Frequently Asked Questions

 

History of Chiropractic

 

In the late 1800’s, infectious disease was rampant in the United States.  The public health measures, to which we owe our current freedom from infectious disease, had yet to be conceived let alone implemented.  Generally speaking, medicine was without efficacy or credibility and would remain so until the 1920’s.  Medicine would only gain public acceptance and credibility with the reform of medical education and the discovery of penicillin in the 1920’s.

 

Historically, this was a time of great confusion and diversification among the health disciplines.  The 1800’s saw the birth of Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Chiropody (Podiatry), Naturopathy, and Homeopathy.  It was in this hotbed of confusion that Chiropractic’s founder, D.D. Palmer, first hypothesized the chiropractic concepts of adaptability and health.

 

D.D. Palmer is said to have discovered Chiropractic on September 18, 1895, when he gave the first chiropractic adjustment to a man named Harvey Lillard.  Mr. Lillard had been deaf for the eighteen years preceding the adjustment. After his adjustment, his hearing was restored and subsequently Chiropractic was born.  The word chiropractic comes from the Greek, meaning: Chiro=hand; Practice=to do; therefore, chiropractic: to do by hand.

 

What is Chiropractic?

 

Chiropractic is a unique healthcare discipline, separate and distinct from all other schools of health.  Its practitioners compose the largest of the Alternative healing arts.   Chiropractic is the second largest healing profession in the world.  Currently, there are over fifty thousand chiropractors in the United States giving care to over one million patients per day.  Over its one hundred year history, Chiropractic has demonstrated high patient satisfaction and remarkable cost effectiveness. Due to its outstanding results, lack of side affects, and cost effectiveness, Chiropractic is currently being utilized by more people than ever before.

 

Chiropractic differs from medicine in that it does not use drugs or surgery in its treatment of illness.  Chiropractic focuses its methods on restoring and maintaining homeostasis.  Homeostasis is the state where all body systems are working properly and the body can readily adapt to changes in its environment.  Homeostasis = Health.

 

To understand how Chiropractic works we must look to the sciences of anatomy, neurology, and physiology. The human body has within it a control system.  This system is composed of the brain, spinal cord, and the nerves.   Affecting every cell in your body, the nervous system controls and regulates all of the body’s functions.  The spine, with its 24 movable bones and its associations with the skull and pelvis, composes the body’s central supporting structure.  Chiropractic focuses on the relationship between the structure (skeletal system) of the body and the function of the body (as coordinated by the nervous system). Through the use of gentle and specific adjustment to the spine, Chiropractors seek to align the structure and function of the body into a coordinated, healthily balanced whole.

 

To do this, Chiropractors look to the spine as a primary site of interference to the expression of the nervous system.  When the bones of the spine are misaligned, interference, irritation or pinching of the nerves can result.  This interference to the nervous system has a negative effect on heath because the body can no longer control its function or maintain its health.

 

Chiropractors call this misalignment a subluxation.  Chiropractic is founded on the principal that a body free from nerve interference has the highest potential for health.  Chiropractors correct the spinal subluxations / misalignments by hand, gently, and without pain.  In fact, receiving a chiropractic adjustment is a pleasurable experience for many people.

 

Examination and X-rays are used to determine if your health problems are caused by a subluxation causing interference or pinching of the nerves.  If so, Chiropractic is the only healing art that can correct the cause of the problem.  Chiropractic care works quickly and effectively.  How long it will take for you to feel better depends on how severe the nerve irritation is and how long you have been ill.  When the examination and X-rays are completed, we can give you a reasonable time frame for your healing process.

 

 

Sprains, Strains, and Subluxations

 

The most common problem to the human frame is a simple strain, or pulled muscle. This can happen if you lift too much, or do too much too fast. It can also happen if you do the same motion over and over again.  Strains, if not continually irritated, will heal on their own in a couple of weeks.

 

Sprains are injuries to ligaments and discs, and are more severe, both in the amount of trauma it usually takes to cause them, and healing time. Sprains should be evaluated by a knowledgeable health professional.

 

Another neuro-musculo-skeletal problem that can affect you is what chiropractors call a vertebral subluxation, which is a misalignment of one or more of the bones of the spine, causing nerve interference.  The spine is composed of twenty four moveable bones called vertebrae.  The spine has two functions: First, to provide support for upright posture.  Second, the spine provides protection for the brain, spinal cord, and nerves.  Due to the close relationship of the vertebrae to the nerves and the spinal cord, it is nearly impossible to misalign (or subluxate) a vertebrae without interfering with the adjacent nerves function.

