What is it Chiro?
Chiropractic has spread from it’s discovery in 1895 to over 50,000 practitioners worldwide in 100 years to become the largest drugless health care profession in the western world. Although it has helped millions otherwise faced with sickness, disease and disability, to many people chiropractic remains a mystery.
WHAT THE CHIROPRACTIC DOES The chiropractor locates and removes one of the common forms of interference known to healthy bodily function-a condition that puts pressure on the nerves and related structures, unbalances our body, generates fatigue, lowers our resistance to disease, and weakens our body in general-in short, affects all the element of our natural healing ability. This condition is known as vertebral subluxations or spinal nerve stress.
THE VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATIONS
Vertebral subluxations (or spinal nerve stress) are misalignments in the spine that create imbalance and put pressure on the nervous system. Vertebral subluxations interfere with the nerve messages which control the body. This leads to dysfunction of joints, glands and organs. This leads to pain and disease. By correcting subluxations as they arise one can ensure maximum brain body connection. Subluxations can be pain free but they do have a negative effect on our health. Subluxations cause osteoarthritis. We may not notice the stiffness, grinding sounds, or even have pain but just like cancer, heart disease, or hypertension considerable.
damage can occur by the time symptoms become obvious. It is the skilled examination of a chiropractor that can detect subluxations.
Osteoarthritis is the body’s response to a misaligned joint. If the misalignment/subluxation was corrected the degenerative osteoarthritis would not have occurred.
HOW DO WE GET VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATIONS ?
Vertebral subluxations have many causes. They may occur as early as infancy, as a result of a difficult birth or forceps. Childhood falls and injuries take their toll on our spinal columns, emotional stress gradually weakens our spines throughout our lives.
Sudden trauma – car accidents, sports injuries, on the job accidents – may upset the spinal structure and cause spinal nerve stress or “pinched nerves”.
THE CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT
Using a number of tools the chiropractor analyses the body for vertebral subluxations and corrects or removes any that he finds, using various spinal adjustment techniques. Among the many tools the chiropractor uses in order to detect subluxations are X-rays, posture-analysis, orthopedic, neurological testing, muscle testing, and muscle and motion analysis. There are at least forty different adjusting techniques to correct spinal problems. Most chiropractors use them selectively, depending on the patient’s needs.
HOW EDUCATED ARE CHIROPRACTORS ?
Chiropractic training involves five years full time university study equivalent to medical training in the subjects commonly studied.
IS CHIROPRACTIC SAFE ?
Numerous independent governmental and scientific inquiries conducted throughout the last 15 years world wide have found chiropractic extremely safe and cost effective.
DO CHIROPRACTORS RECOMMEND OTHER THERAPIES?
The education and training are amply sufficient to enable your Chiropractor to determine whether chiropractic is appropriate for individual patients, and whether the patient should have medical or alternative care instead. Chiropractors regularly work closely with physical therapists, dieticians, podiatrists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, herbalists, ortho-paedic and medical practitioners. This trend is increasing in North America, Australia and Europe and ultimately achieves an increasing level of health for the patient.