Why should I see a Chiropractor?
How does chiropractic care work?
What is a chiropractic adjustment? Is it safe?
What can I expect from my visit to a chiropractor?
The purpose of chiropractic is to correct misalignments in your spine and other joints. These can accumulate in your body over time and cause your body to degenerate. It also can cause nerves to be pinched, decreasing the nerve function throughout your entire body.
Through spinal adjustments, your inborn ability to be healthy is restored. For your body to remain healthy, your nervous system must continue to function well and your nerves must be free of interference. By restoring spinal function with Chiropractic adjustments, nerve interference by misaligned vertebrae is removed, thus allowing optimal nervous system function and improved health.
Why should I see a Chiropractor?
While Chiropractic is generally known for back pain and neck pain, it also can help a wide range of conditions. All disease processes have an inflammatory component, and chiropractic has been shown to help reduce inflammation and allow the body to heal.
The most important question a chiropractor will ask is “What is causing your problem?” This is key because this question is often not considered when treating a patient. If a nerve to your stomach is pinched due to your vertebrae being misaligned, then your stomach does not get the correct messages to work properly. Instead of taking a medication to reduce the symptoms, chiropractic adjustments take the pressure off of the nerve, and after the nerve heals, the stomach will return to its normal function. Since you have many nerves that ultimately go to many places in your body, you can start to imagine how relieving nerve pressure can reduce or eliminate many common conditions. Some examples are: allergies, asthma, depression, incontinence, and fybromyagia to name a few. Chiropractic care is an excellent way to keep your body at its 100% potential, in addition to getting proper rest, diet, and exercise.
What is Subluxation?
When a vertebrae becomes misaligned or moves out of its normal position, this is referred to in the chiropractic profession as a subluxation. This condition can be caused by a wide range of issues, ranging from a minor slip or bump to a car accident or other sudden trauma. When a vertebrae is subluxated, it begins to put pressure on nerves, blood vessels and everything around it. The muscles and ligaments around the spine become twisted and strained. The natural pathways that send messages from brain to the rest of the body are blocked. This causes the signals from your brain to the rest of your body to be decreased, and it may or may not cause pain.
How does chiropractic care work?
Chiropractic looks at the human body as whole system. It’s based on the idea that the body is self-sustaining and self-healing. The body is completely controlled by the brain through the spinal cord and the vast networks of nerves. When this system is not functioning at its peak, the overall performance of the human body decreases. A pinched nerve in your mid back may be causing you pain and discomfort, but that nerve may be going to your stomach and creating digestive problems as well.
In the chiropractic world, drugs and medicine are not a form of treatment for a patient. While supplements and nutrition are almost always a part of the bigger picture, drugs and prescriptions treat symptoms rather than going to the source of the problem. By putting the misaligned vertebrae back in its place, the pressure is taken off of the nerve and the nerve can now heal and work properly. The discomfort subsides and the nerve can transmit the signals through out your body so things function properly.
While it’s generally known that a chiropractor treats back and neck pain, this is only a small piece of what the profession is capable of handling. Dr. Benjamin not only treats soft and hard tissue problems such as sciatica and joint pain, but with more significant issues. Some of these issues include fibromyalgia, allergies, insomnia, headaches and many more.
What is a chiropractic adjustment? Is it safe?
Adjustments are the minor movements of vertebrae in the spine. The objective of this movement is to realign vertebrae that have moved out of place for a number of reasons ranging from normal daily activity to trauma, such as a car accident.
When these vertebrae are out of place, it has an overall systemic effect from muscular to the central nervous system. Without proper alignment and flow of all nerves and systems in the body from the brain, we can’t function at our peak.
An adjustment is often a pressure from the chiropractor utilizing the hands or an instrument to move a vertebrae back into place. This happens with a quick movement and is often without discomfort. You may hear a noise that sounds like you’re cracking your knuckles referred to as joint cavitation. It is the release of gases such as oxygen and nitrogen from the joint.
What can I expect from my visit at Gonstead Chiropractic Center?
Going to the Chiropractor is a new experience for many of us. Maybe we’ve heard through a friend or have done some research online. It’s possible that you are just fed up with living in pain and it’s time to do something about it. In either case, your first visit with Dr. Benjamin will be about getting to the bottom of what is causing your problem and how to work together to correct it so you can go out and live your life.
What results can I expect from treatment?
Chiropractic is based on the idea of removing structural and postural problems in an effort to allow your body to heal itself. For this to happen, the signals from your brain down your spinal cord to the network of nerves must be allowed to flow freely without any interruption. Chiropractors have the ability and skill to remove these interruptions or misalignments and allow the body to perform as it was meant to.
If you’ve ever been in a car accident, played a sport, fell down, or just bumped into something too hard, it’s very possible that you are not functioning at your best due to a misalignment. While there are many structural causes for misalignment, there are also chemical reasons. For instance, if you smoke or drink excessively or even just have a poor diet, the chemical issues in your body can eventually cause disease to appear.
Allowing a chiropractor to get you back on track both chemically and structurally will bring your body back to the proper state it should be in to perform at its peak.
What should I expect on my first visit?
Your first visit with Dr. Benjamin will be about getting to know him and what he does as a chiropractor, discussing your history and current condition, and determining your health and wellness goals.
As with any doctor’s visit, you’ll start with new patient paperwork. Upon meeting with Dr. Benjamin, you’ll discuss your concerns and expectations, as well as, have the chance to ask any questions you may have. He will perform a physical examination and possibly take films to see the condition of your spine. Once this is complete, he will look at the overall results of your conversation and the exams. Together, you’ll come up with a plan of action which will begin when you are completely satisfied and ready to move forward.