Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on the relationship between the body’s structure—mainly the spine—and its functioning. Although practitioners may use a variety of treatment approaches, they primarily perform adjustments (manipulations) to the spine or other parts of the body with the goal of correcting alignment problems, alleviating pain, improving function, and supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. How chiropractic works: a chiropractic adjustment is given to a patient to relieve pressure on a spinal nerve. The removal of this pressure allows the nerve and your body to heal. Increased range of motion, decreased muscle spasm, and inflammation are also the results of a chiropractic adjustment.
What Chiropractors Do
Practically speaking, chiropractors are primarily concerned with locating and treating vertebral subluxations. A vertebral subluxation is a complex of functional and/or structural and/or pathological articular (joint) changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health. Using a number of unique and highly refined skills, the chiropractor checks the patient’s spine for any misalignments, fixations or other abnormalities (vertebral subluxations). If subluxations or other abnormalities are detected, the chiropractor will generally apply a gentle force in a corrective manner to the affected spinal area. Chiropractors use many specialized techniques to identify and treat these spinal abnormalities and optimize overall health. In addition to spinal adjustive techniques, soft tissue techniques such as massage, dietary and nutritional counseling, physical therapies, and lifestyle modification programs are commonly employed.
How Is It Different?
There is a significant and very important difference between the way chiropractors and medical doctors approach health ailments. When evaluating and treating patients, chiropractors take a holistic approach which includes identifying and correcting the cause(s) of the patient’s health ailment. In contrast, the medical approach tends to focus more on the treating the symptoms of a condition rather than focusing primarily on the actual cause(s). Chiropractors believe that correcting the cause of the problem provides significant long-term benefits over only treating the symptoms.
Benefits of Chiropractic
Short-term and regular chiropractic care have a number of benefits including:
- Spinal and Extremity Pain Relief
- Headache Relief
- Increased Mobility and Range of Motion
- Decreased Stiffness and Muscular Spasms
- Arthritic Joint Pain Relief
- Increased Joint Health
- Increased Performance and Energy
- Increased Sense of Well Being and Relaxation
- Increased Balance and Coordination
- Reduced Degeneration and Risk of Injury
- Enhanced Tissue Healing
- Decreased Tissue Inflammation