Chiropractic Adjustments!

AS a Chiropractor, I figure it is time to talk about the benefits behind my profession. On a daily basis, I hear things like 'I'm afraid to get adjusted.' 'Does it hurt?' 'Do I need to have my neck done too?' 'It looks so scary.' 'Is it dangerous?' And the list goes on! Obviously, not all patients are scared or leery at first, but a lot who have gone through the experience are, so I thought I'd address it here and talk you all through it.

First of all, adjustment, manipulation, 'cracking,' etc, are all interchangable and are refer to the manual/hands-on treatment performed by a Chiropractor. An adjustment is a high velocity, low amplitude thrust directed at a specific joint in the body. Adjustments target misalignments in joints, in an effort to realign them, which in turn can affect the nervous system, decrease muscle spasm and tension, decrease stress, increase range of motion and many more.

Adjustments can help with a diverse variety of conditions, including everything from headaches and stress to strain/sprains and joint pain. I have treated everything from whiplash from a motor vehicle accident to digestive issues and asthma. When you affect the nervous system, you are increasing the way the body functions overall. By targeting specific vertebral segments in the spine, you can affect the nerves passing through those vertebra, increasing their function to the parts of the body they supply. For example, cervical vertebra 4 (C4) affects the diaphragm through the phrenic nerve. Adjusting this segment and the two surrounding segments (C3 and C5) can help with asthma or even hiccups. You can see why it is important to keep your body aligned and as healthy as possible at all times. Chiropractors do not just deal with muscle and joint pain but can alter the way the entire body functions.