The specialists at Live Fit can help you with the prevention and care of spinal dysfunction.
What is Chiropractic?
What truly differentiates doctors of chiropractic from other healthcare professionals is that chiropractors are the only professionals who are trained to diagnose and treat spinal subluxations – slight misalignments of the bones in the spine.
A chiropractic college grants a D.C. or Doctorate of Chiropractic degree. The chiropractic and medical school curricula are extremely rigorous and virtually identical. In fact, chiropractors have more hours of classroom education than their medical counterparts. As part of their education, chiropractic students also complete a residency working with real patients in a clinical setting, supervised by licensed doctors of chiropractic. Once chiropractic students graduate, they have to pass four sets of national board exams as well as state board exams in the states where they want to practice.
A chiropractor can correct the misaligned bone with a technique called an adjustment, and the adjustment enables the body to heal. The chiropractic adjustment is a quick thrust applied to a vertebra for the purpose of correcting its position, movement or both. Adjustments are often accompanied by an audibie release of gas that sounds like a “crack.” The sound sometimes shocks people a little bit the first couple times they get adjusted, but the sensation is usually relieving. Occasionally, minor discomfort is experienced, especially if the surrounding muscles are in spasm.
The objective of the chiropractic adjustment is to reduce the subluxation, which results in an increased range of motion, reduced nerve irritability, reduced muscle spasm, reduced pain an d improved function. Some adjusting techniques are designed to move the spine in a way that does not produce the audible sound at all.
Ultimately, the goal of receiving adjustments should be to restore the body to its natural state of optimal health. In order to accomplish this, chiropractors can use and recommend a variety of natural healing methods, including adjustments, massage, trigger point therapy, nutrition, and physical therapy.
These methods are beneficial for patients of all ages, from babies to the elderly, and for many conditions. These may include headaches, back and neck pain, whiplash, sports injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, work injuries, or motor vehicle accident injuries.