About Chiropractic

Welcome, new, veteran, and prospective chiropractic patients!

Thank you for taking the time to learn about chiropractic and its powerful effects on human health.

Each year, over 15 million North Americans choose chiropractic care for safe, natural, and effective relief from back pain, neck pain, headaches, extremity pain, poor overall health, low energy levels, and much more.

What is Chiropractic?

Definition: According to The Association of Chiropractic Colleges, “Chiropractic is a healthcare discipline that emphasizes the body’s inherent recuperative power to heal itself without the use of drugs and surgery. The practice of chiropractic focuses on the relationship between structure (primarily the spine) and function (as coordinated by the nervous system) and how that relationship affects the preservation and restoration of health.”

The Goal of Chiropractic

While chiropractic treatments are primarily applied to the spinal region, many people mistakenly believe that chiropractors only treat back and neck ailments. While we do effectively eliminate back and neck pain, our primary goal is to restore and optimize human health. As stated by The Association of Chiropractic Colleges, “The purpose of chiropractic is to optimize health.”

How Chiropractic Works

You might wonder how the same chiropractic treatment that effectively treats back pain can also optimize health. The answer lies in the relationship between the spine and the nervous system.

The nervous system is the master controller of all living cells, tissues, and organs, coordinating all cellular functions. The spinal column encases the nervous system (spinal cord and nerve roots) and is responsible for its protection.

Because of this intimate relationship, biomechanical and structural problems in the spinal column can irritate parts of the nervous system. This irritation can result from noxious inflammatory biochemicals released during tissue injury or from direct mechanical pressure. In either case, the functioning of the nervous system, and thus the cells, tissues, and organs it controls, is negatively impacted.

The resulting ailments depend on the cells, tissues, and organs affected and the extent of nervous system compromise. Correcting spinal abnormalities that irritate the nervous system can lead to many favorable results in patients suffering from various, seemingly non-spinal health conditions.

What Chiropractors Do

Chiropractors primarily focus on locating and treating vertebral subluxations.

A vertebral subluxation is a complex of functional, structural, and/or pathological articular (joint) changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health.

Using unique and highly refined skills, chiropractors check the patient’s spine for any misalignments, fixations, or other abnormalities (vertebral subluxations). If abnormalities are detected, the chiropractor will generally apply a gentle force to the affected spinal area to correct them.

Chiropractors use many specialized techniques to identify and treat these spinal abnormalities and optimize overall health. In addition to spinal adjustive techniques, soft tissue techniques such as massage, dietary and nutritional counseling, physical therapies, and lifestyle modification programs are commonly employed.

How Chiropractic Differs

There is a significant and important difference between how chiropractors and medical doctors approach health ailments.

Chiropractors take a holistic approach, identifying and correcting the cause(s) of the patient’s health issues. In contrast, the medical approach tends to focus more on treating the symptoms rather than addressing the actual cause(s).

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

The Benefits of Chiropractic

Short-term and regular chiropractic care offer numerous benefits, including:

• Relief from spinal and extremity pain
• Headache relief
• Increased mobility and range of motion
• Decreased stiffness and muscular spasms
• Arthritic joint pain relief
• Improved joint health
• Enhanced performance and energy
• Greater sense of well-being and relaxation
• Improved balance and coordination
• Reduced degeneration and risk of injury
• Enhanced tissue healing
• Decreased tissue inflammation

Chiropractic care is a natural, drug-free path to improving your health and overall well-being.