What Is Chiropractic Care?
Did you know...?
Chiropractic is NOT about 'cracking backs' to relieve back pain - although this is often how it is portrayed!
As a profession, and as a healthcare practice Chiropractic is OFTEN deeply misunderstood.
When you learn more about Chiropractic, it makes lot of sense why it’s my primary approach to help you.
Curious to know more? Read on...
Some Context about Your Nervous System is so important to understand Chiropractic...
Chiropractic operates within the field of Functional Neurology - understanding that your nervous system intimately controls and coordinates your EVERY function - and from there, your health and wellbeing.
Your Nervous System
- coordinates all body functions and movement
- adapts to all environmental stresses
- allows you to sense & perceive the world
- enables you to think, remember, feel, and express emotion
- creates your conscious reality
The human body IS incredibly complex and intricate. It is an ‘ecosystem’ of over 75 trillion cells with specialised functions that adapt to your body’s changing requirements and environmental demands during every moment you are alive.
You digest food, alter your heart rate and blood pressure, defend against bacteria and viruses, heal wounds and broken bones, and carry out thousands of other essential body functions without having to think about them. Primary to all of this running smoothly, is your nervous system – critical to all POWER & CONTROL in life.
The nervous system is often forgotten, yet it truly is the critical ‘super-system’ that senses, perceives, controls and coordinates all of your function while you are alive.
When free from interference or dysfunction, when the brain is receiving and sending accurate information, your body’s capacity to heal, regulate and control is robust and strong.
The skull and spinal bones protect the delicate tissues of the brain and the vulnerable communication pathways of the spinal cord and nerve roots. These structures have to combine two critical roles: protection for those delicate neural tissues, at the same time as allowing free movement of the body’s trunk, head and pelvis in many directions. Incredibly complex feedback systems allow then movements and protect from damage, overuse or strain.
If coordination and communication through the nervous system is impaired, it can contribute to ‘dysregulation’ – effectively malfunction of tissues and organs throughout your body. These impacts can be subtle and usually present NO obvious symptoms – but the effects of this dysregulation build up over time.
Nervous system function is complex - did you know that you have OVER 70km of nerves in your body?
Chiropractic can be defined in many ways
My definition is perhaps over-simplistic, but it captures the key elements of the practice of chiropractic:
Chiropractic care is the professional assessment and examination of your health status to determine if chiropractic adjustments may benefit you,
and if so, performing these adjustments.
Because of society's norms and the expectations of clients that consult us, there is often a related, but independent aim of assessing, managing and working to help resolve any symptoms you may have.
Chiropractic in its current form is a health profession that was ‘discovered’ in 1895.
One very simple (perhaps too simple!) explanation is that chiropractic is about improving and ensuring appropriate movement (and as a result: the neurological perception, integration and control of movement) – because movement is life!
As a health discipline, chiropractic combines the science of identifying subluxations** (described below), consideration of how they may relate to or impact your health status or function, and the art of providing (delivering) chiropractic adjustments to help your body correct the impact of subluxations on your nervous system.
Chiropractic is an approach to health and wellbeing that centres around the body’s own natural ability to function at its best and heal itself in the absence of any compromise or interference to its power and control mechanisms.
Chiropractic is defined by a distinct philosophy about life, health and how we interact with all things natural.
** Chiropractors are the only health professionals trained to locate and correct subluxations.
You ARE:
Self-healing, Self-regulating,
Self-aware, and Self-coordinating
- ALL because your nervous system is doing its job.
If it gets compromised,
then YOU get compromised!
Therefore chiropractic does not…treat diseases, it treats (cares for) the patient (person) with the purpose of returning the body to a normal state”
People must change their current lifestyles…in favour of a chiropractic lifestyle which includes good nutrition and exercise.”
Vertebral = of the spine | Subluxation = less than a complete dislocation | Complex = a syndrome of related changes to function
When left uncorrected subluxations can progress, leading on from subtle, often subclinical (or non-symptomatic) dysfunction to dis-ease, malfunction, breakdown; in time it may contribute to overt disease developing. Subluxations do this by interfering with the flow of information (and/or the processing or integration of information) and energy along and over the nerves of your body and within your brain and other neural processing regions.
While this concept is clearly accepted by a majority of chiropractors, the body of high-level research evidence supporting this model of dysfunction is still less complete that we would like. This being said, there a significant amount of undisputed basic science from which this theory is drawn.
The approach we take in our health centre is that if we can find clinical evidence of subluxations being present, then adjustments are indicated and being adjusted to reduce subluxations will have benefit on your body function and/or health status.
More on the rationale for this statement, here:
Subluxations are caused by the interplay of life’s major challenges – physical, biochemical, mental-emotional and social, as well as how flexible your body and mind (nervous system) are to be able to cope with, adapt to or integrate their effects.
Our goal is to locate subluxations, help you reduce them (usually through chiropractic adjustments), teach you how to put in place lifestyle changes to prevent or reduce their re-occurrence and thereby unleash your inherent capacity to heal, coordinate and function at your best.
Adjustments are performed at varying frequencies depending on your needs, current health status and lifestyle factors which may be facilitating the return of subluxations.
For more on what an adjustment is, click here:
You "drive" your chiropractic experience...
It is so important to know that YOU have ultimate control as to how often and for how long you consult with us.
- We discuss with you and agree on a plan of care that makes sense to you.
- Our care plans are based on your presenting health history and current situation, the goals you have for your health, our clinical experience and a whole lot more.
- They involve chiropractic care, and Vibrant Life Health & Wellness Coaching to get the best possible results for you.
- We regularly review your progress to ensure you’re happy with the results you are achieving and that we are meeting or exceeding your expectations.
unnecessary or excessive chiropractic care."
If such clinical evidence exists, we offer you chiropractic care.
You choose to receive chiropractic care for as long as you feel it benefits you!
Review these related articles for more information:
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