What is Chiropractic and how does it Work?
The chiropractic philosophy begins with the principle that the human organism has an innate power to maintain its own health. Chiropractic care focuses on adjustments to correct spinal malfunctions, called subluxations, in order to remove interference that may affect the spinal cord and the nerves that exit between the bones of the spine. The nervous system controls all the organs and tissues of the body, so a nerve system functioning at its best facilitates the body's ability to cope with disability and disease.
The chiropractic approach to health care incorporates a holistic view, stressing the patient's overall well being. The chiropractic approach recognizes that many factors affect health, including exercise, diet, rest, environment and heredity.
Chiropractic focuses on maintaining optimal health naturally so that the body is better able to resist disease, rather than simply treating the symptoms of disease. Chiropractors use natural, drugless, non-surgical health care and rely on the body's inherent recuperative abilities.
Chiropractic is whole-body health care that views the human body as much more than the sum of its parts. Chiropractors see their patients as more than people coming to their office with a set of symptoms.
This unique health care approach views the body as having an innate, natural ability to adapt to changes in its internal and external environments and maintain itself in a state of health. Traditional medicine and its allied health fields typically views the body from a more mechanistic standpoint — as a system of parts that can be altered through outside interventions to produce certain results. Both approaches have important roles to play, but they are fundamentally different.
Chiropractic treatment focuses on the nerve system (the brain and spinal cord) which manages the body’s vast chemical interactions to ensure proper function off all of the bodies’ cells. The brain sends messages through the spinal cord across a huge network of spinal nerves to deliver information to every cell, organ and system of the body. This information system coordinates the myriad chemical reactions that dictate how well you sleep, how food is digested, your ability to concentrate, physical coordination, the capabilities of the immune system and all aspects of body function.
When bones of the spine become misaligned or move out of their normal position, they can distort the flow of information from the brain to the body. Without the proper information from the nerve system, the body cannot function to its full potential.
While chiropractic is very effective at treating conditions such as neck and back pain, lower back pain and tension headaches, we can see from the systems that it impacts that it is really much more than back pain care.
Chiropractic Treatment is initiated with a detailed history and evaluation of the patient. The chiropractor will make many considerations when doing the evaluation, including your age, general health, occupation, past injury history including treatment and lifestyle. If major trauma or disease is involved, your chiropractor may refer you to a trusted medical doctor, orthopedist or neurologist for a consultation and necessary treatment.
Once a diagnosis has been rendered, your chiropractor will choose from a range of treatment options, manipulations, ultrasound, muscle stimulation, heat or ice therapy, exercise, specific stretches, etc to help restore your pre-injury status. Your chiropractor may also analyze your home and work environment in order to ensure that you're not re-injuring yourself and creating a chronic condition.
A good, well rounded chiropractic program will include at home therapies to speed your recovery. Exercises such as swimming, walking, low-impact aerobics, and stationary bicycling may be suggested as these activities have been proven effective in decreasing neck and back pain.
The goal of chiropractic care is to return the patient to normal activities as quickly as possible, with the knowledge you need to minimize or eliminate your problem.
The nature and extent of your injury will determine how long it takes to heal. In general, recovery from neck and back sprains or strains can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months of ongoing treatment, depending on the severity of the injury, your age and ability to heal, and other factors. In general, the longer the patient waits before coming in for treatment the longer it takes for them to make a full recovery. The patient must also trust the doctor. Many times the patients’ pain is relieved before the physical problem that caused the pain is corrected. In order to give yourself the best chance at a long lasting “fix” the patient must follow the doctor’s prescribed treatment plan.
Your recovery will be faster if you follow the program designed by your chiropractor. Without proper treatment, prolonged stiffness, instability and discomfort may result.
Writers Bio
Dr. Steven R. Jones is a licensed Chiropractor in the state of California. He received his doctorate from Palmer College of Chiropractic-West in Sunnyvale, California. Dr. Jones has treated his patients for over 15 years at his own San Diego Chiropractic practice.
Dr. Jones is accepting new patients and would be happy to consult with you regarding your chiropractic needs.
Call Steve Jones at
(619) 280 0554
San Diego Chiropractic
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