1. What is chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a physical medicine concentrating on improving function and balance to the nervous, muscular and skeletal systems. This involves examining, diagnosing and treating injured, dysfunctional, imbalanced, degenerative tissues and joints. Treatment varies from patient to patient, however may include gentle, specific chiropractic adjustments, physical rehab and strength training, manual therapy massage, stretches all allowing your body to function at it's optimum potential.
2. What is a subluxation?
A misalignment and/or segmental dysfunction of one or more of your spinal bones (vertebrae), which causes irritation to the nervous and muscular systems. If misalignments persist for extended periods it will restrict, your body's natural ability to move function and heal itself this may lead to pain and degenerative conditions. A subluxation is a perfect example of how structure affects function.
3. What is an adjustment?
A gentle, specific "thrust" delivered by hand or instrument. The purpose of the adjustment is to improve function, range-of-motion, and to re-position the joint which eliminates unwanted stress on joints and connecting soft tissues.
4. Does it hurt to get adjusted?
No. Chiropractic adjustments feel great. I am confident 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 or extremity joint to return to its proper position you will notice improved movement, function, and much less stress and tension.
5. Is chiropractic care 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. This year, 250,000 people will die 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.
6. Why do my children need chiropractic care?
The birth process is often the cause of your child's first spinal injury. The very soft and undeveloped spine of an infant can suffer trauma during delivery. It is estimated that as much as 80 pounds 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 becomes countless. The repeated falls as children learn to walk, as well as the running, jumping, twisting, bumping and falling while they play in the yard or on an athletic field, often cause your children's spine to become fixated or jammed (Subluxation) . However, children frequently do not show any signs or symptoms of being injured until later on in life. Chiropractic care offers your child a more responsive body, energy and overall increased performance as she/he passes through their windows of development. A subluxation-free child also minimizes the risk of future health challenges.
7. What causes the sound made during a chiropractic adjustment?
That sound is not your spine "cracking" or "popping", as 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, which in turn doesn't indicated success or failure.
8. 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. A person who makes a habit out of "cracking" or "popping" their back or neck should go to a Doctor of Chiropractic to have their spine checked. Even a chiropractor cannot adjust him/herself.
