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Your spine is made up of 24 bones called vertebrae. Seven of these little bones are in your neck, twelve in your thoracic or mid-back and five in your lower back. They stack up one on top of the other to form a straight line when viewed from front to back, but when viewed from the side they form three curves (the neck and lower back lordotic curves, and the mid-back or kyphotic curve).
When seen from the front most spines are not perfectly straight, but when the spine curves or twists excessively it is called scoliosis (from the Greek word for "crooked").
Chiropractors do not treat disease, scoliosis included, but they do correct the vertebral subluxation complex (a condition that interferes with the proper functioning of the nervous system and the body as a whole). A body without subluxations is in a better position to resist abnormalities and diseases of all kinds, including scoliosis. Recent research suggesting that scoliosis may be caused by a neurological defect reinforces the validity of the chiropractic approach; the nervous system must remain free of structural damage in order for the body to be healthy.
Of the millions of people who visit doctors of chiropractic each year, a large number have had whiplash injuries. Whiplash injuries occur when a person's spine, usually their neck, was hurt by being unexpectedly or suddenly thrown very quickly in one direction and then in the opposite direction. Whiplash is one of the most common consequences of auto accidents.
In almost all whiplash-type injuries the spine is thrown first in one direction and then is pulled in the opposite direction because the muscles react to the initial injury by pulling or rebounding in the opposite direction. The rebound can and often does cause injury to your soft tissues; muscles, ligaments, tendons and other tissues. Occasionally a whiplash injury can result from side-to-side motion of the neck, also called left and right lateral hyperflexion.
Anyone who has ever had a whiplash injury, no matter how long ago, should see a chiropractor. The M.D.'s may have sent them home after x-rays and MRI or CT scans and found nothing broken or ruptured, yet the spine may still be structurally unsound. Without structural integrity the spine will not heal properly and may develop problems years later. Arthritis and disc problems may develop years after the accident (and the legal settlements) because chiropractors were not consulted for spinal integrity.
About 85 percent of the population will experience disabling low back pain at least once during their lives! That's almost all of us. The problem is so bad that at any one time, according to one researcher, 6.8% of the U.S. adult population is suffering from an episode of back pain lasting more than two weeks.
The standard medical approach to back pain varies depending on the severity of the condition. Muscle relaxers, painkillers, rest and physical therapy such as traction, diathermy, ultrasound, hot packs and cold packs are sometimes used. This approach has not been found very helpful however. If the problem doesn't improve or worsens, then surgery may be performed.
The medical approach is at times necessary, even back surgery has a place. But according to some studies, most spinal surgery for acute lower back problems should be rarely performed. Many people who have had back surgery report a recurrence of their symptoms within a year or two of the operation and may return to the operating table. In some cases the surgery makes no difference whatsoever, and in some cases it does give long-term relief.
Chiropractors have helped millions of people with low back problems, often saving them from pain, disability, drugs and surgery. The chiropractor's purpose is to make your spine and its nerves, discs and muscles healthier, stronger and more stable by correcting your vertebral subluxations. Anyone suffering from a back problem should see a chiropractor to make sure there are no subluxations and to have them removed or corrected if found. This may make the difference between a life of ease, health and comfort or a life of pain, disease and disability.
Most accidents are minor. In those cases chiropractic care should be sought out as quickly as possible. Too often severe health problems first began as little fall, whiplash, bump or shake-up that may have caused some pain initially but it was later forgotten.
Many times chiropractic patients have discovered that the cause of their present complaints was a childhood fall or even birth trauma. There may have been no broken bones or serious bleeding, but there was spinal damage that was never corrected. The medical doctors may have checked them and said they were fine, but M.D.'s do not know how to analyze the spinal column for subluxations nor do they know how to correct them. Millions of people leave emergency rooms unaware that they are carrying around hidden spinal distortions that may cause severe health problems at a later date.
True healing is not done by doctors, it is performed by the wisdom of your miraculous body. Healing is indeed one of nature's miracles. It is as miraculous and mysterious as the miracle of birth; for in both, life is created and recreated.
