What is Chiropractic?

Most people come to a Chiropractor because of neck or back pain. However, Chiropractic is a branch of the health sciences that focuses upon the body's entire neuro-musculoskeletal system. A chiropractor is concerned with how your body's skeletal and nervous system is functioning. Since your spine is the key highway for your central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) a chiropractor is trained to use a variety of diagnostic methods to examine and treat your spine; bone, nerve and muscle structure.

Although the major focus of chiropractic is on the spine and central nervous system, your chiropractor is concerned with the wellness of your entire body. Since your nervous system controls all other systems in your body, it determines how well you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally. Therefore, many problems you are experiencing beside neck or back pain, may be related to a problem in your spine and nervous system.

Think about it this way...

Lets say you flip a switch on the wall for the lamp across the room and it does not go on. Then you change the light bulb but the lamp still doesn't go on. Maybe it's not the light bulb. Maybe it's the switch on the wall or the wire going to the lamp that's the problem. The Switch is you spine, the wire is your nerve, and the lamp is the area in pain.

You are running water through a 50-foot hose. You step on it with your foot but only push it down halfway. Water still comes out at the other end but at a reduced rate. The hose is the nerve; your foot is the disc or bone putting pressure on the nerve. The nerve still works, but to a lesser degree causing pain or numbness or weakness. So the point of pain or weakness may be far from the actual pressure on the nerve. For example, you have numbness in your fingers or pain down your leg. Usually the problem is not your hands or leg, but instead is a neck or low back problem.

You have pain in your arm. You think heart attack. Why? Your heart is not in your arm. This is an example of REFERRED PAIN. Pain can be referred to a different part of the body then where the actual problem is. All organs and joints refer pain. That is why it is VERY important for you not to wait and see if the "pain will just go away". It may be referred pain from other organs with serious conditions. For example, low back pain could be pain referred by the kidneys which in some cases could be life threatening.