 

In non-technical terms, one of the vertebrae in your back becomes stuck, and while stuck, can irritate muscles and nerves.

 

Subluxations are removed from the spine in a variety of techniques, and different chiropractors use different techniques, depending on the case.  Chiropractors generally use their hands to gently reposition the vertebrae.  This is called an adjustment.  It is usually painless and actually quite relieving.  The word Chiropractic comes from the Greek, meaning: Chiro=hand; Practice=to do; therefore, chiropractic: to do by hand.

 

Chiropractors are the only health care professionals trained to recognize these varying problems (and others) that cause musculo-skeletal pain, to be able to tell which of the problems the patient may have, and what to do about it. They are the “back specialists.”

 

 

What causes Vertebral Subluxations ?

 

The primary cause of subluxation is stress in one of three forms:

 

·        Physical Stress: such as lifting, poor posture, repetitive movements, poor quality sleeping surfaces, and so on.

·        Chemical Stress: such as poor diet, car fumes, smog, and so on.

·        Emotional Stress: such as a fast-paced lifestyle, job pressures, family and relationship issues, financial issues, and so on.

 

Why do Chiropractors say that they work with the cause of illness?

 

A subluxation causes nerve interference and a loss of communication between the brain and the tissue cells.  A loss of communication causes a loss of heath.  Your body communicates this loss to you by giving you symptoms in order to draw your attention to the damaged area.  Commonly, chiropractors think of health with the following equation:

 

Subluxation  =  Loss Of Health And Therefore Symptoms

 

Correction of the subluxation removes nerve interference which ultimately is a contributing factor in the cause of disease and illness.  Drugs cover up symptoms but do not correct the cause of the symptoms.  Surgery removes the damaged or diseased tissue from the body but does not correct the cause of the disease which damaged the tissue originally.

 

 

How much training do Chiropractors have?

 

Chiropractors spend an average of four years in pre-med undergraduate study.  Upon acceptance to Chiropractic college, students spend an additional four years in the Chiropractic College. Upon graduation, they have earned the degree of Doctor of Chiropractic.  In addition, they serve an eighteen-month internship while in college and are tested rigorously by the state and federal government in order to receive a license to practice.

 

 

For what conditions do people seek Chiropractic care?

 

Frequently the subluxation causes back pain, neck pain, pain between the shoulders, headaches, leg and arm pain.  These are some of the more common reasons to seek Chiropractic care.  In addition to these, many people find relief for the following:

 

·        Asthma

·        Arthritis

·        Bursitis

·        Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

·        Ear Problem

·        Eye Strain

·        Flu/colds

·        Fatigue          

·        Joint Stiffness

·        Recurrent Infections

·        Shingles

·        Sore feet

·        Skin Problems

 

Because of the far-reaching effects of nerve interference, almost any condition has the potential to show improvement with Chiropractic care.

 

 

Do all drugs just cover up symptoms ?

 

The answer to this question is yes and no.  For example, if you have strep throat the medical treatment would be the prescription of antibiotics.  Antibiotics are powerful drugs that kill bacteria such as streptococcus; so the antibiotics kill the infecting bacteria, in effect curing the condition.  However, Strep, Staph, and many other bacteria, normally live peacefully in your throat until your immune system becomes weakened, allowing them to reproduce rapidly and create an infection.  In reality, the cause of the infection is a weakened immune system, which the antibiotics only weaken more!  How many times have you seen someone with recurrent infections?  Many drugs fall into the category of curing the cause of the symptom but not the cause of the weakened system which allowed the symptom to develop in the first place.

 

 

I've heard that once you go to a Chiropractor you have to go forever.

 

Chiropractic care does take time because the tissues that are healing are bone, ligament, and nerves.  While nerve tissue heals very quickly, bone and ligament are the densest and slowest healing tissues in the body.  In order for the subluxation to heal properly, first the bone must be in its correct position then the ligaments which support the vertebrae must heal.  This process will vary depending on:

 

·        The history and age of the problem

·        Compliance to the treatment plan

·        The degree of spinal degeneration

·        The attitude and responsibility of the patient