1.) What is Chiropractic? Chiropractic is a method of healing that focuses on the structure of the human body, and how the relationship of the body's structure influences and changes the function of the health of the body. Simply put chiropractic focuses on the fact that when proper alignment, balance, and flexibility of the body is present, the health of the body will be greater.
2.) How does Chiropractic work? Chiropractic focuses on taking care of the human framework or the structures that protect, move, and balance your body. These structures include muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, bones, discs (cushions between spinal bones), and fascia. All of these structures are designed so that you can navigate through your world and perform every single task that you do every day of your life! When your body is subjected to injuries/traumas, too much stress, poor diet, and many other factors, imbalances are created in these framework structures of your body. The more out of alignment, the less balanced, the less flexible, and the more distorted your posture is, the less energy is available for healing. Chiropractic restores the balance of the body's framework so that your body can heal more appropriately.
3.) What types of methods are used to help the body heal? Our care includes gentle pressures, stretches, and movements that are designed to allow your body to heal more appropriately. These methods are often applied to the muscles, tendons, and joints around the spine most frequently. Since all of your body's movements initially come from your spine and your core (the area just below your belly button), the majority of our care focuses on aligning and balancing these areas. As balance, alignment, and flexibility are returned to your body, you will experience less pain, less stiffness, and a much greater ability to live and enjoy your life! All of our care is delivered in a low force manner. Many people have apprehension about getting chiropractic care because they envision a person being twisted into a pretzel as their body is "snapped", "cracked," and "popped". Although there is nothing wrong with the typical "traditional" method of chiropractic care, often the hands on manipulation of the spine and other joints is not a preferred method of care by many patients. That is why we offer gentle low-force methods of care.
4.) What is the first visit to your office like? First, in order to determine if we can help you, our first step is to perform a complete evaluation of your condition. We start with a full health history followed by a head to toe evaluation of your body's framework. We study your posture, you balance, and alignment. We test your ability to move in different directions, and we measure your overall flexibility. We also perform tests that measure how well your brain and nervous system are controlling your ability to move, balance, and coordinate your body. It is the job of your brain and nerve system to maintain control over the balance and movement of your muscles. If there are any communication problems between the brain and the muscles of your body, it results in abnormal movement patterns that lead to more pain and dysfunction with your body. In more complex problems, it may be necessary to send you out for more testing to determine the extent of your problem. However, most times that is not needed. Once a complete assessment of your condition is made, we will tell you if we can help you.
5.) What is a typical session of care like? If we can help you, we most times like to begin care right away. On average, a normal office visit for care lasts around 15 minutes and in some cases longer. Once again, this depends a lot on the condition of the patient. We schedule our patients in such a way that waiting time is minimal, and we do not overbook our patients. This ensures that every patient gets the proper amount of time they need each visit. When you arrive to the office at your scheduled time, we work you in right away. You will find that as a family owned and operated office, we go above what you would expect in order to make you feel right at home. Our goal is to provide you the best quality care in a comfortable, safe, and relaxing atmosphere. If you speak with any of our patients, they are likely to tell you that a visit to our office is quite a bit different than your typical doctor experience!
6.) How long does it take to get better? Much depends on the type of problem you are experiencing, the amount of time you have had the problem, your age, your overall health, how well you handle stress, and your level of physical activity. With that in mind, most cases resolve well. The framework structures of the body, specifically the muslces, can take 6 to 8 weeks to completely heal. Other tissues like ligaments, joints, and discs can take several months or longer to fully heal. Most patients experience a gradual reduction in their pain over a few weeks of care and are pain free shortly after that. However, just because the pain is gone does NOT always mean the problem is better. A damaged muscle, ligament, joint, and/or disc can take much more time to fully heal. These structures are naturally designed to heal in this fashion. So when we respect the natural healing time of the body, we not only have realistic expectations, but by giving the body proper time to heal, we go a long way at minimizing the chances of a relapse.
