Our Services
Chiropractic
WHAT WE DO
Chiropractic is the largest and most popular drug-free healthcare system in the world. Chiropractors work with bones of your spinal column and extremities, and the nerves in and around your spinal cord and into the limbs, respectively.
Why?
Hidden deep inside your body is the most powerful "mainframe computer" in the universe. It stores a lifetime's worth of experiences and is networked to trillions of smaller "computers", coordinating their operations-telling them what to do and when to do it so the whole system functions properly. All these "computers" are connected with many billions of special "wires". What is your mainframe made of? Not metal, silicon and plastic-it's mostly water, floating in a special protective, temperature-controlled hard casting.
As you've probably guessed, the "mainframe" is your brain, the smaller computers are your cells, tissues, organs and systems, and the "wires" are your nerve fibers. The protective casing is your skull.
How does your brain "talk" to your heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach and other organs? They "talk" through a vast communications system of nerve "wires." Nerves leave your brain and travel from your skull as a tightly knit bundle of billions of nerves - your spinal cord. Nerves from your spinal cord travel through and out of your spinal column and touch every part of you. These nerves carry messages to and from your brain which is how your brain controls and coordinates the function of all your billions of body parts: muscles, organs, glands, tissues and all the rest. Chiropractors spend years in highly specialized training to learn to locate fixated spinal vertebrae that are interfering with the nerves around your brain and spinal cord. After locating spine and nerve stress caused by a vertebra impinging the nerves (subluxations), your chiropractor, using various highly specialized techniques, is able to realign your vertebrae and thus release pressure on your nerves and body structure. This procedure is called a chiropractic spinal adjustment.
TECHNIQUES WE USE
Diversified Technique
Diversified adjusting is a technique where adjustments to the spine are given by direct contact of the Doctor’s hands. This allows for specific corrections of the subluxations in the spine. Diversified technique consists of high velocity, low amplitude thrusts that usually results in a cavitation (popping sound) of a joint. Diversified technique is used to deliver a deeper thrust, in turn often also results in quicker resolution of symptoms.
Thompson Drop Technique
With this technique, a section of the table under the area to be adjusted is raised about an inch and a half to help assist in the adjustment. The Doctor contacts the subluxated segment with his/her hands and thrusts, causing the table to drop back to its original position. The force of the table dropping along with the thrust of the Doctor adjusts the subluxated segment. This technique is used when a lighter force is required to adjust a patient. Often times no osseous (popping) sound is heard.
Activator Technique
Activator technique utilizes an instrument called an activator to administer a low-force, high velocity adjustment to a specific spinal segment. No cavitation is heard with this technique.
Nutritional Consultation
Each patient has different nutritional needs depending on their diet, daily demands, age, and history. Talking with you about each of these areas will help us determine what nutritional needs each patient requires.
Exercise and Rehabilitation Programs
Patients’ response to chiropractic care is much more favorable when a rehabilitation program is added to the treatment plan. We will provide simple stretching and strengthening programs to you that you can do easily from home and will only take 10 minutes a day. Strength and balance of the muscle systems surrounding a patients’ dis-ease will greatly help the healing and remodeling process.
Postural and Ergonomic Evaluations
Patients often go through their day not realizing that their posture at work, walking habits, sitting posture, and many other daily movements may be associated with the developed or continued dis-ease they are treating.
Massage Therapy
MASSAGE TECHNIQUES
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep pressure is used to allow the technique to pass through the fascia making it easier to mobilize the muscle underneath. Deep tissue massage helps improve blood and lymph flow, rejuvenate the skin, and is used during passive stretching of muscle groups to help joint flexibility.
Swedish Massage
Uses light pressure to create a smooth flowing massage. The technique, effleurage, is performed using the palm and fingers of the hand sliding and gliding over the skin. This type of massage helps to improve blood and lymph circulation, relaxes muscles, and promotes joint mobility and healthy skin.
Hot Stone Massage
Smooth basalt rocks of all different sizes are heated to 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit. The rocks are placed on tender, sore spots along the body. They relax trigger points without using deeper pressure, but allows for a smooth relaxing massage. This massage helps increase blood circulation and mobility, while decreasing stress, anxiety, and pain.
Reflexology
Geriatric Massage
This massage is tailored to our aging population because most of their pain is due to decreasing mobility and strength, as well as slowing circulation. Massage can help replenish the skin using lotion, promote circulation throughout the body (especially the arms and legs), and therefore increase mobility and strength.
Prenatal Massage
This is a gentle and relaxing massage. It is all about concentrating on the main discomfort areas such as the neck, low back, legs, feet, etc. Massage during pregnancy also reduces swelling in the extremities.
Trigger Point Therapy
A trigger point is most commonly known as a “knot”. Trigger point is a group of muscle fibers with a build up of cellular waste products, causing a tender and tight spot in the muscle. To relieve the trigger points you gradually increase the amount of pressure on the trigger point to help flush blood to the area and release the tight muscle.
Acupuncture
WHAT IS ACUPUNCTURE?
