At Pain Free Lexington, we take X-rays because to see is to know. And if we’re going to work with the spine and the nervous system, we want to see exactly what’s going on within that spine and your body. We will take an X-ray when appropriate, mainly to see exactly what that spine looks like.We want to know what the spine looks like to obviously develop a plan that’s going to work best for that spine, if that may include adjustments, weight loss, nutrition counseling, soft tissue treatment, or all in between. It’s like building a house. You don’t build a house without blueprints. Otherwise, you’re guessing. Same with working with the spine.
Taking X-rays is also going to make sure that we’re being super diligent in evaluating the health of the spine on a neurological and physiological level. Also, there might be a growth or a tumor or an infection within the spine, and the patient may not know about it. We are able to catch any condition like that on X-rays.
We take X-rays, and evaluate them on our own, but we also refer them out to radiologists to get a second set of eyes on them, when needed. We do that to be super thorough; not all chiropractors do that. Some do, some don’t, but chiropractors are within their scope of practicing license are able to take X-rays and read them comprehensively in the state of Kentucky. It might vary in a couple of different states, but in our state, you can absolutely do that.
X-rays play a role in putting together the pieces of the puzzle, to help figure out what is going on for that patient, helping us to then decide the best type of treatment for them. It is a great objective tool.