 What is Chiropractic?
The Spine
Before understanding the concept of chiropractic, one must have a basic understanding of the spinal anatomy. The spinal cord is housed and protected by the spine, made up of 24 moveable vertebrae. Each vertebra has the general shape of a person’s ring. The rings are stacked one on top of another forming a vertical tunnel.
The brain controls the whole body via the spinal cord. Every function under the neck is controlled by the spinal cord including muscle function, breathing, your heart, digestion, sense of touch, immune function, are just a few things controlled by the spinal cord. That's why it's important to keep your spine healthy.
Subluxations
The delicate spinal cord is suspended from the brain and extends down through the tunnel formed by the vertebrae. Smaller nerves lead from the spinal cord through openings between the vertebrae. These openings are called foramen. The nerves emerge in pairs, one to the right and one to the left. There are thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves. Each nerve controls a specific are of the body.
When the spinal column is in proper alignment, the nerves pass unimpeded through the foramen. These vertebrae can become misaligned; causing what is called a subluxation. A subluxation can be caused by several things in life: accidents, poor posture, repetitive movements, sports injuries, or poor work ergonomics. When a subluxation occurs, it puts pressure on the spinal cord and the nerves coming out of it. When there is pressure on these nerves it causes pain to that area, and possibly muscle spasm and inflammation. Pressure on these nerves can also cut off the pressure to vital organs inside the body.
Chiropractic Adjustments
Sometimes misaligned vertebrae correct themselves. But most subluxations need outside assistance for correction, in the form of a chiropractic adjustment. A chiropractic adjustment helps to restore normal function to these subluxated vertebrae by realigning the vertebrae. An adjustment restores normal nerve supply to all areas of the body. When the nerve supply is restored, healing time, pain, inflammation, and muscle spasms decrease. Function, strength and stability are also restored to the spine.
Common Conditions
While chiropractic care can help with any number of symptoms and problems, we have listed out some of the more common conditions that you may recognize in yourself or others. If you are experiencing any of these problems, please contact us for an appointment today.
NECK/LOW BACK PAIN
Subluxations (misalignments of the spinal column) are one of the most common causes of neck and low back pain. When vertebrae are misaligned, they put pressure directly on spinal nerves, causing pain. Muscle spasms may set in, which can increase the pressure further. This extra pressure can cause even more inflammation and irritation, which leads to more pain. And the cycle continues.
Often times stretching and massage may only temporarily relieve the pain, because the cause (subluxation) has not been addressed. A chiropractic adjustment focuses on correcting the cause.
HEADACHES
80% of headaches originate from the neck. Usually an increased amount of stress and tension held in the shoulders causes contractions of all of the surrounding neck muscles. When these muscles contract, vertebrae can become misaligned causing pressure on spinal nerves, and ultimately pain. With a typical cervicogenic (neck origin) headache, a person usually feels pain starting at the base of the skull which radiates into the temples, eyeballs, and forehead.
There may be several other causes of headaches, so a proper examination is needed to determine the actual cause.
SCIATICA
The sciatic nerve is a long nerve originating in the lower back and extending down the back of the leg. When this nerve is irritated, it can cause pain, numbness, weakness, or other symptoms in the lower back and down the leg. There are several possible causes of this condition. A misaligned vertebra can cause inflammation of the joints, putting pressure on the nerve. Bulging discs and muscle spasms can also cause pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Several other conditions may cause this symptom, so a complete evaluation would be needed to correctly asses the exact cause.
PINCHED NERVE
A pinched nerve is just that. It is a severely compressed nerve, usually caused by a misaligned vertebra. When nerves get pinched they become severely inflamed and muscles may spasm, causing even more discomfort. The pain is usually so severe that you can't move that part of the body and it can cause other symptoms as well.
There can be several causes of the pinched nerve; a proper examination is needed to determine the exact cause.
CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME
These days millions of Americans have jobs which can have damaging effects on the hands and arms. Repetitive movements which are not performed with good ergonomics in mind can cause micro-trauma to the hands and wrists. This trauma combined with joint dysfunction and spinal problems may result in a condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome. The median nerve which is affected travels from the tips of the fingers through the wrist up the arm and into the neck connecting to the spinal cord. If one or more of these structures are affected, symptoms of wrist pain, numbness, weakness, burning and loss of muscle function can occur.
Chiropractic can assure that all of the joints and muscles along the path of the nerve are free of obstruction and functioning normally, thus reducing nerve irritation.
MAINTENANCE CARE
What many people don’t know is that you don't have to be injured to benefit from chiropractic care. By staying well adjusted with maintenance chiropractic care you can help prevent injury. Some other possible benefits of maintenance care are: optimal nerve output for optimal physical performance, improved posture, decreased stiffness, increased mobility, energy, strength, circulation, and immune function just to name a few.
Everybody benefits from chiropractic a little differently, but one thing everybody has in common is that they just feel better. |
