With the grand opening of the clinic under my belt I figured I would take some time to explain in more detail just what I do here at Assurance Chiropractic. So over the next few months I will be writing some short articles about the therapies that I offer and their potential benefits. The obvious choice of starting points is the chiropractic adjustment.
Chiropractic as a discipline is fairly new when compared to its predecessors like allopathic medicine, eastern medicine / acupuncture, etc.
However, descriptions of the benefits of manipulation of the spine and “bone setting” go back as far as Hippocrates and perhaps even farther than that. Chiropractors like me undergo extensive training to use our hands to locate and correct joints in the spine that are not moving properly (often dubbed “subluxations”) and correct them using a directed force into the joint, or “adjustment”.
This improper joint movement can lead to pain, muscle spasm, and trigger points amongst other things, which lead to discomfort and decreased ability to perform activities. Adjusting segments with improper motion has a neurological effect on the surrounding tissues and encourages relaxation and closes what neuroscientists refer to as a “pain gate.” For more information about how this works, click on the link below–>
http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/pain4.htm
Some people don’t think they need chiropractors because they have no symptoms. This is a product of western views on health that view it as the absence of disease versus the presence of wellbeing. Meaning that we typically do not seek the attention of doctors until the signs of our underlying disease processes show noticeable symptoms. In hindsight we then get to look back at the things that we could have been doing for ourselves to avoid the situation in the first place. In short, we need to shift our view of health from reactive / anti-disease to preventative / pro-health.
Musculoskeletal complaints are a classic example of this in that the end result is typically mild discomfort to debilitating pain as a result of preventable things such as improper or inadequate joint motion, lack of muscular endurance or poor biomechanics for everyday activities like sitting in a chair to more demanding things like athletics. The interesting thing I have noticed in my experience is that pain as a symptom is typically the last symptom to come on, and the first to go away, often taking patients with it. A big problem though, is that there is still an underlying issue at hand that without proper care, is likely to rear its head again in the future. Common back problems typically develop over years of neglect and abuse, and it is important that sufferers understand that what took so long to manifest can take equally as long to correct with treatment.
Chiropractors can be likened to dentists, in that we are there to treat your acute injuries (like a cracked tooth) but we would rather that after you’re better, that you follow our recommendations (like brushing and flossing) to help prevent future injury. We also appreciate the occasional check up every few months to make sure that your spine is functioning the way it was intended, I guess you can just think of me as your neurological hygienist.
Adjustments have many benefits including pain reduction, improved posture, as well as increased range of motion and flexibility all without the use of medications that can be harmful to our bodies over time. Some patients also experience relief of other systemic complaints with adjusting (through its influence on the nervous system) as well, citing improvements in things from headache symptoms to bowel function. Alongside traditional manual adjusting I also offer low force methods like hand held instrument adjusting and drop table which are just as effective as other methods but are sometimes preferred by patients.
So whether you’ve hurt yourself in an accident, have chronic pain or are just want someone to “clean” your spine, chiropractors like me are there to help. So if you are looking for a chiropractor in Denver then give us a call, and if you already have one call yours today!