The benefit of digital x-ray

Our state of the art, digital X-Ray facilities enable us to make a clear and accurate diagnosis very quickly with no waiting list – we can give an almost immediate understanding of your condition.

Chiropractors are fully qualified to take and interpret X-rays. It’s a tremendously valuable tool that distinguishes chiropractors from other healthcare professions and enables us to get to the root cause, quickly.

An x-ray is an image obtained by placing a part of the body in front of an x-ray sensor and then illuminating it with a short X-ray pulse. Bones are dense structures and contain a lot of calcium, which absorbs x-rays well. This reduces the amount of X-rays reaching the detector behind the body part making them clearly visible on the x-ray computer.

Originally, all x-rays were on a film just like a photograph. These had to be delicately handled and developed in a darkroom using hazardous chemicals. All of this took time and didn’t always give the best image possible. Digital x-rays use plates with thousands of tiny digital sensors to create a clear image that can be transferred to a computer.

The most important advantage of a Digital x-ray is that it needs far less radiation than film, which therefore gives a much reduced risk to health. Digital images are much clearer and easier to edit (lighten or darken) if needed, to enhance certain parts of the x-ray. A speedy x-ray that can be immediately edited gives a much earlier diagnosis and treatment plan.

You are exposed to radiation with an x-ray but not an amount considered to be medically harmful. Believe it or not your body receives radiation from the atmosphere everyday! The amount of radiation you receive from a chest x-ray, for example, equates to a few days of this atmospheric or ‘background’ radiation. Chiropractors are trained to obtain a good quality x-ray whilst keeping your exposure to radiation to a minimum.

X-ray radiation may be harmful to an unborn baby. For this reason an x-ray won’t usually be used if you might be pregnant unless there is an urgent medical reason.

The taking of an x-ray of any part of your body involves administering a small dose of radiation, and so an x-ray is only taken if medically justified. We will adhere strictly to the guidelines set out by law in the ‘Ionising Radiation Regulations, 1999’ (IRR99).

Please call us onm 01452 309372 for more information.