Although shingles aren’t typically considered to be a life-threatening ailment, they can lead to extreme discomfort in patients. For this reason, patients who suffer from shingles will look for just about any solution to help them cope with the symptoms of this irritating condition. Luckily, chiropractic care offers an affordable, effective solution for shingles sufferers. In this article, we will review the top 3 benefits of chiropractic care for those dealing with shingles.

What Is Shingles?

Shingles is a viral disorder associated with the chickenpox virus. The exact mechanism of this virus is interesting and the details regarding shingles pathology may be surprising to many people.

Essentially, when a person contracts the chickenpox virus in childhood (also known as the Varicella-Zoster virus), he or she doesn’t ever truly eliminate the viral particles from his or her body. Rather, once the immune system deals with the symptoms of chickenpox, the virus becomes dormant but remains in the body tissues.

Then, due to a variety of reasons, the dormant virus can become triggered years later, presenting as shingles.

What Are the Symptoms of Shingles?

Most patients who suffer from shingles will experience a painful, itchy rash. This rash is often found under the arms or wrapped around the person’s trunk.

While uncommon, patients with shingles may also present with an elevated temperature, sensitivity to visual or auditory stimuli, and headaches.

Who Is At Risk of Shingles?

Truthfully, anyone who’s had chickenpox (which is just about everyone) can develop shingles.

That being said, there are risk factors that predispose a person to have a greater likelihood of developing the condition. These risk factors include:

  • Age greater than 50.
  • The presence of a serious or autoimmune disease.
  • Chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer diagnoses.
  • The use of certain drugs and therapeutics.

But outside of those risk factors, there are many patients who develop shingles with none of the issues listed above.

Top 3 Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Shingles Sufferers

Chiropractic care offers tons of benefits to patients with shingles, as well as many other conditions. The following items are, by no means, an exhaustive list of the benefits chiropractors can offer, but rather some of the most important ones. Talk to your chiropractor if you’re interested in learning more about chiropractic treatment for shingles!

Benefit #1: Decreased Pain

Pain is an interesting and often misunderstood phenomenon. There is still so much that we need to learn about pain before we can fully understand it. However, we do know that the spine is intimately involved with pain processing.

For this reason, chiropractors will perform spinal manipulations in order to decrease the severity of painful conditions. These treatments work by realigning the spine and improving the nerve conduction between painful areas and the central nervous system.

Benefit #2: Improved Mobility

When a person develops shingles, they will often be nervous about moving their body very much, for fear of causing pain.

Chiropractors can perform gentle adjustments which will loosen stiff joints and enable these patients to return to their lives with better movement capabilities.

Benefit #3: Decreased Headaches

As was mentioned earlier in this article, headaches are a potential symptom associated with shingles. These headaches can cause immeasurable pain and may make it difficult for patients to navigate throughout their days. 

Fortunately, chiropractic manipulations work wonders for headaches. 

If you or a loved one has been suffering from shingles, stop by your Lithia, FL. chiropractor’s office at At Last Chiropractic. We can help you get back to optimal health and wellness. Book your appointment today.