7.) How many sessions are needed? Once again this depends on the factors mentioned in the previous answer along with how closely you follow our recommendations. One of the biggest obstacles to patients getting the results they desire is not following the proper recommendations for care. Too many people expect a quick fix, and the body simply does not heal that way. So when the patient gives proper time for recovery, keeps their scheduled visits, and follows the suggestions we make for preventing problems at home, the vast majority of our patients get well consistently with time. On average, patients will experience less pain in a few visits. To allow for a reduction/elimination of pain and symptoms, most patients need 12 to 24 sessions over 6 to 8 weeks. It is important to note that some patients may choose to discontinue care at this point. This would be premature since pain is usually gone prior to the muscles, ligaments, joints, and discs healing completely. Most patients need regular sessions for a few additional weeks after the pain goes away to allow proper time for healing.
8.) How frequently are patients seen by the doctor? During the first stage of care, we recommend seeing the patient for 2 to 3 sessions a week for the first 6 to 8 weeks. The frequency and consistency of these initial visits helps jumpstart the repair process of your body. It also allows your body to begin overcoming the damage that has been done to your muslces, ligaments, and joints. Additionally, if you recall, the brain and nerve system runs and controls the muscles of your body. So the consistency and frequency of the sessions retrains the brain and nerve system to better coordinate and move your body. Keep in mind that the more balanced and coordinated your body is moving as a whole, the less pain and the faster the time for healing. Everything we do is to get you moving properly again as fast as possible. REMEMBER: If there is pain it is because your body is out of balance and is NOT moving properly!
As your symptoms improve, as we find that your body is moving better, and is staying balanced appropriately, we can gradually reduce the number of sessions per week. After 6 to 8 weeks most patients only need one session per week until the body is fully healed. Patients usually require about three months of solid consistent care to allow for their symptoms to be eliminated and for their body to fully heal.
9.) What happens if a patient stops care once their pain goes away? When patients quit their recommended care at the point their pain goes away, most times they will end up having a relapse. The relapse on average can happen as soon as three weeks after they stop care. No matter when the person suffers the relapse, often they return to our office in worse shape than before. Why is that? Because pain is usually the first thing that shows up and is the first thing that improves. We have been taught in our culture to judge our health on the presence or absence of symptoms. This is only part of the story. To allow for an optimal recovery, it is best to respect the healing time of the body.
By giving the body adequate time to heal from the problem, the chances of experiencing a relapse are drastically reduced. Plus, every time a person allows a relapse to occur, the longer it takes each time to reduce the pain with care. So we always recommend the best quality care to help a patient get the best results the first time. This is very important! We recommend doing the job right the first time so we do not have to repeat the same thing again. It is better to put the time into getting better initially than constantly retreating the same problem! We have found the patients who follow our recommendations get the best overall results and suffer the fewest episodes of recurring pain. How you decide to use our services is always your choice. If a patient chooses to leave their care once their pain is gone, we warmly welcome them back once the pain returns. Most of the time it only takes one really good relapse for people to decide to get their problem fixed correctly!
10.) If symptoms are NOT the best way to judge my health what is the best way? First, it is crucial to know that symptoms are not bad things. Most people believe that symptoms are undesirable and must be removed as quickly as possible. Drugs are the number one way people take care of symptoms and unfortunately over 300,000 people die every year from taking medications due to adverse reactions. Suppressing symptoms with medications may have a little short term benefit, however, when we depend on drugs to solve our problems rarely if ever does the problem get addressed.
Pain medication, while temporarily helpful, is never meant as a long term solution to your pain problem. Symptoms are actually a gift. They are the intelligent signals that your body is sending you telling you that there is a problem. Since your body cannot talk to you in English for example, it produces pain and other symptoms to get your attention. A fantastic question to always ask yourself is: "Why is my body producing pain/symptoms?"
Even most doctors ignore symptoms and reach for the prescription pad. In our office, understanding your symptoms is one of the most important clues we have in helping to get you better! By taking a look at what may be creating your symptoms or pain, we can focus in on the most likely cause of your problem. And that means being able to help you in a much better way.
The BEST way to judge your health is not the presence or absence of symptoms! The BEST way to measure your health is to know if everything in your body is working exactly the way it should be. Keep in mind the most neglected part of your body is part that fails you first. (your muscles, joints, discs, etc.) Have you ever noticed how by the time you reach 30 you already notice a big decrease in your ability to move? Have you ever thought that you have lost a step or two?
DO NOT pass it off as aging! Listen to your symptoms, and get yourself help! Your body does not cause pain unless there is a reason! If you do not have our chiropractic services as part of your health care regimen, call us today at 814-371-7211, and we would be happy to assist you!
