Treatments Offered

Chiropractic Adjustment

A chiropractic adjustment is the most widely used treatment modality in our office. A high-velocity, low-amplitude or HVLA adjustment is designed to target a specific joint that is stuck and create movement. Often, a popping sound is heard during the adjustment. The popping or cracking sound is no more than gas bubbles being released as the fluid filled joint is stretched. Hearing or not hearing a pop does not determine the effectiveness of an adjustment. The therapeutic effect from an HVLA adjustment comes from the force applied interacting with a patients nervous system and re-training the mind body connection. The adjustment is also designed to break up adhesions that have develop in the joint due to its lack of mobility.

Manual Therapy

When discussing manual therapy for treating a condition, most tend to think about massage. Massage is one type of manual therapy that itself branches into many forms such as deep-tissue, Swedish, trigger point, shiatsu, and Thai massage to name a few. There are also forms of manual therapy such as Graston Technique that involves using an oil to lubricate the skin then scrapping the tissue beneath with a metal tool.

We use a variety of manual therapy techniques, but we focus most on using Myotonic Facilitation which is a form of trigger point therapy designed to target the stretch receptors embedded within muscles and tendons. By targeting and releasing tension stored in these neural receptors all across the body, we can reduce a patient’s systematic tension, creating space for the body to relax. In technical terms, we are decreasing the body’s sympathetic response (fight or flight) and activating the parasympathetic response (rest and digest).

Home Exercise and Care

A considerably factor in determining the speed of a patient’s recovery rate and overall quality of life is their own exercise routine. Like physical therapy, chiropractic care focuses on rehabilitating areas of the body that are over-active and tight while strengthening other areas that are under-active and weak. This is done by teaching our patients various movement practices they can incorporate at home and in their fitness routine.

By using various movement and exercise routines, we can create a stronger mind-body connection and more coordinated muscular firing patterns. This both helps correct and prevent biomechanical compensation habits from developing. This leads to more efficient movement, reduced susceptibility to injury, and overall better quality of life!

Chiropractic for Pregnant Mothers

Did you know that 50-80% of pregnant women experience low back pain during their pregnancy? Up to one third even claim low back pain significantly reduces their quality of life. The good news is chiropractic care is proven to help pregnant women reduce the aches and pains that naturally come from shifting biomechanics such as changes is center of gravity, weight, load on certain joints, etc.

During the third trimester, a pregnant woman’s body increases the production of a protein called elastin. This makes the joints and other tissues of the body more elastic (hence the name) in order for the pelvis to open up, create more space between the bones, and allow baby to pass through during birth.

In order to deal with the changes that naturally come with pregnancy and the increased load on certain joints of the body, chiropractic care with keep your body biomechanically strong and sound as you both pre and post childbirth.

Expert Medical Advice and Referral

Unfortunately, chiropractic education can sometimes be misinterpreted as not as thorough or in-depth as a medical doctor’s training. In truth, doctors of chiropractic receive more training in anatomy and physiology while physicians received more training in public health. Chiropractic colleges focus on chiropractic principles, diagnosis, orthopedics, physiologic therapeutics and nutrition.

Three areas, manipulative/adjustive technique/spinal analysis, physical/clinical laboratory diagnosis and diagnosis imaging account for more than half of the education in clinical sciences. During their internship, doctors of chiropractic complete two years of hands-on clinical experience focusing on manipulation/adjustment as the primary treatment procedure.

Studies show that chiropractic students receive more training than their medical counterparts in the following areas: anatomy, physiology, bacteriology, diagnosis, X-ray and orthopedics.