Chiropractic Care Information

There’s nothing mysterious about chiropractic. It’s a natural method of health care that focuses on treating the causes of physical problems, rather than just treating the symptoms. Chiropractic is based on a simple but powerful premise. With a normally functioning spine and healthy nerve system, your body is better able to heal itself. That’s because your spine is the lifeline of your nervous system. It controls feeling, movement, and all function through your body.

Simply put, chiropractic emphasizes care of the human frame. The skeleton and spinal column must be symmetrical, flexible, and properly aligned in order for the body to function at an optimum level. Keeping a properly aligned, flexible spine helps improve posture and mobility, which are important to health. Breathing, strength, coordination, and energy expenditure are directly influenced by spinal alignment. If you have a rotated spine, high hip, or high shoulder, for example, you will need to expend more energy doing everyday, simple tasks like walking and lifting. As a result, you’ll feel fatigued and will be prone to developing back pain. It is therefore no surprise that elite athletes, whose jobs require peak efficiency body mechanics, depend on chiropractic to help them get an edge over the competition.

A poorly aligned spine is more susceptible to degenerative changes and injury due to uneven body weight distribution, which can erode discs and joints over time. In addition, abnormal spinal alignment and movement can degrade the function of tiny nerves called proprioceptors, which are responsible for back muscle coordination and reflexes. Research shows this to be a cause of lower back pain and degenerative joint disease.

No. People are adjusted for numerous reasons and they tend to do with which phase of spinal care is required for them at the time. These are the phases of spinal care:

1) Intensive Care Phase In this phase your spine is out of balance and is not holding its adjustment. Please cooperate in keeping your appointments and modifying your lifestyle in ways that we instruct which will help get you out of the intensive care phase quickly. This is an acute condition that may require heat or ice therapies.

2) Reconstructive Phase Your spine is beginning to stabilize and hold its adjustment for longer periods. In this phase our objective is to monitor your spine while it strengthens. Many of your symptoms and complaints may have disappeared or decreased. It is critical, however that you continue your visits even if you are feeling better.

3) Maintenance Phase In this phase your spine is now holding its adjustment and has become reasonably stable. It is handling stress well. Preventative care is similar to regular dental care. You may not know if you have a cavity so you go to the dentist for a checkup. In the same way, you may not know if you have any subluxations so you go to the chiropractor for a subluxation checkup. We suggest one every month. Your doctor will create a schedule that works for you, and with you.

Doctors of Chiropractic are well educated. Chiropractic education and medical education are similar in many respects and different in others because chiropractors do not prescribe drugs or perform surgery, and medical doctors do not correct vertebral subluxations. After graduating with a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) Degree, each candidate passes the demanding four part National Board Examinations. Then, doctors apply to a governmental or professional licensing board and pass a still more difficult test before being granted the privilege to practice. A chiropractor’s education, however, never ends. Most doctors complete regular postgraduate instruction for license renewal and to stay current on the latest research and adjustment techniques.

A chiropractic adjustment is the art of using a specific force in a precise direction, applied to a joint that is subluxated, locked up, or not moving properly. The purpose of this safe and natural procedure is to eliminate interference to the nervous system, improving spinal function and overall health. Gentle spinal adjustments boost your body’s immunity

Since significant spinal trauma can occur at birth, many parents have their newborns checked for vertebral subluxation. Naturally, chiropractic adjusting procedures are adapted for the child’s spine. Many childhood health complaints that are brushed off can be traced to the spine. Health problems that emerge in adulthood could often be prevented by having your children’s spine checked by a chiropractor early. Most parents report that their children enjoy their chiropractic adjustments and are healthier than their peers.

No. The doctor evaluates each patient’s unique spinal problem and develops an individual course of care. Each chiropractic adjustment builds on the one before. The resulting recommendations are based upon years of training and experience. Each patient’s care is uniquely different from every other patient.

Yes. Chiropractic has an excellent safety record. It is the result of a conservative and natural approach to health that avoids invasive procedures or addictive drugs. As proof, one merely has to compare malpractice rates between chiropractors and other health care professionals. Chiroprac malpractice premiums are a small fraction of those for medical doctors.

Actually, adjustments do not always produce a sound. Often, however, adjustments do create the sound of a spinal release, or popping sound. The sound is caused by gas rushing in to fill the partial vacuum created when the joints are slightly separated. This sound is painless and totally harmless.

No. Since a chiropractic adjustment is a specific force, applied in a specific direction to a specific joint, it is virtually impossible to adjust oneself correctly and accurately. It is possible to turn or bend or twist in certain ways to create a popping sound that sometimes accompanies a chiropractic adjustment. Unfortunately, this type of joint manipulation is usually counterproductive, often making an already unstable spine even more unstable, and can sometimes be dangerous. Adjusting the spine is not for amateurs!

No. If only it were, there would be more healthy people around and chiropractors would not get patients who last saw a chiropractor a few years ago when their back went out. It is possible to get used to feeling more balanced, less stressed, and more energetic as a result or regular chiropractic care. Chiropractic is not addictive, however, good health is.

Yes. It’s an unfortunate fact that up to half of those who had spinal surgery discover a return of their original symptoms months or years later. They then face the prospect of additional surgery. This too common occurrence is know as Failed Back Surgery Syndrome. Chiropractic may help prevent repeated back surgeries. In fact, if chiropractic care is initially, utilized back surgery can often be avoided in the first place.

No, however chiropractic care is successful with a very wide variety of health problems not necessarily considered back problems because of improved nerve system function. With a normal nerve supply the body’s natural healing capacity can improve a variety of health problems.

Anytime is a good time for a better functioning nerve system. Pregnant mothers find that chiropractic adjustments improve their pregnancy and make delivery easier for themselves and their baby. Adjusting methods are always adapted to a patients size, weight, age, and condition of health.

Chiropractors base their care on the detection correction, and prevention of vertebral subluxations (spinal misalignments). We use specific spinal adjustments to correct the spine, to improve nerve system functions and reduce nerve interference. Osteopaths use drugs, surgery, and other traditional medical therapies and only occasionally use manipulative procedures.

Chiropractors take x-rays to reveal the internal structure and alignment of the spine. We are also concerned about underlying disease processes and disorders of the spine such as spinal deterioration, arthritis of the spine, abnormal development, bone spurs, disc disorders, tumors and spinal curvature. X-rays also provide a blueprint for correcting the spine back to optimal health and alignment.

No. Exercise is an important part of good health, yet without normal spinal function a physical workout merely puts additional wear and tear on improperly functioning spinal joints.