Chiropractic Services
Adjustments/Manipulation
Adjustments, or manipulation as they're sometimes referred to is the minor movement of vertebrae in the spine. The objective of this movement is to realign vertebrae that have moved out of place for a number of reasons ranging from normal daily activity to trauma such as a car accident.
When these vertebrae are out of place, it has an overall systemic effect from muscular to the central nervous system. Without proper alignment and flow of all nerves and systems in the body from the brain, we can't function at our peak.
An adjustment is often a pressure from the chiropractor utilizing the hands or an instrument to move a vertebra back into place. This happens with a quick movement and is often without discomfort. You may hear a noise that sounds like you're cracking your knuckles referred to as joint cavitation. It is the release of gases such as oxygen and nitrogen from the joint.
Overall, adjustments are an excellent way to keep the body functioning at its highest level. When the body is in alignment, the body is able to respond and perform as it was designed to.
Chiropractic & Children
The birthing process, even under natural and controlled conditions, is potentially traumatic. During the pushing stage of labor, the spine, especially the neck, may be injured as the baby is compressed and pushed down the birth canal.
As the child grows older and more active, their body may receive more stress in a single day then most adults experience in a year! Bumps, jumps, twists, falls, etc....constantly subject the growing spine to potential misalignment. All too often these injuries are unnoticed and untreated.
A wide range of childhood and adult ailments may be caused, originally, by "normal" childhood mishaps. Your child should be checked periodically by a chiropractor during his/her formative years. Give your child every opportunity to develop into a normal healthy adult!
Electrical Muscle Stimulation is an exceptional way to help the body in the healing process. This is accomplished by sending a very small electrical current into the affected soft tissue injury or muscle spasm. The therapy utilizes this current in an effort to help reduce swelling and release trigger points that may have the muscle locked up. It does this by helping the body to release natural relievers of pain often referred to as endorphins.
This is a great therapy if there is a spasm in a back or neck muscle. It works well in relaxing the muscle and allowing it to return to its normal state rather quickly. Short therapy sessions are excellent at facilitating healing from acute and chronic pain.
Electrical Muscle Stimulation
Are you looking for supportive, natural care that trusts your body during pregnancy and childbirth? Do you want to have a comfortable, safe birth, free of unnecessary medical intervention? Chiropractic can HELP!
Chiropractic adjustments during pregnancy are an essential choice in your prenatal care. Preexisting but unnoticed imbalances in your spine become stressed during pregnancy.
A large percentage of all pregnant women experience back discomfort/pain during pregnancy. This is due to the rapid growth of the baby and an interference to the body's normal structural adaptations to that growth. Chiropractic care throughout pregnancy can relieve and even prevent the common discomforts experienced in pregnancy. Specific adjustments eliminate the causes of stress in the spine.
Chiropractic & Pregnancy
As your baby develops, your uterus enlarges to accommodate the rapid growth. When the pelvis is in a balanced state, the ligaments connected to the uterus maintain an equalized, supportive suspension for the uterus. If your pelvis is out of balance in any way, these ligaments become torqued and twisted causing a condition known as intrauterine constraint. This constraint limits the space of the developing baby.
If there is intrauterine constraint as birth approaches, the baby is prevented from getting into the best possible position for birth. Even if the baby is in the desirable head-down position, the constraint may prevent the baby's head from moving into the ideal presentation for delivery. The head may be slightly tilted off to one side or, even more traumatically, present in the posterior or breech position. Any baby position even slightly off during birth will slow labor and add pain and distress to both the mother and baby.
Many women have been told that their babies were too big, or labor "just slowed down", when it was really the baby's presentation interfering with the normal process and progression. Avoidable interventions are implemented in these cases, turning a natural process into an operative one.
Comfort for Your Baby, too!
Dystocia is defined as a difficult labor and is something every woman wants to avoid. In addition to the pain and exhaustion caused by a long, difficult labor, dystocia can lead to multiple medical interventions which can be physically and emotionally traumatic to both you and your baby.
These interventions could include the administering of pitocin, the use of epidurals, painful episiotomies, forceful pulling on the baby's fragile spine, vacuum extraction, forceps and perhaps even a c-section.
Reviewing the obstetric texts reveals that the commonly reported reasons for dystocia are pelvic imbalance and its resulting effects on the uterus and the baby's position. Chiropractic care throughout pregnancy will restore balance to your pelvic muscles and ligaments, leading to a safer and easier delivery for you and your baby.
More and more mothers are discovering the many benefits associated with chiropractic care throughout pregnancy. They appreciate the chiropractor's respect for the body's natural design and function. Supportive care providers, renewed trust in the body and the whole-health benefits of chiropractic are being recognized as vital ingredients to a healthier pregnancy and an overall easier birth.
Preparing for a Safer Birth
Myofascial Release
Myofascial Release is a safe and very effective hands-on technique that involves applying gentle sustained pressure into the Myofascial connective tissue restrictions to eliminate pain and restore motion. This essential “time element” has to do with the viscous flow and the piezoelectric phenomenon: a low load (gentle pressure) applied slowly will allow a viscoelastic medium (fascia) to elongate.
Trauma, inflammatory responses, and/or surgical procedures create Myofascial restrictions that can produce tensile pressures of approximately 2,000 pounds per square inch on pain sensitive structures that do not show up in many of the standard tests (x-rays, myelograms, CAT scans, electromyography, etc.)
The use of Myofascial Release allows us to look at each patient as a unique individual. Our one-on-one therapy sessions are hands-on treatments during which our therapists use a multitude of Myofascial Release techniques and movement therapy. We promote independence through education in proper body mechanics and movement, self-treatment instruction, enhancement of strength, improved flexibility, and postural and movement awareness.
Each Myofascial Release Treatment session is performed directly on skin without oils, creams or machinery. This enables the therapist to accurately detect fascial restrictions and apply the appropriate amount of sustained pressure to facilitate release of the fascia.
Treats skeletal muscle immobility and pain
Relaxes contracted muscles
Improves blood and lymphatic circulation
Stimulates the stretch reflex in muscles
Releases trigger points