What is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractic care is a health profession that focuses on the spine and other joints of the body, and their connection to the nervous system. Chiropractors use adjustments to help patients maintain optimal health while avoiding unnecessary drugs or surgery. Chiropractic services are used most often to treat neuromusculoskeletal complaints, including but not limited to back pain, neck pain, pain in the joints of the arms or legs, and headaches. Regardless of one’s walk in life, anyone can benefit from regular chiropractic care. Routine treatments will help maintain the body at the high level of activity life calls for, allowing you to self-heal through proper alignment. An estimated 50 million Americans see a chiropractor each year.

The goal of chiropractic care is to restore and maintain joint function and the integrity of the relationship between the spinal cord and its nerve roots through adjustments to vertebral subluxations—tiny misalignments of the vertebrae or bones of the spine—for the purpose of allowing the proper transmission of nerve energy over nerve pathways so that every part of your body may have a proper nerve supply at all times.

One of the most common therapeutic procedures performed by the chiropractor is spinal manipulation or an “adjustment". The purpose of spinal manipulation is to restore joint mobility by applying a controlled force into joints that have become restricted in their movement as a result of a tissue injury. Whether caused by a single traumatic event, such as improper lifting or through repetitive stresses, such as sitting with poor spinal posture for an extended period of time, injured tissues undergo physical and chemical changes that can cause inflammation, pain and diminished function for an individual. Adjustment of the affected joint and tissues, restores mobility, thereby alleviating pain and muscle tightness, allowing tissues to heal.  

United States District Court Judge Susan Getzendanner ruled that “Chiropractic care was effective, indeed more effective than the medical profession, in treating certain kinds of problems, such as back injuries.” The only goal of chiropractic is to allow the body to do its job by removing what is interfering with it—through the adjustment of vertebral subluxations. While chiropractic care may benefit the patient through the elimination of symptoms of disease or illness, chiropractic does not offer a cure for any disease. 

Your spinal column serves as a conduit through which the human brain sends messages throughout the body’s nervous system. It is simple to see how protecting the integrity of this important structure is vital to the body’s optimal function and overall health. 

All information comes from:

American Chiropractic Association (www.acatoday.org)

National Center for Complementary Integrative Health (nccih.nih.gov)