|
Facts
- Chiropractic
was founded in 1895.
- There are
approximately 85,000 chiropractors around the world. Of this total
approximately 65,000 practice in the United States.
- Chiropractors
are recognized throughout the United States. Each state has rigorous
statutes that regulate the profession.
- Chiropractors,
by law, are allowed to use the title, Chiropractor, Chiropractic
Physician, or Doctor of Chiropractic . The degree a chiropractor
receives is DC.
- Various federal
programs recognize chiropractic. Some include Medicare, Postmasters
Plan, Mailhandlers Plan, and the Government Employees Hospital
Association Plan. Various chiropractic organizations are working
hard to have the government increase.
- Health insurance
coverage is provided in health insurance policies of most major
health plans, including state workers compensation plans, and
auto insurance policies.
- Doctors of
chiropractic have been known to provide exceptional treatment
for many spinal related disorders. Some of these conditions include
neck, back pain, and headaches to name a few. Many doctors of
chiropractic have taken additional training and have become certified
in the treatment of sports injuries, as well as the care of auto
injuries.
- The main
philosophy of chiropractic is to utilize a treatment method that
seeks to help the patient restore normal physiological function.
This, in turn, helps the patient improve his or her health. Also,
advice can be given regarding proper nutrition and exercise as
it relates to the total picture of one's health.
- Over the
last 100 years, chiropractic has enjoyed increasingly higher acceptance
by the public after many years of growing pains . This has occurred
because of a number of reasons. There have been more and more
research studies that have proven that chiropractic is the most
helpful and cost-effective treatment for a variety of conditions.
And, more importantly, patients have seen for themselves that
chiropractic, in many cases, simply helps for many conditions!
Many patients like the fact that they have an alternative to the
use of drugs. As society becomes more and more aware of the contraindications
and serious side effects of medication, patients are now more
willing to try non-medical forms of treatment for their health
issues.
History
of Chiropractic?
From
the beginning of history, man has always been searching for the Fountain
of Youth. Even from the beginning of medical history, Paul Erlich
searched for the magic bullet , a drug that would literally take care
of all of our health needs. Unfortunately, as we all know that magic
bullet does NOT exist. The question then follows, what can be done
to help our health needs throughout our life?
Dorland's
Medical Dictionary describes health as a state of wellness, not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity. Another way of looking at this
is that the absence of pain does not give us a good indication of
the patient s health level.
"The
doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest
his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in
the cause and prevention of disease."
-
Thomas Edison |
Health
is an ongoing process; one that evolves as we age. If you look around
at our society, you can see a rampant crisis of health problems. People
are looking for answers, and in many cases, are not getting them.
It is my opinion that the main cause of these issues is that for many
years prevention of disease and illness was scoffed at by society.
If someone felt good, no problem, nothing to worry about. We are now
realizing that health maintenance is the key to good health. Rather
than wait for the health crisis, let's attempt to prevent the crisis
from occurring to begin with.
Chiropractic health care focuses primarily on the
examination and treatment of the spine and pelvis to determine if
some part of the body's structure is malfunctioning. And, if so, what
can be done to correct the structure to return the body to the best
possible physiologically state?
Think back how many times you have received treatment
for an illness, and after feeling a bit better, you stopped treatment.
That was usually a simple case of being fooled by our childhood training
that if there were no symptoms, we were well. In reality, the short-term
treatment only helped to temporarily alleviate the symptom, part of
the condition, but never really addressed the cause of the problem.
It is this fact that makes chiropractic care so beneficial.
How
Does My Body Work?
An
analogy will help start this explanation The power company supplies
energy to run our homes and offices. That energy travels to our
homes by way of cables. Once that energy gets to our location, it
allows our appliances to run the way they were designed. If, for
some reason, there is an interruption or lessening of the energy
coming to us, our lights would be less bright, or perhaps our appliances
would fail to operate. The same is true with our bodies.
Let's
use a similar analogy. Let's say you have a dimmer switch (rheostat)
installed in your dining room. As long as the dimmer switch is set
all the way up, the lights burn very brightly. Now, let's turn down
the dimmer switch as low as it can go and still see a little bit
of light. If, at that time, you replaced all the bulbs with the
absolute best, state-of-the-art, light bulbs, would the bulbs be
any brighter than the previous set? Of course, not! The reason is
the electrical energy traveling through the wires of your home are
being stopped by the dimmer switch. Now, if you slowly start increasing
the switch to allow the energy to increase, the bulbs will increase
in brightness. The light is a metaphor or analogy for how our body
expresses its health. The better the flow of energy to the vital
organs and tissues of our bodies the better our bodies, can perform.
Therefore, better health!
Now,
let's take this one step further. There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves
in our spinal cord. These nerves travel from the brain and exit
the spinal cord at very specific areas. For example, the nerves
that control your small and large intestines, kidneys, sex organs,
as well as the nerves that control your lower back and legs exit
the spinal cord in the lower back region. That is why many patients
who enter our office for lower back pain also tell us upon questioning,
that they have constipation or diarrhea problems, or perhaps menstrual
difficulties. This is very common. Another example is a patient
has neck pain, but also complains of headaches or sinus difficulty.
That would make sense because the nerves of the neck innervate those
specific areas. The examples are numerous, however, suffice to say
that the spinal cord controls our body functions. To the degree
that we take care of our spine, and to the degree that it is working
properly, is the degree we can expect our best level of health.
Think
about this. Would you expect your teeth to operate properly if you
never brushed or flossed them, or never visited a dentist to clean
or correct them? Why is the spine so different? In reality, the
real difference is that our spine is covered by skin and muscles
so that we can't see our spines.
If
patients were able to see their spine to the same degree they see
their teeth, many patients would be horrified with how bad they
have allowed their spines to deteriorate.
In
a Chiropractic office the first thing you can expect is to have
your spine evaluated. This is an important step in elevating your
health level and, in fact, is what differentiates chiropractors
from other types of physicians.
Accidents,
falls, tension, stress, overuse, and other factors can prevent the
spine from working within its normal range of motion. This can cause
minor displacements of the segments of your spine. If this displacement
irritates spinal nerves, various malfunctions can occur in your
body. These displacements are called subluxations. Various studies
have shown that subluxations can cause improper function of the
organs and tissues of the body, leading to increased susceptibility
to various conditions, including chronic disease. Logically, this
should make sense. If, for example, the brain cannot control the
stomach or intestines in the manner that was designed because of
nerve compression or interference, would it be hard to imagine the
body having less ability to digest and absorb nutrients from the
foods you eat? And, if you are getting fewer nutrients, would a
lower level of health be that far fetched? Think about each organ
of your body. Let your mind ponder about what would happen if each
vital organ or tissue was working at only 50%. What impact would
that have on your health over the short or long term? It is this
observation that leads many people to begin giving their spine the
attention it deserves. Ask your chiropractor about these facts to
open up your potential to a whole new level of health awareness
for you, your family, and friends.
|
