What Is Chiropractic?

We would like to welcome you to our practice, whether you have had previous care or are new to chiropractic care. Some basic facts about chiropractic care.

There are an estimated 70,000 practicing chiropractors in the U.S. today. 27 million Americans are treated annually with chiropractic care. 32 national football teams employ chiropractors as part of there health care team. Research by the journal of the American board of family medicine, found that replacing a visit to a medical doctor with a visit to a chiropractor for back pain could save Medicare 83.5 million dollars every year. 56% of the patients who saw a medical doctor, saw a 30% reduction in low back pain. But 94% of the patients who underwent treatment with a chiropractor saw a 30% in low back pain after 4 weeks.

Chiropractic has proven its place as an effective member of the health care team in the United States and many countries around the world.

What is Chiropractic?

Chiropractic is a health care discipline that was founded over 120 years ago in the mid west. Chiropractic care is a form of treatment that uses no drugs or surgery. The primary focus of the practice of chiropractic is the relationship between the structure of the spine and the function of the nervous system. A lack of normal function ( dysfunction) of the spine can create irritation and or compression of the nerves as they exit the spine causing pain and disability.

The Goal of Chiropractic

Chiropractors are known to treat painful conditions related to the spine. However, there are a number of post graduate courses of study that expands the chiropractors ability to help patients with athletic injuries, painful conditions of the shoulder, elbow ,ankle , knee and hip. This office practices a state of the art soft tissue treatment (ART) commonly used in the NFL and MLB.

How Chiropractic Works

You may be wondering how chiropractic care can help to alleviate many painful conditions. When the spine or extremity joints which are designed to move and glide with use

become restricted or fixated this impedes the normal biomechanics.

Within the joints are nerve receptors that then become irritated and send messages to the brain that the effected joint is compromised therefore causing pain. Soft tissues can become overused by repetitive activity or strained or sprained during athletic endeavors. Locating the specific tissue (s) and treating the tight spasm can return the soft tissue to its normal length and function.

What Chiropractors Do

Practically speaking chiropractors are primarily concerned with treating structural dysfunctions. These soft tissue and boney joint structures can lose their normal function and mobility which compromises neural integrity and thus compromises general health.

Using various unique manual techniques, the chiropractor evaluates the patients spine and or extremities for loss of motion called fixations. If joint fixations and soft tissue scaring are detected , the chiropractor will use joint and soft tissue manipulation to restore mobility to the restricted joint and increased length to the tight soft tissue.

Chiropractors use many specialized functional tests to identify and then treat these spinal and extra-spinal abnormalities so as to optimize the patients health. In addition to spinal adjustments , soft tissue release, lifestyle modification and therapeutic exercise is deigned for the patients specific needs as their pain decreases and the function improves.

How Chiropractic Differs

There is a significant and very important difference between the way chiropractors and medical doctors approach health ailments.

When evaluating and treating patients, chiropractors take a holistic approach which includes identifying and correcting the cause(s) of the patient's health ailment. In contrast, the medical approach tends to focus more on the treating the symptoms of a condition rather than focusing primarily on the actual cause(s).

Chiropractors believe that correcting the cause of the problem provides significant long-term benefits over only treating the symptoms.

The Benefits of Chiropractic

The type of patient who benefits from chiropractic care are many. Over my 35 plus years in practice I have treated the typical person with repetitive lower back pain who is

frustrated with always having to take medicine to numb their symptoms temporally . I have treated high school, college and professional athletes.

The elderly commonly have musculoskeletal complaints due to a breakdown of their structure form neglect or aging. Patients with chronic headaches are commonly helped with chiropractic care. If you have tried all that conventional medicine has to offer without satisfaction you owe it to yourself to have a consultation and evaluation to see if chiropractic care can help you achieve your healthcare goals.

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