health that is deteriorating and severe.

Finally, what is the goal of your care? Do you want to get out of pain, or are you an athlete who wants to restore optimal function? We can help both patients. We see all types of patients with different goals. The underlying theme of all care plans is that the earlier the problem is addressed, the easier it is to correct.

DR. KARL SCHWARTZ is a graduate of Life University in Marietta, Georgia; he has been practicing chiropractic in Tucker for twenty-one years and a resident here for fifteen years. His office specializes in preventing sports injuries and maximizing performance by analyzing posture, weight bearing, and gait. If you have a question you would like addressed in a future column, please email karlschwartzdc@gmail.com. Note “Back Talk” in the subject line.