What is Chiropractic Care?

A doctor of Chiropractic uses a hands-on approach to health care that focuses on how bone, joint, and nerve problems affect general health. Chiropractic care is used most often to treat neuromusculoskeletal complaints, including, but not limited to: back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms and legs, and headaches.

Chiropractors detect and remove subluxations, or misalignments of the spine, allowing proper communication between the brain and body therefore restoring function to the nervous system. As a result, many patient’s experience improvements in a variety of conditions in addition to musculoskeletal complaints.

Drug-Free Pain Treatment

Pain patients tend to be very familiar with pain medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, but chiropractic adjustments can provide totally drug-free pain relief. It’s a great option for anyone interested in reducing medication use. Chiropractic doctors utilize this drug-free approach since they treat the whole body as a holistic system, focusing less on symptoms and more on maintaining a healthy body. It’s the foundation for their approach to patient care. Although there are various techniques that chiropractors use to treat patients, none of them are as invasive as surgery, and patients report few, if any, side effects, which are common with medications. For many patients, this is one of the most important benefits of chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Techniques

The most common therapeutic procedure performed by doctors of Chiropractic is known as “spinal manipulation”, also called a “chiropractic adjustment”. The purpose of manipulation is to restore joint mobility by manually applying a controlled force into joints that have become hypomobile, or restricted in their movement, as a result of tissue injury. Tissue injury can be caused by a single traumatic even such as improper lifting of a heavy object, or through repetitive stresses, such as sitting in an awkward position, with poor spinal posture for an extended period of time. In either case, injured tissues undergo physical and chemical changes that can cause inflammation, pain, and diminished function for the sufferer. Manipulation or adjustment of the affected joint and tissues restores mobility, thereby alleviating pain and muscle tightness, and allowing tissues to heal.

In many cases, such as lower back pain, chiropractic care may be the primary method of treatment; when other medical conditions exist, chiropractic care may complement or support medical treatment by relieving the musculoskeletal aspects associated with the condition.

Will Chiropractic treatment help my condition?

Our chiropractors will assess you through clinical examination and x-rays or other diagnostic imaging if indicated, to determine when chiropractic treatment is appropriate and when it is not appropriate. Our chiropractors will readily refer you to the appropriate health care provider when chiropractic care is not suitable for your condition, or the condition warrants co-management in conjunction with other members of the health care team.

Major Conditions Treated by Chiropractic

Chiropractic not only treats back and neck pain. In addition to treating arthritis, back and neck pain, sciatica, and whiplash, chiropractors also treat the following conditions, including but not limited to:

Headaches – Chiropractic care has been shown to be highly effective in the diagnosis and treatment of headaches. They often result from disturbances of the bones, joints, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels that relate to the neck, scalp, head, and face.

Pregnancy – Chiropractic care has been shown to reduce labor time and help make delivery more comfortable by reducing physical stress to both mom and baby. The Webster Technique is successful for proper baby positioning by ensuring the mother’s pelvis is in alignment to avoid breech and transverse orientation, thereby decreasing the need for interventions such as medication, Cesarean delivery, and foreceps/vacuum intervention.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – The majority of carpal tunnel syndrome patients that obtain accurate diagnosis as well as significant relief through conservative, non-surgical management of this disorder provided by doctors of Chiropractic. Treatment may include manual care to the affected joints of the wrist, physical rehab, and advice regarding workstation modification.

Fatigue – It is possible that structural imbalances in your body’s framework may be disrupting your neurological integrity and sapping you of energy. This can often be improved by carefully planned chiropractic care.

Immune System – Always sick? Chiropractic care can offer a solution. Chiropractic care was first linked to improved immunity during the deadly flu epidemic of 1917 and 1918. The funny thing was that  chiropractic patients fared better than the general population. This observation spurred a study of the field. The data reported that flu victims under chiropractic care had an estimated .25 percent death rate, much less than the normal rate of 5 percent among flu victims who did not receive chiropractic care. In the years since, studies are finding that chiropractic care is a way to improve immunity. One study from the National College of Chiropractic in Lombard, Illinois, found that disease-fighting white blood cell counts were higher just 15 minutes after a chiropractic adjustment.

Pediatric – Chiropractic care can also be great for children. Research and clinical experience support chiropractic care for common pediatric conditions such as colic, bed-wetting, ear infections, scoliosis, and common childhood injuries. Chiropractic care has been known to be 90% effective at treating infantile colic. Specific spinal adjustments gently realign the baby’s vertebrae to allow the nervous system to be balanced. The same technique is also effective for treating ear infections and reflux in babies.

What else can chiropractic care treat?

Chiropractic Care at SuNu

The SuNu team brings together practitioners with years of experience in a diverse range of Chiropractic techniques including the Webster Technique, Graston Technique, Diversified, Activator, SacroOccipital Technique, Kinesiotaping, Thompson Technique, Pre-Natal and Post-Partum Care, Pediatric Care, and more.