Chiropractic Care and Lyme Disease

It is, unfortunately, tick season.

Seek Chiropractic to Aid Lyme Disease

The best thing you can do to protect yourself against Lyme Disease is to cover up and remain vigilant with self-checks after spending time outdoors, removing ticks properly and immediately upon seeing them. 

But sometimes, you may have experienced a tick bite without knowing it until much later, when you begin experiencing symptoms you later discover stem from a Lyme Disease diagnosis. While a course of antibiotics from your physician can help sometimes, other times the after-effects of Lyme can linger. This is where chiropractic care can help.

What Exactly is Lyme Disease?

Lyme Disease is spread via ticks after they feed on deer in specific parts of the U.S., especially locally, including in Berks County. The disease can impact any organ in the body: heart, brain, nervous system, muscles and joints. It can often be difficult to diagnose as it mimics the symptoms of countless other diseases. Common misdiagnoses include chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, depression, mononucleosis and more.

Early symptoms to look out for are the tell-tale bull’s eye rash, but that doesn’t appear for everyone. You may feel as if you have the flu and experience chills, fever, sweats, muscle aches, joint pain, nausea, fatigue, stiff neck, headaches or swollen lymph nodes. Early treatment for Lyme is critical in preventing long-term illness, so if you are experiencing any of these, see your doctor right away.

Later, chronic symptoms can also include fatigue, joint and muscle pain, but also cognitive impairment, poor sleep, mood issues and neurological impairment. Pregnant women and their unborn babies are at risk too, as the disease can pass to the fetus and cause stillbirth.

Diagnosis & Treatment

An assortment of tests can be used to detect Lyme. They include a simple blood test, or even a spinal tap when nervous system symptoms are present. Antibiotics are usually prescribed first, and are most effective when Lyme is caught early.

For lingering symptoms left after a Lyme diagnosis, chiropractic treatment can help. Such symptoms may include: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and achiness. Care may include a spinal adjustment to improve the functions of the central nervous system and to provide comfort from joint pain and the like. At-home stretches and exercise may also be recommended to improve mobility, to reduce inflammation and to reduce muscle tightness.

Chiropractic care has been shown to help support the immune system. Check in with us to see if we can help provide you with some relief.

At Core Health Chiropractic, our mission is to make Berks County healthier one spine at a time, through chiropractic care. We are dedicated to educating and empowering the families in and around our community to make informed decisions about their health. Our goal is to set people free from their current health conditions and to help them reach their optimum potential through neurologically-based chiropractic care. Call us at 610.750.9131 or visit corehealthberks.com.