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What Is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a primary health care profession in which professional responsibilities and authority are focused on the anatomy of the spine and immediate articulation, and the condition of nerve interference. It is also a practice which encompasses educating, advising about and addressing nerve interference.
Chiropractic is not an alternative to medicine nor is it complementary to medicine. It is a separate and distinct science, art and philosophy of health and healing. Chiropractic is the largest natural healing art in the world. It is based on the premise that the body is a self healing organism and that the nervous system is the master control system of the body. Minor displacements of the spinal bones, known as vertebral subluxations, can cause endangering stress to the spinal cord which acts as the main line of intelligence for the whole body. These displacements, or subluxations, are the cause of many of the unwanted health conditions that people suffer from every day. Although there have been many valuable techniques that have been developed in the chiropractic profession, the Gonstead System is considered a "gold standard" for chiropractic techniques because of its record of safety and effectiveness in correcting vertebral subluxation.
Our primary concern is the function of the nervous system and its effects on your health.
What is a Subluxation?
In simplest terms, a subluxation (a.k.a. Vertebral Subluxation) is when one or more of the bones of your spine (vertebrae) move out of position and create pressure on, or irritate spinal nerves. Spinal nerves are the nerves that come out from between each of the bones in your spine. This pressure or irritation on the nerves then causes those nerves to malfunction and interfere with the signals traveling over those nerves.
Is Chiropractic Safe?
Chiropractic care is extremely safe. 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. Millions of people receive chiropractic care a year and experience no adverse affects. Chiropractic care is much more safe than medical practices. According to a 1991 report by the Harvard Medical Practice Study Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts: 80,000 persons die every year--one person every 7 minutes--and 150,000 to 300,000 more are injured annually from medical negligence in hospitals.
Chiropractic care, when performed by a licensed chiropractor, is one of the safest forms of health care available today.
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 in your spine to return to their proper position, you will notice much less stress and tension.
What Causes the "Popping" Sound of an Adjustment?
Many chiropractic techniques produce a sound of spinal "release". What causes it? The mystery may have been solved by a British research team that took x-ray movies of people "popping" their knuckles. The sound appeared to be caused by a gas rushing in to fill the partial vacuum created when the joints were slightly separated.
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. Any person who makes a habit out of "cracking" or "popping" their back or neck needs to go to a Doctor of Chiropractic to have their spine checked. Even a chiropractor cannot adjust him/herself.
Why do children need chiropractic care?
The birth process is often the cause of your child's first subluxation. A very soft and undeveloped spine of an infant can suffer trauma during delivery. It is estimated that as much as 80 lbs 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 become countless. The repeated falls as children learn to walk, the running, jumping, twisting, bumping and falling all over the place while playing in the yard or on an athletic field will often cause your child to become subluxated. However, often children do not show any signs or symptoms of being subluxated until later on in life. Chiropractic care offers your child a more responsive body, a more balanced flow of 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.
Do Chiropractors Have Medical Degrees?
Chiropractors have Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) degrees granted from chiropractic colleges. Chiropractic education and medical education are similar in some respects and different in others because chiropractors do not prescribe drugs and medical doctors do not correct vertebral subluxation complex.
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