11.) Can the Body heal itself? Yes. Absolutely it can! In fact your body was actually designed to do just that! Your body is really a collection of tiny microscopic parts called cells. You have about 10 Trillion cells in your body, and they are in a constant state of repair and regeneration! Every organ, blood vessel, muscle, joint, and bone is constantly replacing old dying cells with brand new ones.
As long as the cells that are replacing the dying cells are healthier and stronger, you are staying healthy! However, when the replacement cells are less healthy than the ones they replace, then your body is starting to age! So when a group of cells begin to malfunction over time, your body will attempt to heal the problem. But because we overload our bodies with stress, poor nutrition, restricted sleep, and little exercise, our cells have trouble repairing. So the next step is that you will begin to be less healthy as your body malfunctions. The longer your body malfunctions the more of a chance it will develop disease. Disease is really two words together: Dis-ease meaning a lack of normal ease or function.
Now this next part is critical to understanding your body! As a last resort after trying all it can to heal the problem, your body will produce symptoms. And symptoms, most commonly pain, will ONLY show up AFTER there has been a problem. You will only have pain IF there is some kind of tissue damage to a structure of your body!
The BEST thing you can do is get a Structural Based Checkup with us prior to symptoms. And if you do wait for pain to show up, make sure you listen to what your body is trying to tell you and come see us!
12.) How does the body work to heal itself? It is helpful to know that the body is not just a physical thing. The body is connected to your mind as well. There are now entire fields of study that are devoted to understanding the mind-body connection. This connection has been known to the chiropractic profession for over a hundred plus years!
It is very simple. The brain which runs your body is connected to your body via your spinal cord and nerve networks. As long as your brain is able to send and receive information to your body (made oup of the 10 Trillion or so cells), everything should work at 100%. But there is something you should know that is vital to having great health. According to Nobel Prize Winner Dr Roger Sperry, 90% of the brain function comes from the stimulation or input it receives as a result of the proper MOVEMENT AND ALIGNMENT OF YOUR BODY! What does this mean? It means that just like the wind that propels a windmill to turn and generate electricity; The proper alignment, balance, and movement of your body's framework (spine especially), will generate up to 90% of the nerve energy that the brain needs to work properly!
Even many doctors do not get this! What this means is that as long as your brain receives that stimulation from the movement of your body, the better your brain will work. The better your brain works the more energy it has to run and control your body. As your brain works more efficiently it will ultimately have MORE energy at its disposal to help keep you healthy! As Dr Sperry's research found, "The more distorted a person's body is the less energy is available by the brain to maintain the normal processes, health, and healing of the body."
13.) So Chiropractic also improve your overall health as well? A resounding YES! By optimizing your body's flexibility, movement, balance, and alignment, your brain is better able to function to control the millions of events going on inside your body every second. Also your brain is much more responsive as well to the multitude of things happening outside your body in your environment. As your spine, muscles, joints, and other support structures improve, your brain will receive the proper stimulation it needs to work right! As your brain works better, your overall body, right down to every single cell works better to keep you alive and healthy!
Just remember that the better your brain works, the better it can run the healing process of your body. There is a direct link between the way the brain works and the immune system. So improving the structure and alignment of your body will assist the brain in working better and thus the immune system will improve as well. Studies have shown that regular chiropractic care helps families stay healthier compared with those who do not receive chiropractic care!
14.) Many are desperately seeking Wellness Care. What is that? Wellness care by definition is services, treatment, and recommendations designed to optimize your health and prevent future health problems. The vast majority of our patients health problems are caused by one of three things:
1.) Physical Stress: Includes previous traumas and injuries such as car accidents, sports injuries, and work injuries. This type of stress can result from doing repeated movements or doing heavy lifting. Believe it or not inactivity is especially hard on the body. Your body was made to MOVE! Being a couch potato or sitting at desk all day can cause undue strain on the body.
2.) Biochemical Stress: By far the biggest stress in this category is poor nutrition! Our American Diets are absolutely atrocious! Most food Americans eat is void of any nutrition. We eat far too much fast food, processed, foods, and DEAD foods. Dead foods make up the vast majority of diets. Foods like excess meat, dairy, fats, oils, and processed pre-packaged foods rob the body of critical nutrients. We also tend to eat out too frequently getting a lot of hidden fat, sodium, and unwanted chemicals in our foods. The weight and obesity epidemic is rampant, and the health problems poor nutrition causes is hard to fathom. It would be safe to say that every disease is in some way related to how and what we eat! Ever heard, "You are what you eat?"
