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1.
What is chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a drugless approach to health. It is
the science, art & philosophy of locating & correcting
vertebral subluxations through gentle, specific
chiropractic adjustments thus allowing your body to
function at its optimum potential.
2. What is a subluxation?
A subluxation is a misalignment of one or more of your
spinal bones (vertebrae), which causes interference to
your nervous system. If your nervous system is
interfered with, your body's natural ability to heal
itself & function at its optimum potential becomes
impaired. A subluxation is a perfect example of how
structure affects function.
3. What is an adjustment?
An adjustment is a gentle, specific "thrust" delivered
by hand or instrument. The purpose of the adjustment is
to correct your spinal subluxation(s) thus removing the
nerve interference in your body.
4. How is chiropractic different from tradition
medicine?
Chiropractic treats the whole person, not just the
symptoms. Chiropractic care involves a more natural,
conservative approach that promotes self-healing and
helps to strengthen the body's natural defense systems.
5. Will I have to
have X-rays?
X-rays and other types of images can be helpful.
Pictures of your spine can confirm your Chiropractor's
other findings and make your care more precise. Your Doctor will tell you if X-rays are needed after completing
the other examinations.
6.
Does it hurt to get adjusted?
No. Chiropractic adjustments feel great. We have
confidence that once you begin receiving your
adjustments, you will begin to look forward to them.
They will become one of the highlights of your week.
When you allow the vertebrae in your spine to return to
their proper position, you will notice much less stress
and tension.
7.How long until
I feel better?
Some patients experience almost instant relief.
Others discover it can take a few weeks, but your
chiropractor will tell you how long your healing process
will take at the time of evaluating your x-rays. Every
patient recovers at their own pace. Factors which can
affect the healing process include your age, your
overall health condition, muscle tone, sitting lifting
bending habits, diet and even your attitude.
8. Is
chiropractic safe?
Yes. Statistics prove that chiropractic care is one of
the safest types of healthcare in the world. You only
need to compare the malpractice premiums paid by
chiropractors to those paid by medical doctors. Doctors
of Chiropractic pay only a small fraction (approx. 1/20)
of the price medical doctors pay in malpractice
premiums. 250,000 people will die this year as a result
of bad medicine, making this the third leading cause of
death in the United States of America (The Journal of
The American Medical Association, JAMA; Vol.284, July
26, 2000). Of the millions of people receiving
chiropractic adjustments each year, only a handful will
even make a complaint.
9. Is it safe to go to a chiropractor when I am
pregnant?
Yes! A large percent of all pregnant women experience
back discomfort/pain during pregnancy. This is due to
the rapid growth of the baby and changes to your body's
normal structure. Pre-existing unnoticed imbalances in
your spine and pelvis become overtaxed and very apparent
during these times. Chiropractic care throughout
pregnancy can relieve and even prevent the common
discomforts experienced in pregnancy. Published studies
have indicated that chiropractic care does in fact
reduce labor time. Doctors of Chiropractic work
specifically with your pelvis throughout pregnancy
restoring a state of balance and creating an environment
for an easier safer delivery.
10. Why do my children need chiropractic care?
The birth process is often the cause of your child's
first subluxation. A very soft and undeveloped spine of
an infant can suffer trauma during delivery. It is
estimated that as much as 80lbs of pulling pressure can
be exerted to remove a baby from the birth canal. Then,
as children grow up and become more adventurous, the
number of injuries to their spines become countless.
Repeated falls as children learn to walk, running,
jumping, twisting, bumping, and falling all over the
place while playing in the yard or on an athletic field
will often cause your child to become subluxated.
However, often children do not show any signs or
symptoms of being subluxated until later on in life.
Chiropractic care offers your child a more responsive
body, a more balanced flow of energy and overall
increased performance as he/she passes through their
windows of development. A subluxation free child also
minimizes the risk of future health challenges.
11. What causes the sound made during a chiropractic
adjustment?
That sound is not your spine "cracking" or "popping"
like most people think. That sound is created by gas (in
this case, nitrogen) rushing in to fill the partial
vacuum created when the joints are slightly separated.
Another example of this phenomenon would be the "pop"
sound you hear when the cork is taken out of a champagne
bottle. Not all chiropractic adjusting techniques
produce this noise. In fact, some adjusting techniques
use little force and thus produce no noise at all.
12. Is it bad to "crack" your back or neck a lot?
This question is frequently asked because people
associate the "cracking" or "popping" of one's back or
neck with a chiropractic adjustment. The two are not the
same thing. If a person has a desire to "crack" his/her
neck or back it is often because one area of their spine
is fixated or jammed causing another area to move too
much and "pop", sometimes by itself. It's the fixated or
jammed area that needs to be properly adjusted by a
chiropractor so that the other parts of the spine will
not be hypermobile and noisy. When you "crack" your back
you may be relieving the tension for a little while. Do
you notice how it keeps coming back? That is because you
are not giving yourself a specific chiropractic
adjustment. The cause of the spinal tension, the fixated
or jammed (subluxated) vertebrae, has not been
corrected. Any person who makes a habit out of
"cracking" or "popping" their back or neck needs to go
to a Doctor of Chiropractic to have their spine checked.
Even a chiropractor cannot adjust him/herself.
13.
Once you see a chiropractor, do you have to go for the
rest of your life?
No. The extent to which you choose to benefit from your
chiropractic care is ultimately up to you. Each & every
one of us is solely responsible for the quality of our
health & well-being. However, we do strongly urge all
practice members to consider lifetime, wellness
chiropractic care. This is where the long-term, lasting
benefits of care are enjoyed. Regular exercise & healthy
eating habits are a lifestyle decision and so is
lifetime, wellness chiropractic care. You need to remain
subluxation free for life.
14.
Should I continue chiropractic care if I don't have any
symptoms and I feel better?
Yes. Just because symptoms disappear, it does not mean
your subluxations are corrected. Most of the practice
members seen in our office have spinal degeneration
(decay) which has taken years to develop. The trauma of
the birth process, slips, falls, accidents and countless
other stresses over the course of your lifetime
adversely affect the health of your spine. The longer
you wait to have your spine checked by a chiropractor,
the longer it will take to correct your subluxations.
However, how you choose to use chiropractic care is
ultimately up to you. It has been our experience that
those who stop care when they are "feeling fine" return
with the same health challenge(s) which brought them to
our office in the first place...only it's usually gotten
worse. On the other hand, those practice members who
commit to long-term, wellness chiropractic care, find
their health challenge(s) rarely return and they enjoy a
higher quality of life & health. |
