What is Chiropractic?

Chiropractic is based on the scientific fact that your body is a self-regulating, self-healing organism. These important functions are controlled by the brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves of the body. Your nervous system controls the function of virtually every cell, tissue. Organ, and system of your body. Just as your brain protects the delicate tissues of the brain, the spine protects the venerable communication pathways of the spinal cord and nerve roots. If the nervous system is impaired in any way, it can cause malfunction of the tissues and organs throughout the body. Doctors call this the Vertebral Subluxation Complexes and reducing their impact on the nervous system. This in turn lets your body restore it's own inborn ability to heal itself and be healthy.

Why do employees need Chiropractic care?

Slouching at a desk all day or tapping away at a computer keyboard can lead to painful strains in your wrists, shoulders, elbows and back. Today, it is not only the construction jobs that require a great deal of bending and lifting that cause on-the-job-injuries. Working at a computer all day can be equally stressful on a person's wrists, shoulders, neck and spine, resulting in some really painful workplace injuries. Repetitive motion injuries (RMI) like carpal tunnel syndrome have become increasingly prevalent in recent years, as more and more people spend long hours virtually immobilized in front of a computer screen. According to recent estimates, more than 75 million Americans spend some time using a computer everyday

What conditions do Chiropractors treat?

Work and auto injuries, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, headaches, low back pain, joint pain, sports injuries, wrist pain (CTS), shoulder pain, whiplash scoliosis, extremity pain, sciatica, hip pain, muscle spasms. Carpal tunnel syndrome alone affects approximately 230, 00 people every year and accounts for nearly half of all workplace illness, costing the country nearly $800 million for benefits and rehabilitation. But carpal tunnel syndrome isn't the only problem. Two recent studies of insurance claims show that the combined cost of cumulative trauma disorders, such as RMI and low back pain, is over $11.5 billion annually. Other injuries include postural and spinal stress and tendinitis--conditions that can affect a person's work--and make life painful as well.

Helpful tips...

To reduce the possibility of suffering from one of these painful, and possibly disabling injuries, The Chiropractic Connection suggests you:

Office Chairs: Make sure your chair fits correctly. There should be 2 inches between the front edge of the seat and the back of your knees. Ideally, the chair should tilt back so you can rest while you're reading what's on the screen. Sit with your knees at approximately a 90-120 degree angle. Using an angled foot rest to support your feet may help you sit more comfortably.

Computer: Position your computer monitor so that the top of the screen is at or below eye level.

Lighting: Make sure you have adequate lighting, and that there is no glare on your monitor screen. Use an antiglare screen as necessary.

Posture: Keep your wrists in the neutral position while you type, not angled up or down. A wrist rest can help you to keep a more neutral wrist posture. Keep your elbow angle within a 70 degree to 135-degree range as you type.

Stretch breaks: Take periodic stretch breaks. Clench your hands in a fist and move your hands as follows: 10 circles in, 10 circles out. Put your hands in a praying position and squeeze for 10 seconds, then "pray" with the backs of your hands together, fingers pointed downward for 10 seconds. Spread your fingers apart and then close them one by one. Do the "hug your best friend" stretch a couple of times. Stand and wrap your arms around your body, and turn as far as you can to the left, then the right.

If you continue to suffer from job-related strain injuries after following these tips, consider a visit to The Chiropractic Connection. We are trained to alleviate such problems and promote a natural healing process of the body to help you avoid further injury.

Subluxations

WHAT IS IT?

Our bodies are made up of billions of living I cells that are organized into tissues, organs, and systems. They work together in a synchronized, harmonious way to create a living being. The nerves, bones, muscles, internal organs, skin, blood and brain, must work together in a synchronized, harmonious way if the body is to survive. What is it that makes these structures work together and come" alive"? A corpse has all the same parts; what is missing? What we need to live and survive is vitality, a vital force, that ."something" that animates all living things. What we need to be alive and survive is the innate wisdom which nature has provided to direct this vital force. The wisdom nature gives us, our "innate intelligence," directs the vital forces and energies of life through the nervous system. Our nervous system (made up of the brain, spinal cord and the nerves) is the master system of the body. It controls, coordinates and regulates all the other systems. Nerves originate in the brain as nerve fibers. It takes millions of these nerve fibers to make each nerve. The vast majority of the nerves go from the brain through the foramen magnum (a large hole in the bottom of the skull) and travel down inside the spinal column and make up the major part of the spinal cord. From the spinal cord, nerves exit between the vertebrae through intervertebral foramina (holes between the vertebrae). After nerves leave the spinal column through the foramina they branch out until they reach every part of the body. Our nerve network is so extensive that you can't touch the body anywhere with the smallest needle point without touching a nerve ending. If the nervous system is damaged or otherwise malfunctions, nature's ability to regulate the body is affected.