Acupuncture can be simply stated to be a health science which is used to effectively and efficiently treat pain and dysfunction by restoring balance to the body. While acupuncture originated in ancient China, its popularity has caused it to spread worldwide and in 1971, it gained national attention here in the United States.
To some patients, the concept of acupuncture seems very unusual at first as specific points are stimulated to affect various different parts of the body, often not attached to the stimulated area. How can this be so? The answer lies in the meridian system. Early Chinese physicians determined that there is a network of energy similar to the body’s electromagnetic field which covers and penetrates us in a defined pattern. These meridians connect our interior and exterior through thousands of specific “acupoints” on the body. This network works in harmony to coordinate and stimulate our nervous, immune, muscular, digestive, and other systems of the body.
The energy that is circulated through these meridians is known as “Qi,” roughly translated as vital energy. When the qi is balanced amongst the meridians, our organs and bodily systems are in good function and we are healthy. However, when qi is blocked or weakened, symptoms of disease or pain arise. By stimulating a proper combination of precise acupoints, it is possible to re-balance the meridians to end illness and restore health. The nature of the illness and the symptoms it creates will determine the correct points and the method in which they should be stimulated.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
While the ancient Chinese explained the effects of acupuncture through the model of meridians and qi, there are several modern theories as well. While there is not yet a definitive answer as to the mechanisms of acupuncture, modern research has shown that acupuncture can stimulate the body to release higher levels of naturally occurring substances that help it to heal and balance itself. These substances will in turn block specific sensory pathways to eliminate pain, relax the body, and create a pleasant mood. Acupuncture places your body into a parasympathetic (relaxation and rest) dominant mode. Furthermore, the stimulation by acupuncture may activate the endocrine system and stimulate the hypothalamus, adrenals, and pituitary glands to produce large effects throughout multiple systems simultaneously. Even more amazing, research has shown that acupuncture can cause direct changes in the activity of the thalamus, a structure responsible for processing and relaying sensory information to the rest of the brain.
In addition to its effects on the nervous and endocrine systems, acupuncture also has demonstrated effects on all other systems of the body, from improving circulation and wound healing, to raising immunity, and decreasing allergic responses.
Remarkable research has highlighted the tremendous beneficial effects of acupuncture in gynecological, digestive, respiratory, and genitourinary problems.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN A TREATMENT
During the first treatment, the acupuncturist will take a thorough health history and will examine the patient with several methods. The tongue and pulses are examined at length as they offer reflection and insight into changes in the body and its overall health. While this may seem unusual to some patients, your acupuncturist will be delighted to explain the reasons for and the results of these exams.
Once the acupuncturist has finished your intake, they will inform you of the pattern that your symptoms represent to traditional Chinese medicine. This will be different from a modern medical diagnosis and is not intended as a substitute, but rather as a way of establishing the proper selection of acupoints, techniques, and stimulation. Most modern textbooks on acupuncture recognize several hundred distinct patterns and it is very rare that a patient’s presenting conditions cannot be explained swiftly by this system.
Once your diagnosis is complete, the acupuncturist will usually have you lay down fully clothed (or gowned if necessary) on a comfortable massage table and will proceed to stimulate the chosen points using one of several methods. The most common forms of stimulus are pressure, massage (tui na), dermal friction (gua sha), vacuum cupping, electric stimulation, and of course, insertion of acupuncture needles. Usually the actual treatment time will be around 30 minutes for needle only acupuncture, with additional time used for other therapies.
The number one concern patients seem to have before first trying acupuncture is a dislike or fear of needles. Many patients incorrectly guess that acupuncture needles will be similar to thumbtacks or hypodermic needles, but nothing could be farther from the truth! Acupuncture uses needles that are solid, sterile, stainless steel and which are so fine that you could even place four of them inside the hollow tube of a hypodermic needle!
Once the needle is inserted, a sensation known as “de qi” may occur once the energy of your meridians has been contacted. This sensation is felt most often as a mild to moderate heaviness and tingling, though in some cases, there will be a feeling of moving energy along the meridian. While there are some areas of the body that are more sensitive than others, your acupuncturists long years of training allow them to carefully treat those areas and minimize any discomforts. Most people have an extremely relaxing experience once the needles are in place and report deep sedation.
Acupuncture is a therapy, not just a treatment. As a therapy, it requires time and recurrence for maximum effect. Patients are urged not to try it with the mindset of “taking a few” to see what happens. Even though it is possible to have immediate results, following through on your individual treatment plan greatly improves the chance of success. If results are achieved swiftly, your acupuncturist may choose to discontinue your treatment or place you on a maintenance level of care.
ADDICTION CONTROL
Recently, there has been a great deal of publicity and excitement regarding the considerable success of acupuncture in the area of alcohol and drug addiction control. One of the most noteworthy addictions that acupuncture helps is with smoking. Research has shown that the average patient will reduce their intake by at least one half within the twenty four hours after their first treatment. Generally, several addiction treatments allow for a patient to stop without experiencing the negative effects of withdrawal.
