What Exactly Is Chiropractic Care?
Restoring Mobility of the Spine
Chiropractic care mainly addresses the spine and relieves problems caused by dysfunctions of the spine. Your spine essentially serves two purposes: 1) it supports the weight of your body, allowing a great variety of movement, and 2) it encloses/protects the spinal cord, which connects your brain to the rest of your body. The spine contains 24 vertebral segments which connect to each other via a system of joints and are held together by muscles and ligaments.
Keeping your spine healthy means maintaining its full range of motion, without discomfort.
Problems arise when a joint in the spine becomes “stuck” and stops moving in its full range of motion. The lack of mobility leads to inflammation and swelling in the region surrounding the joint, along with muscle spasms and pain. It can also lead to symptoms which may not seem related to your spine (tension headaches, tingling or numbness in extremities, pain in knees/elbows, etc). Many things can cause a joint to get “stuck” such as a slip, fall, or even day-to-day routine activities. A spinal joint that is not working properly will require other joints to compensate, leading to altered motion patterns of the spine. Prolonged abnormal alignment of the spine can lead to permanent changes in the spinal structure which is why it is important to address spinal issues quickly.
A chiropractor focuses on restoring the full range of motion to a stuck joint utilizing precise and shallow adjustment of the spine. In most cases, the doctor will only use their hands to administer these adjustments. Often, when people complain of back and joint pain, they will say “something is out of place,” or “a bone in my back is dislocated.” Most often, this is not the case. Rather than being “out of place,” the joint is typically locked somewhere within its normal range of motion. The adjustments a chiropractor makes are done with the goal of restoring the normal motion of that joint.
Once the normal range of motion is reestablished, a person is able to move in a more comfortable manner. Other joints no longer have to compensate for the poorly moving joint. Pain, muscle spasm, and inflammation (the body’s most important defenses against dysfunctional joint movement) are no longer needed, and will dissipate.
See How We Can Help for more information on what types of treatment we offer at our office.
Have any questions about chiropractic care? Give us a call at 615-650-6533 or email us at info@eastendchiro.com.