A healthier alternative would be to eat a great deal more fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Additionally, adding quality amounts of water each day can go along way to helping the cells of the body. Remember disease really happens at the cellular level! If you are NOT giving your cells what they need to stay healthy then you won’t stay healthy for l! Also, because foods are lacking many nutrients critical to maintaining health, using proper supplementation is vital to staying fit and healthy! Click on our Product Section of the website to see our top recommendations!
3.) Mental/Emotional Stress: This category of stress causes more health issues than patients and doctors realize. Virtually every component of a disease is related to too much stress. Typically it is the daily onslaught of stress that leads to a breakdown of health. However, sometimes people have tragedies in their lives that can cause so much emotional heartache that disease results.
Part of dealing with this level of stress is to become conscious of how it is affecting your life. Many people are unaware that stress is causing so many problems. There are many ways to help alleviate stress. Some of the best methods are a daily spiritual practice, meditation, prayer, rest, relaxation, recreation, proper sleep, and a top one is exercise! Handling stress better is a major factor in reducing the chances of a serious disease!
15.) What type of Wellness Care and Services are offered at Advanced Chiropractic? The first thing we recommend is keeping the structure of your body healthy. By keeping your body aligned, balanced, and flexible, your body will last you a lot longer!
We recommend that after your initial two to three months of care are completed that you continue to receive care. This ongoing care is aimed at keeping your body in better alignment, balance, and keeping it more flexible. You are going to be subjected to ongoing stress that can take it’s toll on your body. Rather than develop aches and pains or a whole new condition, it is far easier to take care of your body on a regular basis.
Our patients who choose to receive Wellness Care see us one to two times per month to get their body checked for any structural problem. If anything is found then it can be much more easily corrected. Our Wellness Care patients typically have less overall problems and for the most part are healthier than those who only come in when they have symptoms!
16.) Besides Periodic Care, what other Wellness Care Options are provided? As long as patients remain active with us we provide them with a variety of wellness services.
The most effective Wellness Service we can provide is to help you select better food to put into your body. The foundation of outstanding health, longevity, and vitality is by far most influenced by what you eat. Since our health is determined by the health of our individual 10 Trillion or so cells, we must feed our cells what they need to not just survive BUT THRIVE!
Our cells require many nutrients to stay healthy and work properly. As mentioned our Standard American Diet (abbreviated appropriate as SAD) is severely lacking in nutrition. To give you an idea for how bad the Western Diet is; Take immigrants who come to our country. When they start to eat the same foods westerners eat instead of their native diet, they very quickly come down with the same health problems we have: Weight/obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and chronic pain. The message is CLEAR: If we want to be as healthy as possible you need to nourish your body instead of decimating it with nutritionally lacking foods!
Another key component that people are lacking in is exercise! There are so many workouts available today. Some are valuable to your health and others are complete wastes. With all the infomercials peddling get thin quick schemes, gadgets, and gizmos; all designed to get you in shape without doing anything....Let’s get realistic: There are no magic bullets to getting in shape and staying that way!
The only way to keep your body healthy is to move it regularly. We highly recommend exercises that target the strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination of the body particularly of the core area. The core is the region around the mid section comprised of your abdominal muscles, your low back muscles, and your pelvic muscles.
Developing your core is very helpful at preventing ongoing injuries and problems with your body. All of your movements begin from the core. The stronger and balanced your core muscles are the better. Unfortunately too many people only work their "glamour muscles" like the arms, chest, back, and legs thus leaving out the most important group: The Core!
We help our patients choose an exercise program that builds that core, provides strength, builds stability, and prevents further problems. We also help take the guess work of cardiovascular training. Most people tend to overdo the cardio workouts. Knowing how to maximize your cardiovascular fitness is a component to better health. We teach you how. Visit our products section to see our top recommendations for exercise.
Finally developing strategies to help patients handle emotional stress is exceptionally helpful. We recommend spiritual practices like meditation and prayer. We also have an entire section of personal development, self help, and meditation programs in our product section.