In that pause, when it is safe to do so, the body should receive the chiropractic care that it desperately needs. In a serious accident the communication lines between the brain and the rest of the body can be seriously interrupted by vertebral subluxations.
Too often however, many people who have been in an accident never receive chiropractic care and never truly recover from their injuries. Within their spine is nerve pressure that continues to cause damage and interfere with their body's health and healing.
Your doctor of chiropractic will examine your spinal column for misalignments (called vertebral subluxations) causing spine and nerve stress. Vertebral subluxations damage the nervous system and affect the workings of the entire body. If subluxations are present, the chiropractor will correct them with a chiropractic spinal adjustment in order to release the spinal stress. Without subluxations the body will function better, have higher resistance to disease and express more wholeness (health) than a body with uncorrected subluxations. That is the essential message of chiropractic.
All this is extremely important for the pregnant woman who needs to have her body as healthy and strong as possible in order to handle the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth. Chiropractic care will help ensure that the reproductive and other systems so essential for a healthy pregnancy receive a nerve supply from the spinal column without interference. The slightest interference to the nerve supply could adversely affect the mother and the developing fetus.
Common Questions & Answers Regarding Chiropractic & Pregnancy.
Is chiropractic care safe in pregnancy?
Very safe and very sensible for both mother and baby.
Is it difficult to receive a chiropractic adjustment when pregnant?
Not at all. Chiropractors are trained in adjusting the spines of pregnant women and many chiropractic adjusting tables have special modifications for the pregnant figure.
How late in pregnancy is it possible to get an adjustment?
Patients have received adjustments even during labor.
Can back pain be helped with chiropractic?
Chiropractic is not a treatment or therapy for back or spinal pain. However, with a chiropractic spinal adjustment, the body will be better able to heal its back and spinal pain, as well as many other health problems.
Do I have to have a problem in pregnancy to see a chiropractor?
Not at all. Chiropractic should be used as preventive maintenance. Periodic spinal checkups during pregnancy should be as common as periodic weight checkups.
Can my baby receive chiropractic care?
Infants a few hours old have been given spinal checkups and adjustments (if needed)
Your sciatic nerve is your longest and largest nerve. It is made up of five roots that leave your low back, join in your pelvis and then travel to the muscles and joints of your thigh, knee, calf, ankle, foot and toes.
If your sciatic nerve becomes enflamed, the condition is called sciatica (pronounced si-ad-i-ka). The pain can be intense! It often follows the path of your nerve; down the back of your legs and thighs, ankle, foot and toes, but it can also radiate to your back! Along with burning, sharp pains, you may also feel nerve sensations such as pins-and-needles, tingling, prickling, crawling sensations or tenderness. Ironically, your leg may also feel numb!
To complicate matters, although sciatica pain is usually in the back of the legs or thighs, in some people it can be in the front or side of the legs or even in the hips. For some, the pain is in both legs: bilateral sciatica!
Chiropractors correct the vertebral subluxation complex, which causes poor spinal alignment and nerve pressure. Doing this, chiropractors relieve stress on the spinal nerves, joints and discs. Just as you get your car's alignment checked and corrected, so you should periodically get your spine's alignment checked out and corrected. Is spinal care a treatment for sciatica? No, it is a procedure for the analysis and correction of spinal nerve stress. And yet, if you do have sciatica, a chiropractic spinal adjustment is very badly needed. Every sciatica sufferer needs a healthy spine.
"Chiropractic care for my child? Why? His back doesn't bother him." How often chiropractors have encountered parents who appreciate the importance of regular checkups for their child's teeth, hearing, eyes and ears but draw a blank when it comes to a spinal checkup. In fact, a spinal checkup could be one of the most important checkups your child will ever have.
Your child's spine is his/her lifeline because running through it is the spinal cord, containing billions of nerve fibers that send messages and energy from the brain to every part of their body. Correction of vertebral subluxations in children's spines, which reduces postural, nerve and other stresses in their bodies, can have a powerful effect on many aspects of their lives. For decades many parents have noticed positive changes in the physical health, behavior and emotional states of their children following a chiropractic adjustment.
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