Exam tables are an important investment for any chiropractic practice. Having durable, high-quality treatment tables can help ensure your clinic’s success and increase patient comfort.
Drop tables facilitate less invasive adjustments, increasing the power of your chiropractic care and improving spinal alignment. These tables also reduce pain and discomfort in patients.
Manual Exam Tables
Many chiropractors use manual manipulation techniques to help with spinal alignment and increase patient mobility. These chiropractic approaches may include massage and physical therapy, as well as other types of treatment, such as the Graston Technique or dry needling. The key to these treatments is a flexible patient table. Whether your office specializes in these alternative medical techniques or you’re looking to expand your services and offer additional chiropractic treatment options, consider upgrading to a flexible exam table with multiple panels.
Traditionally, most chiropractic offices are outfitted with standard box tables, which your patients can manually adjust to get them into the seated position for exams or procedures. Often, these tables also feature a heavy-duty step to aid patients as they climb onto the table, and most are designed with storage drawers that can hold supplies, like gowns or drapes.
If you’re an ambulatory care clinic that deals with a high volume of elderly or disabled patients, consider equipping your exam rooms with ADA tables, which have an electric lift to make it easier for the patient to access the seated area of the table. Studies have shown that providing these tables reduces the time and effort patients require to mount traditional exam tables and the risk of injury due to excessive exertion and difficulty (4).
Flat treatment tables, which are fixed horizontally with no articulation features, can be used by some chiropractors. These types of tables are padded and typically upholstered in healthcare-grade vinyl for comfort and easy cleaning. They’re a popular choice for nurse’s offices within schools and other facilities, and they’re also commonly used in physical therapy rooms.
Some specialty flat exam tables, such as the McKenzie method, have a special section that drops to enable traction-based chiropractic treatment. These types of tables can be stationary or portable, hi-lo or elevated, and they come in a variety of base materials and colors to suit the aesthetics of your clinic space. These are potentially more expensive than a standard flat exam table but could be worth the investment for your facility.
Power Exam Tables
When patients visit a clinic, it’s important they can comfortably lie down during their examination. Power medical exam tables allow healthcare professionals to adjust the height, incline, backrest angle, and more with the touch of a button. These adjustable features can help them perform more accurate exams, which can improve the patient’s experience and the quality of care they receive.
When physicians are unable to examine patients due to lack of access to an exam table, it can lead to misdiagnosis and incomplete treatment. By providing accessible exam tables, physicians can provide better care for patients with disabilities and activity limitations.
Traditional fixed-height tables require a patient to transfer from their wheelchair and stand up. Depending on the individual’s mobility and strength levels, this process can be difficult for some. With an ADA-compliant exam table, this is not a problem. Powered treatment tables, like the Ritter 622 Power table, offer low step-up and motorized features that make it easy for patients to get on and off.
Providing a more accessible environment in your clinic can help you attract more patients and keep current ones. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to involve a major renovation or expensive equipment. With a few affordable upgrades, you can easily turn your exam room into an ADA-compliant space that offers the same high-quality treatment as your competitors.
While a manual exam table may be enough for some clients, you might need an electric treatment table for others with specialized needs. These types of tables come with built-in headrests and face slots to accommodate prone patients. Some also have a special lumbar extension, flexion, and postural traction feature to enhance treatment effectiveness.
In addition to their specialized features, these models can also support a higher weight capacity than manual exam tables. Designed for bariatric patients, these heavy-duty exam tables can safely support up to 500 pounds. Some of them even have a built-in pelvic tilt for added support. With a variety of models and accessories available, you can customize your power treatment table to suit any patient’s needs.
Stationary Exam Tables
Chiropractors use their highly trained hands to cure aches and pains for a wide range of conditions associated with the musculoskeletal system. They need a chiropractic table that’s comfortable for patients and easy to operate. While there are several options available for chiropractic tables, stationary treatment tables are often the best option for a chiropractor’s clinic.
Stationary treatment tables are more traditional and offer more versatility than powered exam tables. They remain firmly in place once set up and are ideal for rehabilitation practitioners who need a specialized table that can be used for both patient examinations and treatment sessions. Known as therapy tables, plinths, or PT tables, they are versatile enough to support a number of treatment techniques, including massage, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and athletic training.
With a range of accessories and a number of different styles to choose from, these tables can be adapted for various clinical applications. They are typically well-padded for patient comfort and feature headpieces that can be adjusted in a variety of positions. Some models also come with a heavy-duty step to help patients get on the table.
They also offer a range of storage features to boost clinic efficiency. Drawers and base cabinets keep supplies, medical devices, and other equipment within easy reach of healthcare providers, while dividers help keep supply trays organized. Some tables have pass-through drawers that allow for access from either side of the table. They may also feature electric motors to move the table sections, which can reduce the amount of energy and exertion required to change the height of each section.
Massage Roller Tables
Adding a massage roller table to chiropractic practice is an easy way to help patients relax and regain their range of motion. These tables typically stretch and loosen spinal muscles and ligaments through rollers, usually used before a spinal adjustment. This can help patients feel more comfortable and help their vertebrae hold the adjustment for longer.
A massage roller table also allows chiropractors to make the most of their patient visits. Rather than have them wait in an empty exam room for 10 or more minutes while the chiropractor works with another patient, the assistant can set up the patient on a massage roller table before they receive an adjustment. This can make the patient more comfortable and help them get a good start on their back or neck pain treatment.
In addition to the relaxation and stretches these tables provide, they can also help with spinal alignment, especially in younger patients with a misaligned spine. This can help the spine regain its natural curves and increase the space between the spinal discs, which can also improve spinal mobility and flexibility.
Chiropractors believe that the misalignment of spinal joints can cause nerves to become compressed, which can lead to pain in many areas of the body. In order to prevent these compressions and keep the vertebrae in proper alignment, chiropractors often use an intersegmental traction or roller table.
These specialized tables gently elongate the postural muscles of the spine in a controlled and uniform manner, which can restore the spine’s natural curves and create spaces between spinal disks. This can also increase spinal mobility and improve the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to spinal discs, helping them heal.
While some chiropractors are true advocates of the roller table and claim that it has improved their practice, others have more mixed results. For example, Christopher Stepien, DC, founder of Barefoot Rehabilitation Clinic in Denville, New Jersey, claims that while the roller table has helped him with certain patients, it does not necessarily help with other clients.
