Chiropractic is a profession (rather than a treatment) which specialises in treating spinal pain. In the UK it is a tightly regulated profession and it is illegal to call yourself a chiropractor without being registered with the General Chiropractic Council. Historically, chiropractic has been closely linked to using manipulation to treat pain. The modern chiropractor will use more than just manual therapy to help you and your care should include education abut your pain and how to manage it, advice on exercise and lifestyle, nutrition, stress and sleep.

Your spine is made up of lots of joints. From time to time you may sprain or strain these joints which can cause pain and stiffness. Your body responds by increasing muscle tension around these joints to protect them from further strain. In the early stages there will be localised inflammation. It is suggested that manipulating the spine increases range of movement(1) and triggers a pain relieving response in your body (2) as well as providing a relaxation of the muscles supplied by the same nerves as the joints (3). It has been shown that it is difficult to gauge who will benefit from manual therapy to the spine and it is also difficult to predict the amount of benefit each individual receives from this type of treatment (4). Manipulation used in isolation is unlikely to solve spinal pain and it must be used as part of a comprehensive, health based approached to pain. 1. Threkeld 1992, Hearne & Rivet 2002 2. Vicenzino/Wright 2002 3. Taylor et al 1994, Murphy et al 1995 4. Conde-Vasquez, Garcia-Cancela, Navarro-Ledesma 2026

Your first visit is to get a general feel of your situation and to prepare you for what may be involved in a course of treatment. It is an opportunity for Hedd to advise you on better options you may have if it is felt he cannot help you. It's worth considering how often Hedd sees people with pain that is beyond the scope of manual therapy. To this end it is sensible to advise you not to expect 'treatment' on the first visit as until you are in the clinic we won't be able to predict the nature of your problem.

Yes. Only around 5% of back pain is caused by something nasty or from any form of structural change to the spine. The other 95% is what is known as 'non-specific pain'. This means we can't be specific as to whether your pain is being caused by joint pain, muscle pain, tendon pain, nerve pain, inflammation or maybe a mixture of all of these. Joint pain can respond well to manipulation; muscle pain may respond to massage; tendon pain responds well to loading exercises; nerve pain may respond well to nutrition advice and nerve exercises (neurodynamics); inflammation should respond to medication. Your case will be individually assessed and the best course of action selected for you.

There are historical differences, but very often there is little to choose between the professions. Chiropractors and osteopaths will have spent more time at undergraduate level focussing on the spine than physiotherapists - but many physios then go on to postgraduate studies concentrating on spinal problems. The important thing to consider is who you'd like to work with and what kind of approach you feel will suit you best.

No. I've no post-graduate training in this field. I encourage anyone who is concerned about the health and development of their children to seek medical advice as the regulation of anyone outside mainstream healthcare and therefore the safety of the treatment and advice they may provide will be unreliable.

These not my areas of interest or expertise. You may be better off finding a therapist with specific post-graduate training in these problems.

There is no quick fix for back pain. It's very likely that you will find a long line of therapists claiming rapid cures for back pain. I welcome you to explore any and all of these treatments but I think it's only fair that you are aware of my more down to earth approach to helping you with pain.