What's the Difference Between a Primary Condition and a Secondary Condition? (Blog)

I would like to paint a rather simple picture for you.  You or somebody you know has some sort of health issue or symptoms – headaches, neck pain, digestive issues, numbness and tingling in the fingers, sciatic pain, whatever they may be.  You have been to a traditional chiropractor for a few visits, maybe you have been to your primary care physician, received a prescription, and out the door.  Maybe you have had some physical therapy, you have tried everything.  Each of these treatments has given you some excellent temporary relief but the problem seems to keep coming back and each time it does come back it seems to be a little more advanced.

The reason these things keep coming back time after time could be because you are not addressing the cause of the problem, or the Primary Condition.  In our practice the symptoms you are experiencing that keep coming back are referred to as Secondary Conditions.  The reason we refer to these as Secondary Conditions is because they are a result of, as you probably guessed, a Primary Condition.  If the primary cause is not addressed, the problems often worsen or advance, eventually producing degenerative damage and soft tissue changes.  There is no doubt in my mind that all of the above solutions are excellent if you are looking for short-term symptom relief.  However, if your problem is due to a shift in the body’s internal structural framework (Primary Condition), you may need someone that specializes in correcting the shifts in the underlying structural framework which are causing these Secondary Conditions.  Shifts in the structural framework will put abnormal stress on the muscles, tendons, ligaments, vertebrae and discs, as well as the nerves that exit out between the spinal vertebrae.

This is what makes us different at Summit Chiropractic.  We focus on restoring or correcting the structural framework of the body (spinal structure as well as soft tissue structure) in order to get the structure back to what is considered normal.  The reason we take this approach is because it addresses the Primary Condition (shift in the structural framework) therefore getting to the CAUSE of the Secondary Conditions (symptoms).

If this sounds like you, if you have any questions, or you would like to set up a COMPLEMENTARY consultation (nothing more than a conversation to see if what we do is right for you) to learn more, please call Summit Chiropractic at (515) 964-9644.