Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on problems affecting the muscles, bones, and nerves. It also focuses on the effects of these disorders on your general health. Chiropractic care is most often sought to treat low back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs (sciatica), and headaches. It has also shown to be of great benefit for allergy and asthmas sufferers as well as childhood conditions such as ear aches, fevers, and bed wetting.
Doctors of Chiropractic are often referred to as chiropractors or chiropractic physicians. We practice a drug-free, hands-on approach to health care. Through orthopedic, physical and neurological examinations, along with diagnostic testing of x-rays, MRI’s and CT scans, chiropractors are very skilled at diagnosing and treating most musculoskeletal disorders.
Many chiropractors have further extensive training in nutrition, neurology, rehabilitation, orthopedics, and radiology. Just about every chiropractor is also well educated in dietary and lifestyle counseling.
The most common therapeutic procedure performed by doctors of chiropractic is known as “spinal manipulation,” also called “chiropractic adjustment.” The purpose of the adjustment is to restore joint motion and to relieve pressure off of spinal nerves by manually applying a controlled force into joints that have become hypomobile – or restricted in their movement – as a result of a tissue injury.
Watch Video Of An Actual Chiropractic Adjustment
Tissue injury can be caused by a single traumatic event, such as a slip and fall to the ground, work injury, or car accident.
It can also be caused by ongoing repetitive stresses, such as sitting in an awkward position with poor spinal posture for an extended period of time, or, perhaps typing for 8 hours a day with your head turned toward the computer monitor. See carpal tunnel syndrome.
In either case, injured tissues undergo physical and chemical changes that can cause inflammation, pain, and diminished function for the sufferer. Manipulation, or adjustment of the affected joint and tissues, restores mobility, relieves pressure off of nerve roots and thereby alleviate pain and muscle tightness, and allowing tissues to heal.
Chiropractic adjustment are relatively painless and many people experience immiediate relief. On occasion, patients may sometimes experience mild soreness or aching following treatment (as with some forms of exercise) that usually resolves within 12 to 48 hours.
In many cases, such as middle or lower back pain, chiropractic care may be the primary method of treatment. When other medical conditions exist, such as kidney or liver conditions, chiropractic care may complement or support medical treatment by relieving the pressure on the nerves associated with these organs, thereby facilitating proper function within that organ.
Doctors of chiropractic may also assess patients through laboratory testing, such as bood testing and urinalysis testing and other diagnostic interventions such as bone scans, to determine when chiropractic treatment is appropriate or when it is not appropriate.
Chiropractors look to the cause of all problems and not just the symptoms. You can be assured that when you schedule your next appointment with your chiropractor, he or she will not only concern themselves with your chief complaint only, but your overall state of health.
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