Depending on the severity and duration, this nerve damage can cause anything from a minor, even unnoticed, dysfunction to death. Without a properly functioning nervous system nothing else could function properly. Therefore, we need to do everything we can to keep our nervous system functioning normally. A person's nervous system can be irritated or damaged by trauma, stroke, disease, etc. or from a vertebral subluxation.

THE VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATION COMPLEX (VSC)

When the vertebrae misalign even slightly, or their normal mobility is altered, they may cause nerves to be irritated or damaged. This is a vertebral subluxation complex, or biomechanical lesion, commonly shortened to just one word... subluxation. The subluxation can create discord or malfunction in the forces that control and coordinate the body. Today, because of our stressful life style, poor eating habits, environmental pollution, lack of proper exercise, etc., millions are suffering from subluxations and nerve irritation. Subluxations can cause malfunction in the body and lead to diseases, and many people may not even know they have a problem until the symptoms become severe and in some cases so severe it is too late for complete restoration of health. This complex can include all or any combination of the following possibilities:

1. Osseous component: There is abnormal motion and/or position of spinal vertebrae. The vertebrae are either less mobile (hypo-mobile) than they should be or too mobile (hyper-mobile). Vertebrae that are hypo-mobile are often referred to as fixed or jammed. Vertebrae that are hyper-mobile are often referred to as loose or unstable. Either way, there is abnormal function and range of motion.

2. Connective Tissue component: Muscle, ligaments, tendons and/or fascia in the area are adversely affected and their function altered. The muscles may be in spasm or too weak to function normally.

3. Disc component: The cushion between the vertebrae, called disc, may be affected by the abnormal position or motion of the vertebrae.

4. Neurological component: A subluxation can cause irritation of the associated nerves and/or cause interference with their normal function. This irritation and interference can lead to pain and/or abnormal function of the nervous system and all the associated organs and tissues.

5. Altered biomechanical: When a subluxation causes the bones, connective tissue, disc and nerves to function abnormally in one or more areas of the spine, the spinal column cannot perform its normal function. This abnormal function can lead to spinal curvatures-front to back (kyphosis) and/or side to side (scoliosis) -resulting in an unbalanced condition of the spine. This can lead to additional abnormal function of the muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and organs, which can lead to more subluxations that continue the process until the subluxations are corrected.

HOW ARE SUBLUXATIONS CAUSED?

What causes a subluxation? Abnormal stress on the spinal column. There are two main types of abnormal stress. One type is called trauma. This can be caused by heavy improper lifting, accidents, falls, sports injuries, etc. This is a one-time stress that causes an immediate subluxation. The other type is repeated movements that gradually have an adverse effect on the body. These include bad postural habits, awkward body movements because of job or sport requirements. Continual emotional stress can cause muscle tension in the body that may result in postural changes and spinal subluxation. Even poor eating habits can result in a chemical imbalance in the body that may affect the muscles thereby affecting the spine, resulting in subluxations.

OTHER FORMS OF NERVE INTERFERENCE AND IRRITATION

Any abnormal stress that affects the muscles or nerves can have an effect on the spine and nervous system. Muscle disorders leading to degeneration and nerve disorders such as stroke have the most dramatic effect.

CORRECTING OR REDUCING SUBLUXATIONS

Chiropractors are the most qualified health care professionals, because of training and experience, to analyze and treat vertebral subluxations. If your chiropractor finds you have subluxations, specific manipulation techniques (without drugs or surgery) will be used to correct the subluxation and relieve the nerve irritation. This allows normal flow of nerve impulses that contributes to the restoration of normal function and health. This procedure is called a chiropractic adjustment. The direct purpose of the chiropractic spinal adjustment is to reduce nerve irritation. This allows the body to restore itself to a greater level of health and in the process relieves pain.

DON'T DELAY -CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR OF CHIROPRACTIC ...NOW!

The pain you suffer may continue because the cause of the pain has been ignored and proper treatment has been delayed. Don't delay any longer. Seek a chiropractic examination immediately to see if your condition comes within the range of chiropractic care. Only a chiropractor has the training, degree and specific license to locate and reduce the vertebral subluxation complex. Even if you are seeing other health care providers, it is still advisable to see a chiropractor to make sure your spine is subluxation free and your nervous system is functioning normally because everyone needs a healthy nervous system.

Chiropractic Gets Results... Patient Satisfaction Proves It!