Archive for October 2013
Services & Techniques
Here is some information on the different chiropractic services we offer. Please feel free to call us if you have any questions!
What to Expect in Future Appointments
Working Upwards from the Foundation: Achieving Total Health
Chiropractic care is quite similar to constructing a house. Every step must be executed in a particular order to ensure that everything stands strong and works together as it should. Building the walls of a house before having a solid foundation would result in weak walls and could possibly even result in those walls collapsing. To take this a step further, building the roof without proper execution of the previous two steps would result in the same problems. Chiropractic care is very much the same. Your body’s foundation must be addressed and attended to first and foremost before true health can be achieved elsewhere in your body. A particular set of steps must be followed while receiving chiropractic treatment in order for the body to repair itself fully and correctly. The following is a list and explanation of each of those steps:
What to Expect:
Step 1: Relief Care
The first objective when you visit our office is to reduce any pain you may already be experiencing. While the mount of visits per week and longevity of these visits varies depending on the severity of the underlying condition, this step usually requires 2-3 visits per week for anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks.
Step 2: Corrective/Restorative Care
The goal of this phase is to restore your body to 100% of its functioning capabilities. It is during this phase that muscle and tissues are given time to heal more completely, thus preventing injuries in the future. This phase requires visits for chiropractic care and/or adjustments around 4-8 times per month for anywhere from 6 to 24 months, depending on the severity of your initial problem and your overall health.
Step 3: Wellness Care
Once you are no longer experiencing pain and your body has fully healed, coming in for periodic chiropractic adjustments is important to ensure that you avoid any problems in the future. Based on your lifestyle and goals, this final phase requires a quick visit to your chiropractor anywhere from 1 to 4 times per month.
Your First Visit
|
Patient Forms |
|
|
Consultation |
 |
|
Examination |
 |
|
X-Ray Studies |
 |
|
Report of Findings |
 |
|
Treatment |
 |
|
Wellness Program |
 |
Step 3: Wellness Care
Maintenance: The Key to Healthy Living
Even after your condition has been fully healed, routine visits to your chiropractor will help ensure that the condition does not occur again as well as ensure that your body stays in optimal form. Routinely visiting your chiropractor helps ensure that your musculoskeletal system stays in top form just the same way as routine diet and exercise benefits your body.
Routine chiropractic care ensures that your joints last longer and that you don’t have to experience so much of the pain that many people go through. Live life to its fullest and engage in all of the activities that you love when you make routine chiropractic care part of your lifestyle.
Step 2: Corrective Care
Working Together to Achieve Optimal Health
Eliminating pain is the first step in chiropractic care, but it certainly does not stop there. Most chiropractors consider eliminating pain the easiest part of chiropractic. If a patient stops receiving care just because their pain has stopped, the likelihood of the pain causing condition to recur becomes greater. To prevent recurring conditions, it is important to make regularly scheduled trips to your chiropractor to ensure that the pain causing condition stays gone.
Visits to your chiropractor become much less frequent during the correction/restorative phase of care than in the initial phase. In most circumstances, stretches and exercises may be performed at the center or at home to help accelerate the healing process.
It is normal to occasionally experience flare ups of your symptoms, do not let this worry you if it happens. These flare ups are bound to occur until the body has been fully healed. This phase can last anywhere from a few months to a few years depending on the severity of your condition and how long you have been suffering from it.
Step 1: Relief Care
Finding Relief
Often people visit their chiropractor because they are in pain. In this first step, the main goal is to reduce your pain symptoms. This can require frequent visits, typically anywhere from 2-3 times per week to daily visits.
People tend to think they are perfectly healthy if they are not experiencing any pain. In reality, lack of pain is a very poor indicator of health. Most diseases and other conditions don’t show signs of pain until they in their advanced stages. For example, a cavity doesn’t hurt while it is forming. A cavity causes pain only after it has already formed.
Visiting a chiropractor will eliminate most of the pain you may be experiencing. Although the pain may be gone, the underlying condition causing the pain is still there.
What is Chiropractic
Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on treatment of disorders within the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. Muscular, nervous, and skeletal problems are among the symptoms treated by chiropractic care.
Chiropractors specialize in correcting spinal misalignment. These misalignments of the spine are called subluxations. Often chiropractors manipulate the spine and various parts of the body by hand using specific procedures. Chiropractors also use conventional diagnostic tests such as MRIs, X-Rays, and lab work to provide treatment for their patients. Chiropractic treatment may also include:
- Electrotherapy
- Ice/heat therapy
- Therapeutic exercise
- Therapeutic ultrasound
- Lifestyle counseling
- Massage therapy
- Nutritional counseling
- Physical rehabilitation
- Stress management
Neck Pain
Neck pain, although felt in the neck, can be caused by numerous other spinal problems. Neck pain may arise due to muscular tightness in both the neck and upper back, or pinching of the nerves emanating from the cervical vertebrae. Joint disruption in the neck creates pain, as does joint disruption in the upper back. Two thirds of the population will suffer from neck pain at some point in their lives.
Leg Pain
The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the human body and one of the most common causes of leg pain. The term sciatica is used to describe the symptoms of pain occurring in the leg and lower back. Some use the term specifically to mean a nerve dysfunction caused by compression of one or more lumbar or sacral nerve roots from a spinal disc herniation.
When the liquid center of a disc bulges outwards, herniation occurs. The bulged disc can then tear against external ring fibers, contact the spinal canal, and compress a nerve root against the lamina or pedicle of a vertebra. This causes sciatica. The liquid extruded when this happens can cause inflammation and swelling of the surrounding tissue which can further compress the nerve root into the confined space of the spinal canal.
Sciatic pain typically runs through the lower back and down the sciatic nerve through the leg and can even run all the way down to the foot. Numbness, tingling, burning, and pricking sensations are all symptoms that may occur in cases of sciatic injury.
Sciatica is caused by compression of lumbar nerves, sacral nerves, and/or the sciatic nerve. Sciatic damage can be permanent, thus it is important that you seek medical attention if you are suffering from these symptoms.
Ice Therapy
The application of ice is an excellent way to reduce inflammation and temporary pain. Ice causes constriction in the veins of the affected tissue, limiting blood flow and acting as an anesthetic. Once the ice is removed, blood will rush back to the affected area providing nutrients that will help with the healing process.
Ice therapy is often used in the treatment of back and neck pain. It lessens the severity of muscle spasms, reduces pain by causing numbness, and aids in lessening soft tissue damage.
Ice or ice packs should be wrapped in a towel while being used for treatment. Ice therapy should be used on the affected area for 24 to 48 hours from the initial ache or injury. It is recommended to reapply it every 10 minutes for maximum affect and to not leave it on for more than 20 minutes at a time.
Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, Raynaud’s Syndrome, colds or allergic conditions, paralysis, or areas of impaired sensation should not use ice therapy.